Belegar tugged his beard thoughtfully as he looked down at the small crater. He looked to his right, where Ulthar and a couple of his lads were trying to measure... something to do with the firing position, with a brass device of angles and lenses and a great deal of numbers scrawled into the dirt. Then he looked to his left, where Kragg the Grim was giving the crater the stare of an old and cantankerous Dwarf that is looking for and failing to find a reason to disapprove of something. And finally a cautionary glance upwards, even though some of the more sharp-sighted of the Rangers were keeping an eye on angle and would shout a warning if there was any danger.
On the distant peak, tiny figures he could barely glimpse through the shimmers of heat haze danced back and forth, engaged in what a borrowed telescope had shown him was a series of simultaneous arguments quickly devolving into fistfights. Every now and then, a loser would be determined, and moments later...
zoooooooooooooooOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOG
whumph
And somewhere in about a 90-degree arc of where the greenskins had aimed, a new crater splattered into existence. They'd yet to get within a hundred yards of the advancing Throng.
"You know," Belegar said thoughtfully. "Mayhaps the manlings legalizing the Zhufokri wasn't such a terrible idea, after all."
My sides just ascended to orbit.
Things we learned here:
-Not having the wings won't stop stubborn goblins from strapping the Doom Diver on anyway. Instead of a homing goblin missile you have a goblin struggling to flap their arms to fly and generally making the missile even LESS accurate.
-The dwarfs are getting EXCELLENT counterbattery targeting data.
-The old grump Kragg wants to disapprove on general principles, but has to admit that unguided missiles are good civilization.
Shyish is one of the spells I'd be least in favour of messing around with, to be honest. If we want to mess around with cross wind effects doing it after we've explored manipulating snake juice using what we learn from the Liber Mortis about manipulating undifferentiated magic with a single Wind seems better*, and we want to find an intermediary mechanism akin to the Gold Wizards Alchemy. Indiscriminate dumping of a wind would also have very unpredictable effects.
* probably after developing a cantrip to manipulate regular mist, and then working up to manipulating mist captured from the evaporating snake juice, or something similar.
I'd probably think that a cross wind effect like "This air is now full of mist"->"This mist is actually oil mist, not water mist" -> "Wow it burns good with a spark" is probably the sort of indirect Wind fiddling that I expect to be healthiest.
My sides just ascended to orbit.
Things we learned here:
-Not having the wings won't stop stubborn goblins from strapping the Doom Diver on anyway. Instead of a homing goblin missile you have a goblin struggling to flap their arms to fly and generally making the missile even LESS accurate.
True also it appears that it's slowing down their firing speed as not having the wings makes it a lot harder to convince the Diver to get on the catapult.
Damn it. I was wondering what the hell you lot had done to piss Ranald off so much when I realized I'd set it to d12 to pick the defences from a list of possibilities and never reset it back to a d100...
Damn it. I was wondering what the hell you lot had done to piss Ranald off so much when I realized I'd set it to d12 to pick the defences from a list of possibilities and never reset it back to a d100...
Belegar tugged his beard thoughtfully as he looked down at the small crater. He looked to his right, where Ulthar and a couple of his lads were trying to measure... something to do with the firing position, with a brass device of angles and lenses and a great deal of numbers scrawled into the dirt. Then he looked to his left, where Kragg the Grim was giving the crater the stare of an old and cantankerous Dwarf that is looking for and failing to find a reason to disapprove of something. And finally a cautionary glance upwards, even though some of the more sharp-sighted of the Rangers were keeping an eye on angle and would shout a warning if there was any danger.
On the distant peak, tiny figures he could barely glimpse through the shimmers of heat haze danced back and forth, engaged in what a borrowed telescope had shown him was a series of simultaneous arguments quickly devolving into fistfights. Every now and then, a loser would be determined, and moments later...
zoooooooooooooooOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOG
whumph
And somewhere in about a 90-degree arc of where the greenskins had aimed, a new crater splattered into existence. They'd yet to get within a hundred yards of the advancing Throng.
"You know," Belegar said thoughtfully. "Mayhaps the manlings legalizing the Zhufokri wasn't such a terrible idea, after all."
"Hmph," said Kragg, in a tone of voice that would terrify most lesser Dwarves, but one that Belegar had learned was only his baseline level of disapproving. "Takes more than one good axe for a workshop to prove itself."
"If you dig a mine and get fifty cartloads of muck and one fistful of gold," Ulthar said thoughtfully. "What you've got there is a gold mine."
"Hmph," said Kragg again. But there was no arguing with a good mining metaphor.
---
[*] Having successfully escaped, you can now move on...
-[*] To the King's Gates, to scout the outer defences.
You're cutting your time close, but you've got just enough time to scout the inside of the gate you had been on the other side of, just a few short hours ago. You're forced to stop and hide several times while on the way, both from hurrying Night Goblins that you assume your work in the Hall of the Moon stirred up, and the occasional pack of regular Goblins, scurrying nervously about in a way that gives you an idea of the local pecking order. You take a moment to examine one that passes close enough, and see tattoos that once marked them as Broken Toof but were now obscured by nasty, jagged scars. From how healed it was, you feel confident that the Goblin's change in loyalty predates the arrival of the Expedition, which means that the Crooked Moon has been preying on the Broken Toof for Orc slaves and Goblin recruits for at least that long.
