A Sword Without a Hilt: A Song of Ice and Fire/D&D 3.5 Crossover
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Interlude MCCXLV: Battle of Brass and Cobalt
- Location
- Germany
Battle of Brass and Cobalt
Report on the Battle of Brass and Cobalt by Colonel Moonsong, acting commander of Battlegroup ArgentWe managed to take some of the pressure off the Cobalt Scales, but not much more than that.
When we first arrived, the Brass Scales were in the middle of an offensive, having whittled down some of the defensive lines around the ruins of the Duchesses palace and taking some of the underground chambers. Some long-range shelling managed to stop their advance and had them hunker down again, giving the Cobalts enough breathing room to stabilize the front, though we could not keep up the pressure. It seems they knew we were coming, because the two spelljammers on their side, two older Efreeti destroyers, were hounding us the moment we got into range. They are using these huge bombards on their vessels, firing shells the size of a man, and this is the first time I feel we actually were threatened by something that isn't a god or archmage. The shells down one of our barriers in a single hit, letting other shells through before the crew can react, and the engineers who looked at the damage are pretty sure that any hit going through the Moonchasers armor might be enough to make us crash. The only good thing is that their aim is horrible, or maybe those bombards are just that imprecise, so we managed to keep the damage minimal by staying at long range.
Unfortunately, that means we could not even attempt to land in the Cobalts fortress to drop off supplies. Whenever one of our gravjammers broke formation to go for a landing, the Brass Scales immediately started concentrating solely on that one. Seems they are really eager to down one of ours, so we stopped trying before we gave them any more opportunities to succeed. The crews got pretty rattled by that too, since nobody here is really used to getting hit at all, let alone getting shaken around whenever something makes it to the hull. Of course, that means the Cobalt Scales are running out of supplies rather fast. They've needed a lot of materials to repair the damage done by the latest assault and they are starting to run out of ammunition. Since they lost their own two spelljammers in the initial assault, there is still a large stockpile of bombard shells they are now prying apart to have their soldiers use as thrown weapons. I haven't been down there, but from the chatter on the Braziers, they won't be holding out much longer without more supplies from the Imperium. They still have a few chambers out of the Brass Scales wards range, so it might be better to open a Gate to them than to try and supply them by air.
Our spotters have gotten a fairly good read on the enemies forces. There are about as many of them as there are Cobalt Scales, but a lot of them have a good number of these force weapons we got briefed on. They also have their spelljammers and a large number of bombard on the ground and they have a decent grip on how to use that artillery to cover their advances. Most of the bombards in a fortified hill that they keep covered in burning, oil-soaked pumice dust, and they only open small shafts in the surface whenever they want to let loose a salvo. Makes it almost impossible to hit them without flying directly in the flight path of their projectiles. The spotters are also getting a bit queasy from watching the battlefield all day. Seeing Salamanders on both sides getting ripped apart by force blasts and artillery seems to make for bad viewing. One of them even hung himself after calling out some bad coordinates, which led to the Gladius firing a few salvos at the Cobalts. We have started to rotate them out every time we shift back home to get new ammo after that. The mind healers can take care of them.
Overall, morale is not that great. We are supposed to fly in, wave our cannons around for a bit and then graciously accept their surrender, but the Brass Scales ain't going to surrender any time soon it seems. They are dug in pretty deep and their only reaction to our presence so far has been to focus more on digging tunnels towards the Cobalts lines and chambers, and having at least one of their spelljammers ready to harass us whenever we show up. It doesn't look as if they would go for a honorable duel to end all this either. At least our Salamanders are grateful for the aid. Apparently they were ready to open their brood chambers to use their own young as war beasts when we showed up. They might have been on the loosing side, but can't fight the Cobalts for a lack of fighting spirit. If this drags on, our crews might become a weak point. Getting bombed by the Brass Scales and doing next to nothing with our own attacks is wearing on their nerves and we had a few casualties from accidents, like getting thrown into a wall by the shaking or dropping ammo while reloading. The Moonchasers crew is made of stern stuff, but the other two vessels might need a mind healer or two assigned to them if this keeps going.
We will continue our current operations until the situation changes or you have new orders for us.
Respectfully,
Colononel Moonsong
Acting Commander of Battlegroup Argent
A note bearing the Book and Sword is attached to the report.
