Age of Ice and Blood: A Pathfinder System Heroic Fantasy Quest
- Thread starter DragonParadox
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- Original Fantasy
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Noromo is a city of about 10000, with the rest of the island counting about seven times that. However you should keep in mind that this is the bronze age. As far as trained warriors go, you are looking at about 2-3% of the population. So there are about 1600 to 2400 warriors on the whole island, that is a lot more people than are just on the Torag ships, but comparable to the 1200 odd warriors on the whole fleet.
- Location
- Germany
So the point that a mobilized population can easily kill us all stands.
Better hope the daemons are bad at the propaganda game.
It should be noted that this is not the age of the levee on mass, it is not even the age of the peasant levy of the middle ages. The population would be attacking you with literal sticks and stones... and they know that, hence they would not really fight an invading army unless they have no other choice open to them.
- Location
- Germany
The general quality of Anwa arms and armor seems not too great either, all but a few seems to be in light armor and with simple weapons.
That's not much more than what a farmer, fisher or hunter can bring together.
A farmer will be trained to farm not fight as a group. A shieldwall is hard to break when all you have is wood and flint and all the harder when you have to keep up the morale to take significant casualties to do so. It is not that the population cannot zerg rush the warrior nobility (or more realistically kill them in ambushes, night raids and attack on their camps) it is that to drive them to that extreme takes something remarkable like famine, plague or the impression that the leaders have lost the favor of the gods in some way.
Goldfish
Friendly Spider-Fish Abomination
- Location
- Formerly of the Far Realm
That's a lot more people than I expected to live on such a small island. Are they actually having a significant portion of their food imported, after all? I can't see any other way to support so many people, even if the local fishing is really good.
Hmm, are there nearby islands which are tributaries of Korman, supplying them with food?
Keep in mind the island is actually bigger than the map I posted which is of the modern incarnation of it, only with rivers added in. Sea levels are lower because of the ice age.
Arc 12 Post 36: Of Songs and Slaying
Of Songs and Slaying
Third Day of Elnu-Hamba (Elnu Descendent), 1349 A. L. (After Landfall)
Spearheads glint in the golden light of fading afternoon as the men around you start singing, one or two at first, then handfuls, households of captains and lesser lords and at last the whole company, verses of daring and of far traveling, of war and strife and plunder that had been heard upon a thousand shores and now rang out upon the very realms of the Anwari:
My mother told me,
that myself I shall buy
a ship and steady oars,
to sail afar with the Vikings,
to stand up at the prow,
steer the noble vessel,
set course out to sea,
slay one man and another,
slay one man and another.
that myself I shall buy
a ship and steady oars,
to sail afar with the Vikings,
to stand up at the prow,
steer the noble vessel,
set course out to sea,
slay one man and another,
slay one man and another.
At first from among your Fellowship there came only the steady steady clomp of hooves muffled by the course gray sand, but one by one the song caught them up and one by one they started first to clap along, for the horses knew the way and then to sing to half-understood words. You almost bid them stop, or give some sign to keep their eyes upon the path, to stay apart and keep their minds to the foe and not to dreams of plunder. Almost and yet you stay silent, for in the end strange though the company might be you are still all going to war and perilous is that path. Let those who might yet die together sing together while they have the chance:
The rasp strikes before the prow
of the vessel on its smooth path
with a chisel of hail,
the wicked enemy of the sky...
of the vessel on its smooth path
with a chisel of hail,
the wicked enemy of the sky...
As the hours pass and the sun begins to sink ruddy on the face of the mountain to your right you hear from afar the calls of birds high and shill, like the cackling of crones, like the sound of iron scraping across stone. The horses toss their heads nervously and even silver looks about him with alarm, but there is nothing strange, nothing changed, the ships still follow the line of the shore and the shadows of the mountain still fall on a open path, then as you turn a corner about a plump of trees that grows almost as the water's edge, you see beyond a strange dark shape that you take at first to be a mount of driftwood carried on the tide, but Inge, whose eyes are sharper than yours even without sorcery suddenly calls out in sorrow and in fear into the suddenly still company:
"Giant, it's a giant!"
A giant it was indeed, but not as you had hoped for them, dead and laid upon the sand, the cold wind carried a all too familiar odor, death. Was it a sign set to frighten you? Did it mean the enemy was close? The warriors all about you erupted into shouts and questions, half of them stumbling to a halt while their fellows pushed them on, none more so than Negu.
"Forward! Forward ye craven swine! Are you afraid of a corpse? A sluggard in the straw and a warrior on the field, death will find you just the same, only that one shall be sung of and the other cursed!" he extolled his men and they seemed to find heart in it.