[Approaching the gates: Intrigue, 86+17=103 vs 68+10=78.]
[Observations: Martial, Req ???, 19+20=39.]
It takes some doing to approach the rings of defences around the King's Gates, with the Goblins on guard not quite alarmed, but definitely on edge. Perhaps news of events in the Hall reached them faster than you did, or perhaps their lookouts have spotted the approaching Throng. But these greenskins now have the same weakness that once doomed the Dwarves that ruled this place: all their defences are pointed outwards. Sure, there were guards - well, not so much guards, as all but the rarest of greenskins are incapable of prolonged discipline, but the radiating circles of especially titchy goblins and snotlings amounted to the same - but there weren't barriers or barricades or checkpoints or chokepoints. Before the Age of Woes, the Dwarves assumed that any enemy would be outside the mountain, and the greenskins had never bothered to build upon the flawed defences they had taken for their own.
It takes some circling to finally find a vantage point to scout the room, but innumerable side passages make it trivial to take your pick. The inside of the King's Gates are a hall almost the equal of the one you just left, but its once-ceremonial purpose was, in ages past, swept aside by necessity. Long-dead dwarves attempted a last stand here, and even those hurried efforts were sufficient to have stood the test of time, though now festooned with Waaagh! banners and crude goblin mockeries of bolt throwers, bisecting the hall with a wall of sharpened points. Unknowing or uncaring of the danger, the Goblins that call this hall home fill the firing line in front of the bolt throwers, roasting chunks of unidentifiable meat on massive fires and squabbling amongst themselves and generally loafing around. Here and there a Night Goblin moves loftily through the crowd, throwing pointless and contradictory orders around and kicking anyone who looks like they won't fight back, almost seeming to feed on the resentful glares the 'normal' greenskins rain upon them when they think they can get away with it.
You frown as you slip from shadow to shadow, taking in the hall from every angle. The Goblins keep to the gateward side of the hall, between the Gates themselves and the line of crude ballistae. Your initial thought is that it would be for the light of the day, but like the Hall of the Moon, this hall is lit by two massive bonfires that are more than sufficient to drown out whatever sunlight filters in. But only the gateward side, which throws the hall into a stark contrast of darkness and light, the side nearest the gate fully illuminated with the rear so very conveniently shrouded in darkness. You stand on the outer edge of the hall and frown. You could dash forward and probably fire three or four of the bolt throwers before the Goblins even begin to react. Just a short dash over the... wooden floorboards? to the undefended siege weapons...
You feel like kicking yourself. The only thing worse than how blatant it was was how nearly you had fallen for it. Don't underestimate the enemy, you scold yourself. Not even when it's greenskins.
Dwarves could very well assume that they didn't need to defend their flank. But Goblins? Goblins living near Skaven, no less? Goblins would be so much more likely to pretend not to defend their flank, and set up something horrible to happen to whoever takes the bait. It's so easy to slip into thinking of them as brainless violent brutes, but you have to remember that their religion has only two virtues, and one is cunning.
You nudge the wooden floor nearest you with a foot, then cautiously put some of your weight on it. Not a dead-fall trap, then. Some sort of crude nightingale floor? Would goblins set a trap that only raised an alarm? But as you put more weight on, the floor continues to dip under your feet. It's arrested before long as adjoining sections take up the weight, but your eyes widen as you realize that the stone you had assumed was under the floor wasn't.
You leap backwards as something enormous smashes against the underside of the wooden planking, performing the fastest quickdraw of your life while double and triple checking that your stealth spells are still active as hundreds of heads swing in your direction at once.
[They can't see you if you don't move: Intrigue, 59+17+10(Darkness)+20(Shadowcloak)=106 vs 94+10=104]
You can hear your heart hammering in your chest, and you're sure they'd be able to too. Hundreds of armed greenskins are looking right at you and the only thing preventing them from seeing you is that you're not moving and you're in the dark and you're cloaked by Ulgu and they've no night vision from standing in the light, and you've got eight bullets and one sword and three charges of the Seed of Regrowth and you really don't like those numbers, and the whole time the whatever-it-is is scrabbling at the wood just a meter away, foul claws jabbing through weak points in the wood.
Then one of the Goblins shouts something, and whatever it is it breaks the tension and several more join it in hurling abuse at whatever it is below you, annoyed at what they think is a false alarm. A thousand Goblins relax and one wizard gets to live.
You recatch your breath and regather your composure as you realize that today might not be the day you sell your life as dearly as possible. You need to focus. In a very short time, a significant number of very determined dwarves are going to arrive on the other side of that door, and you intend them to be armed not just with axe and hammer, but with the information you've gathered.
Optional, pick as many as you like:
[ ] Sabotage the defences...
- [ ] By using Substance of Shadow to walk silently and safely across the wooden floor and pulling the triggers on every bolt thrower you can.