Embedded Inquisition informants confirm morale problems, which are being exacerbated by Colonel Moonsongs behaviour. She is frustrated by the lack of progress in the battle and her displeasure has begun filtering down through the ranks. Her crew is too loyal to bring up the issue openly, but there are signs of possible resentment brewing. Likewise, the captains of the IAF Gladius and IAF Makhaira have apparently quietly made inquiries if they could be granted greater command authority in the battlegroup. It seems advisable to seek a fast resolution of this conflict or failing that, to assign the Colonel to other duties.
Respectfully,
Special Commissar Gilliam
AN: Decent rolls for your first tentative involvement in a planar battle, but decent means only that you bought the Cobalts enough time that they have to worry about running out of ammo instead of getting outright overrun. Detailed status of the battle here.
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Well sending Monsong specifically was not the best choice in retrospect. She does very well and is inspiring when she wins, but she really resents losing, because in a way it is an affront to her legend, to her innermost self.
- Location
- Germany
Slavers Bay has been boycotted for years at this point, so there is no trade between it and the Imperium, which likewise means next to no information flowing.
You are aware of what is happening there due to the Inqusition, but the average citizen hears at most some 5th hand rumors from someone who knows someone who traded with a Lhazareen who ran into someone who was near Slavers Bay.
Goldfish
Friendly Spider-Fish Abomination
- Location
- Formerly of the Far Realm
It highlights our need for greater capital ship production capacity.
Not that we didn't already know that, or course, but the emphasis isn't unappreciated.
For as much as there is any sentiment regarding the Ghiscari it is broadly negative because they are known to be slavers and several Unsullied have told their stories on mirror vision and in the papers. They are also the go to guys when you have a Braavosi play with a Volantine villain which you want to now sell in Volantis.
] Send Rina to lob glaciers at the enemy forces
- Location
- Ohio
(I am sleeping soon, so I don't know if my thoughts are correct or not on this. So I can accept if I am wrong here.)
Beyond a different choice of commander, we are going to need to work on doctrine for drawn out forces that meet or surpass us in certain ways.
And beyond more capital ships, we need better screening, or whatever we can think of, since our barriers can be negated easily by their heavy weapons tearing through them.
How well can capitol ships provide support to one another in battles like this? Because that is one big boon to more capitol ships.
We are very used to either using overwhelming force on weaker targets or surgical strikes in the elemental planes, or supporting allies, that we were not as prepared as we could of been for forces used to centuries of battles like this.
Here is my work in progress notes before I go to bed.
1. We need to have commanders trained for longer battles and sieges in general. We don't have much experience with them at this scale so far.
2. we need to up capitol ship production and provide better longevity for what we do have. (screening or point defense?)
3.Either our current loudout or offensive capability in general against the current enemy fleet is lacking, and we need a way to harass or damage them better. (artillery support, armored gunships to draw fire better?)
Part MMMDCCCLXVII: Parched Sands and Bitter Tongues
Parched Sands and Bitter Tongues
Ninth Day of the Twelfth Month 294 AC
You set down the report with a sigh. Part of you had expected Moonsong to pull a miracle out of the proverbial hat, that might have even played a part in why you sent her in particular, but it seems that neither you nor she will have her way. The battle, the holding action to call it what it is had not gone terribly, the cobalt scales had not been overwhelmed thanks yo your intervention, though they will need resupply and more aid next month, next year... Gods was it the closing of the year already? Time has a habit of running too fast and too slow at the same time of late, lurching uncomfortably from small mundane problems to...
With a wave of your hand you draw the reports into your cloak.
That. Were Moonsong on Still Waters any other commander, no matter how decorated and valiant you could have temporarily assigned the command of the ship to someone who would not damage the morale of both your forces and your own allies, but the price of Moonsong's service was and still is command of her sip. There is actually a note on her file that she cannot be reassigned from command nor can the Moonchaser know any other captain while she lives. Thankfully not all the news is quite so grim.
There are no armies at the gates of Qarth and little in terms of internal opposition that the Undying have not dealt with one way or another. The Thirteen are moved by greed to ascent, the ancient Guild of Spicers has little choice but to bend the knee given how much they depend on trad routes that your Imperium now commands and if the Tourmaline Brotherhood hopes that its eastern focus allows them greater independence in their position, they have been dissuaded of that fact.