"Hold!" you shout in turn. "Hold! Not all that fall lie easy!"
No sooner had you spoken the words that the fallen giant shudders with unnatural vigor and starts to stumble to its feet, brackish water flowing around its bloated legs and at the same time from the shrubland to your right the sound of horns rings out and the sound like the calls from earlier, but now filled with a hateful chanting.
A misshapen shadow, winged and taloned, covered in matted fur blackened scale shrieked down upon battlefield and terror was in its voice such that it send John and Hugh's Steeds near to flight and all about you the company of warriors seemed to have lost all the courage of the song or the haranguing of their lord. It seemed to you then that all that saved you from a ruinous charge was that the men of Korman who had revealed themselves in ambush was the fact that they too had been set to fright by their damnable 'ally'. But they were still ready for the charge while the shield wall was only now forming...
What does the Fellowship do in the battle?
[] Charge home into the ranks of the ambushing mortal warriors, there are but a few of you, but they have never faced an armored charge
[] Face the dead giant, blessed weapons and sorcery will be of great use there
[] Battle the flying horror when it comes around for another pass
OOC: Well it seems your luck is turning again, the enemy botched their ambush and Roland's perception proved itself useful once more.
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- Location
- Germany
Any of our people got an idea what kind of Undead the giant is?
I think Esha is the only one with decent Knowledge Religion.
I think Esha is the only one with decent Knowledge Religion.
She did not make her roll so no you do not know the type of undead. She will get another roll when she actually sees it in combat though, for now all it's done was stumble to its feet.
- Location
- Germany
Okay, the Outsider has too high DR to defeat easily.
Maybe our net-men could try to bring it down on the next pass, but we can't quickly stop it from attacking, so we should go for the softer targets first.
If it's just two big monsters on the field, then our large number of warriors can quickly overwhelm them, even if that takes crits.
We basically have the theoretical hectopeasant here, as long as morale doesn't break.
But all that is useless if the enemy soldiers can just kill us while we try to focus on the big monsters who can hopefully only hit one or two poor souls per turn.
Thus I say we try to break the mortal troops first, because they will do the most damage to us, while being the softer target.
[X] Charge home into the ranks of the ambushing mortal warriors, there are but a few of you, but they have never faced an armored charge
-[X] Zaia in particular is important here, fire will further demoralize the foe
-[X] Leave the Net-men ready to hinder the flying monster if it comes close enough, but they should not try to get into melee with it
Maybe our net-men could try to bring it down on the next pass, but we can't quickly stop it from attacking, so we should go for the softer targets first.
If it's just two big monsters on the field, then our large number of warriors can quickly overwhelm them, even if that takes crits.
We basically have the theoretical hectopeasant here, as long as morale doesn't break.
But all that is useless if the enemy soldiers can just kill us while we try to focus on the big monsters who can hopefully only hit one or two poor souls per turn.
Thus I say we try to break the mortal troops first, because they will do the most damage to us, while being the softer target.
[X] Charge home into the ranks of the ambushing mortal warriors, there are but a few of you, but they have never faced an armored charge
-[X] Zaia in particular is important here, fire will further demoralize the foe
-[X] Leave the Net-men ready to hinder the flying monster if it comes close enough, but they should not try to get into melee with it
Goldfish
Friendly Spider-Fish Abomination
- Location
- Formerly of the Far Realm
How many men are in the ambush, @DragonParadox, and how far away are they from us?
Well you cannot see all of them at a glance from where you are staying, but they seem less numerous than your host, call it 60-80 and they do not seem as well armed either. On the other hand you know... monsters. They would have had surprise, but Roland realized something was off about the giant.
Goldfish
Friendly Spider-Fish Abomination
- Location
- Formerly of the Far Realm
That leaves some resources unaccounted for.
I agree that we need to focus on dealing with the mortals first, but we shouldn't leave the monster and the Undead Giant unopposed. Entangling the Giant will at the very least slow it down and debuff it, while a good Web cast will either ground the Dahzagan or at least keep it occupied for a bit. Unfortunately, Esha isn't well-suited for dealing with either of these opponents, since she cannot affect the Undead Giant with most of her spells and the Dahzagan has both a high Fortitude bonus and very high Spell Resistance. It's better for her to buff up and prepare to harass the mortals. Her Sleep spells cannot affect more than one or two people at a time, but they can subject many people to the effect, giving each casting a bunch of opportunities to find a target. The Dahzagan has a low-ish Reflex save, making Inge's Web a good candidate to affect it, and the spell ignores SR.