- [ ] By using Substance of Shadow to walk silently and safely across the wooden floor and sabotaging every bolt thrower you can
- [ ] By unleashing whatever is under this floor upon the greenskins above it.
- [ ] By setting the wooden floors aflame.
- [ ] By casting Substance of Shadow on yourself, slipping through the wooden floor, and fighting whatever's underneath with the advantage of incorporeality.
- [ ] Other (write in)
Mandatory, pick one.
[ ] Slip out...
- [ ] By casting Pall of Shadow on the gates themselves and streaking through the patch of impenetrable darkness.
- [ ] By casting Doppelganger and Take No Heed, and just walking out. Goblin crowd is thick enough to probably require some shoving.
- [ ] By walking out while they're otherwise distracted. (note: ensure your plan includes an otherwise distraction)
[ ] Just start fighting. If there's any Goblins left when the Throng arrives, they can join in.
[ ] Wait until the dwarves begin the assault, and join them when they reach you.
[ ] Who needs stealth? There's an army coming up those stairs. Smash your way through the Goblins and have them chase you into the teeth of the approaching Throng.
[ ] Other (write in)
- Voting will be in plan format.
- The two bonfires are currently the only source of light in the room.
- The creature beneath the floor seems, from what little you've seen, to be about ogre/rat ogre/troll size.
- Giving the Throng the information you have after they've bashed down the gates and begun spreading through the Karag will still be useful, but less so than if you did so before they entered.
- The first time I tried writing this update, things got very dire for Mathilde before I realized I was rolling a d12 instead of a d100 for her skill checks.
- You don't have an exact synchronization, but you're near certain that the Throng is currently somewhere on the stairs leading up to the King's Gates.
- [ ] By unleashing whatever is under this floor upon the greenskins above it.
These sound like mangler squigs or something similar. Unleashing these would be terrible for the goblins if we can think of an effective way to manage it. If we set the floor on fire it's likely to send the squigs into a rage that will unleash them and unleashing mangler squigs on the goblins might even be more damaging than removing the artillery, the only thing more damaging would be killing their warboss.
- [ ] By casting Substance of Shadow on yourself, slipping through the wooden floor, and fighting whatever's underneath with the advantage of incorporeality.
I laughed at this, perform a near suicidal jump through the floor to get into even more suicidal close combat with a bunch of squigs.
I'm thinking our most effective maneuver here is going to be setting the floor on fire (probably with some type of cantrip) to unleash the squigs and then running in the resulting chaos. We'd have doppelganger on before we do it so if we're revealed then we're just another cowardly goblin in the crowd.
- [ ] By casting Substance of Shadow on yourself, slipping through the wooden floor, and fighting whatever's underneath with the advantage of incorporeality.
I laughed at this, perform a near suicidal jump through the floor to get into even more suicidal close combat with a bunch of squigs.
[X]Plan No Wizard Here
[X] Sabotage the defences...
- [X] By unleashing whatever is under this floor upon the greenskins above it.
[X] Slip out...
- [X] By casting Pall of Shadow on the gates themselves and streaking through the patch of impenetrable darkness.
[X] Plan Murderbeast Distraction
-[X] Sabotage the defences...
-- [X] By unleashing whatever is under this floor upon the greenskins above it.
-[X] Slip out...
-- [X] By walking out while they're otherwise distracted. (note: ensure your plan includes an otherwise distraction)
The escape method needs a distraction, oh look a giant murder beast!
[X] Plan Murderbeast Distraction
-[X] Sabotage the defences...
-- [X] By unleashing whatever is under this floor upon the greenskins above it.
-[X] Slip out...
-- [X] By walking out while they're otherwise distracted. (note: ensure your plan includes an otherwise distraction)
How would Mathilde go about unleashing the mysterious things under the floor (that we all know are squigs)? Also how would she set the floor on fire?
Since the Ballistae are in shadow could Mathilde just sneak by them and damage the ropes or other parts without being noticed? If she's invisible she should be able to just cut parts that aren't easily visible. I'm imagining Mathilde just walking up to the ballistae and using her knife to cut part way through the ropes to damage them a bit. When the goblins go to fire them there would be a good chance the ropes would fail sending the bolt off target and having the rope flail wildly possibly killing the crew.
Since the Ballistae are in shadow could Mathilde just sneak by them and damage the ropes or other parts without being noticed? If she's invisible she should be able to just cut parts that aren't easily visible.
Let me see if I got this right, @BoneyM :
The goblins are stuck against the gates, nearest to the outside. Behind them are a couple of large bonfires. Behind those are siege weapons. Behind those is the pit and false floor. Behind that is the shadowed hall and entry corridor. Am I getting that right?
I am left to wonder how the goblins cross the floor. Is it that they are too light for it to fall under them? Or is there some kind of landbridge in the center.
EDIT: Like, if we manage to set fire to the floor, are they going to be trapped against the doors?
EDIT2: Also, really happy we took the time to scout this. Imagine trying to leave without scouting in advance. I suppose another safe option would have been to wait until the dwarves breach.