As the Queen of Cities Bows; 65 +7 (Sorrowful Men) = 75 (Success)
The Sorrowful Men have shown their work in silken thread and gilded blade, in poisoned cup and letters on the pillow set, they have made control of Quarth's vast and baroque bureaucracy far easier than it otherwise would have been, not so much in the handful of assassinations they have performed, but in the ones they could have done and stayed their hand. It is clear the inquisition shall not lack for recruits in the city at the Jade Gates, yet that does not mean the integration shall be a simple matter, or simply an echo of the other Free Cities the Imperium has taken in war and in peace
Like its lords the last city of the Qarthi endures on borrowed time, its aquifer all but spent, the process only growing faster as more and more people abandon the outlaying estates and towns to seek shelter behind its walls. As the economy contrasts the city expands your envoys have discovered and something has to give.
Minister Valens warns you that to make that fact public is likely to look like an Imperial power play, an attempt to take the citizens of Qarth from their homes and to dilute the power of the local aristocracy to another. the Undying do not care one way or the other, so long as their palace endures the city may as well melt among the sands
Qarth Water Crises discovered
What do you do?
[] Try to stop the exodus from the hinterlands (will involve working to keep slave keepers financially solvent)
[] Use High level magic to help bridge the gap (risks unrest and conspiracies)
[] Offer passage out of the city for those who are most in need (will create unrest in the city as it will be seen as the Imperium mining Qarth for people before it is even integrated)
[] Let things stand until the integration next month, you can handle it once the city is officially in your hands
[] Write in
OOC: I actually rolled undying lore already, but I could not focus on getting that down in this heat so here you go water crises... this may have been influenced by the heat I am dealing with right now. Not yet edited.
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- Location
- Israel
Provide them with a Decanter of Endless Water.
You are going to get an action next turn to try to use the ministry to magic to alleviate this, the trouble is the city is heading into a water crises just as you are taking it over. That is a recipe for unrest
- Location
- United States
There's a D&D spell that creates hundreds of thousands of gallons of fresh water, isn't there? Could we just make a lake in a few hours?
- Location
- Germany
These kinds of spells tend to rely on drawing water from their surroundings, like tapping a local aquifer.
Though you did experiment with using Everfire Boilers to build desalination plants.
- Location
- Germany
We can purify sea-water en masse, have done so since our very first conquest of that little village in the Stepstones.
Quarth is build by the sea.
- Location
- United States
Can we just refill the aquifer?
- Location
- Germany
The scale that solution worked on was starkly limited, so not really practical for a metropolis.
It's beside the point though. Means to solve this are available. You will just have to spend an action to roll them out.
The question right now is how to handle the PR side of things and not to trawl through obscure splatbooks for spells.
Goldfish
Friendly Spider-Fish Abomination
- Location
- Formerly of the Far Realm
Not Flashflood. It is a Conjuration (Creation) spell which creates 100,000 cubic feet of water, or 748,100 gallons, per casting. It's an 8th level Cleric spell, so we have several people who can prepare it or use Inspired Spell to cast it.
Flashflood – Spell – D&D Tools
Complete list of all D&D spells, rulebooks, feats, classes and more!
dndtools.net
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- Location
- Israel
That seems to be ignoring the magic rules. With the decanter, the problem is insta-solved... for a very minor price, in a day or three. So minor that it hardly requires a ministry action, a single enchanter or such an item from inventory can take care of it immediately.
Letting the word get out of how it was handled would improve loyalty and morale. The issue being too small for the Imperium quest management system, it seems more an individual action.
Goldfish
Friendly Spider-Fish Abomination
- Location
- Formerly of the Far Realm
Here's an edited version of the chapter, DP.
Scale is a thing, you cannot solve the water troubles of a metropolis with a PC scale magic item any more than you can solve 'our city is being raided by goblins' by presenting them with your marvelous +1 sword
- Location
- Germany
You can't create matter ex nihilo (otherwise the setting breaks big time), so this has to come from somewhere. Like the ocean or the Plane of Water, which are both salty.
And even if it was drinking water, you'd need a mage capable of casting this spell at least 5 times daily to meet Qarths water needs.
A single decanter is orders of magnitude too little water.
And I'd yet again like to point out that this isn't what the vote is about...
Keep in mind that is a druid spell, it seems rather odd for druids to be able to make magic from thin air you draw it from the local environs, in the case of Qarth that is semi-arid tending to desert. Cast that spell too many times in the city and the surrounding lands will start to resemble the surface of Mars