[X] Charge home into the ranks of the ambushing mortal warriors, there are but a few of you, but they have never faced an armored charge
-[X] Esha activates her Twilight Barrier as a Swift Action then casts Mage Armor on herself. She casts Shield using her staff if she has time before the mortal enemies are in range. Once the mortal enemies make an appearance, she targets them with Sleep spells to disrupt their formation or charge, or merely to sow confusion.
-[X] Zaia quickly targets the Undead giant with a Tanglefoot Firebomb before it can enter combat, then drinks his Mutagen (+4 CON, +2 Natural Armor, -2 CHA). If he has time, he also drinks a Shield extract before engaging in further combat, but prioritizes targeting the mortal enemies with a Tanglefoot Firebomb before our forces clash with them, if possible.
-[X] Inge casts Mage Armor, then waits for an opportunity to strike, targeting the Dahzagan with a Web spell when it gets close enough to the ground (or other suitable anchor point) to be snared without also risking trapping allies in the effect (it needs to be within 40ft of the ground or a tree so that the spell effect will have necessary anchors). She targets it before casting her Mage Armor spell if the positioning is suitable.
-[X] Leave the Net-men ready to hinder the flying monster if it comes close enough, but they should not try to get into melee with it. If Inge managed to share it in a Web, they will use their nets to further hinder it before it has a chance to free itself.
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- Location
- Germany
[X] Goldfish
Good night guys, see you tomorrow with giants, monsters and the war for Korman
- Location
- Texas
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[X] Goldfish
- Location
- Germany
I think it would be very valuable to have Zaia throw one Firebomb into at the human foes before the lines clash.
Giving the enemy the impression that we have discount-Fireballs will likely harm the morale a good bit, nobody likes burning to death.
Unrelated to our company's actions, I really hope we have Ziku with us, he would be an invaluable asset in smiting either of the two big monsters, propably deals more damage than half our army combined in that first strike.
Goldfish
Friendly Spider-Fish Abomination
- Location
- Formerly of the Far Realm
I'll add that to the plan.
I hope Ziku and Moru are with us, but I don't want to try to dictate their actions. I'm planning as if they're not for now, but setting up things so they can be of maximum aid in case they are.
Does DR 10 good/ lawful means we, as a NG knight, could hurt the outsider without being bothered by the DR?
EIther way, if they're somewhat hesitant and disorganised, then a cavalry charge to try and eliminate their leadership/ banners is very wise. If we can effectively harm the monster, though, we may wish to do that next once the enemy is further disheartened.
Edit: Why would a creature have Terrifying Howl without the ability to render people Shaken?
Edit: The reason I believe that we may only need one pass if we can strike out the enemy captain/ banner- and seriously rattle them if we do not- is because they're currently disheartened and not in a prepared line formation, nor have they ever encountered a cavalry charge. Both factors means that actually facing a shock charge would be Very Painful for them.
EIther way, if they're somewhat hesitant and disorganised, then a cavalry charge to try and eliminate their leadership/ banners is very wise. If we can effectively harm the monster, though, we may wish to do that next once the enemy is further disheartened.
Edit: Why would a creature have Terrifying Howl without the ability to render people Shaken?
Edit: The reason I believe that we may only need one pass if we can strike out the enemy captain/ banner- and seriously rattle them if we do not- is because they're currently disheartened and not in a prepared line formation, nor have they ever encountered a cavalry charge. Both factors means that actually facing a shock charge would be Very Painful for them.
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Goldfish
Friendly Spider-Fish Abomination
- Location
- Formerly of the Far Realm
No, when something has Alignment-based Damage Reduction, it requires really focused alignments to overcome, as in an Evil Outsider is generally able to overcome Good-based DR because they're literally congealed Evil. For mortals to accomplish the same, they need spells which confer Alignment-based properties, or special magic abilities. A Holy or Axiomatic weapon would cut through the Dahzagan's DR like a hot knife through butter. Of course, there are other ways to overcome that hurdle, like a Paladin's Smite Evil ability, which allows them to bypass all DR against that target.
It must rely on its +12 Intimidate bonus for that, which would be further augmented by its Large size. Against a Medium-sized target, it gets an additional +4 on Intimidate checks. An effective +16 bonus Intimidate bonus against Humans.
They are both with you yeah, not least because they are the only other mounted troops other than the Fellowship. You can give them generic orders like 'buff and charge' or just charge if you want. You guys do not have their precise builds IC but you have seen them fight and can use that as a guide for that they might be able to do