It is mid afternoon on the day before the Battle of Albridge.
The party have succeeded in the skill challenge, so morale is better, even with the knowledge of facing devils. A big part of that is Grimbald and Kathrid's idea of dipping arrow and crossbow heads in silver. Only magic and silver weapons have full effect on a devil.
The Woodsinger elves have arrived with Israfen in charge of them. The elf archers will be used to kill everything that comes down the funnel of death, which was created to make a predictable path towards the bridge. It was created using barricades and natural topography as aerially mapped out by Esa.
Grimbald has created a pit trap which will only work if the assassin takes the same route tonight. Dar Gremath has suggested he can put a couple of Woodsinger elf archers on watch closeby. Should the assassin fall into the pit trap they will take no chances and shoot her.
Tomorrow the Iron Circle will be approaching from Dardun, a village conquered by the Iron Circle, to the south east, and Marl, the ruined village to the south west (which the party visited).
It is known that prisoners were taken to Marl, and Reithann the druid is fearful they are being sacrificed to summon devils.
It is likely the Iron Circle will arrive early morning to take advantage of the mist, and avoid the afternoon rain which would hamper their advance.
Dar Gremath would like the party to be held in reserve, fighting where the strongest enemy troops are in danger of breaking through. He is open to your suggestions, such as remaining to defend a particular area, or Dar Gremath's banner (if it fell it would have an impact on morale), or to go on the offensive and hunt down enemy leaders to make the Iron Circle less able to respond to changes on the battlefield.
Initially the enemy will be met on the south side of the river, and the plan is to fall back to the bridge, leaving that as the only avenue the Iron Circle can cross.
The party are considering a reconnaissance mission to Marl, with Esa flying invisibly to spy and report back.
Grimbald will enquire as to any way to delay the arrival of at least one of the armies by sabotaging the path of one or both. Do either have to cross a bridge, is there a narrow area of otherwise difficult terrain that could be blocked. could we sow doubt by felling trees across the path, suggesting an ambush?
Grimbald will enquire as to any way to delay the arrival of at least one of the armies by sabotaging the path of one or both. Do either have to cross a bridge, is there a narrow area of otherwise difficult terrain that could be blocked. could we sow doubt by felling trees across the path, suggesting an ambush?
There are numerous streams that have cart wide footbridges which create natural bottlenecks.
How long would it take RL as a warhorse to get to Marl please? That's 60ft of movement doubled to dash the whole way. He could carry a rider
Let's say 30 minutes
Do Augustin or Vakiel want to go for a ride? Esa can fly above as top cover and we could go scouting and try to ambush some of the Iron guard or at least disrupt things in Marl
We have a discussion with people who know of the bridges to get some insight into the quickest way to damage the bridges, and which streams would be otherwise difficult to cross. Would two draft horses be able to pull them down? do we have spells to damage them? do we just burn them, even if the smoke alerts an army?
Dardun is west south west about the same distance as the crow flies (7 miles away) but takes a bit longer because the route isn't direct due to having to cross small bridges over streams. People travel about 3 miles an hour at a careful pace, but can double that if they use a fast pace (with disadvantage on perception checks).
augustin tries to speak to the gang and voices his opinion on what to do below:
I think the priorities should be:
1- long rest before fight 2- imps/undead- brief incursion to disrupt 3- mess up coordination of attacks via bridge destruction 4- ????
Everything else we can try and delegate.
He quietly discloses the following to Esa in private;
Augustin is very… confused by all the organisation skills required to pull off this coordination. He tends to be more ….direct…. in his approach, he turns to Esa for advice on what to do, but notes he would like to deal with the undead, he does t know if he’s good enough to be a stealthy boy.
Esa listens to Augustin intently, before letting out a long sigh.
"I agree that you aren't the stealthily, and also your concerns about not being ready for battle. Let RL and I go and scout Marl and the locations of the prisoners. If there is anything we can do without jeopardising tomorrow, we will. And we will be home before bed.
As for the matters around camp, you are foolish to think this all relies on you. Not only are there three other members of our party who's knowledge you can lean on, but you have other great leaders here who can advise you. I'm smart, yes, but this is also my first war. I cannot tell you how the battles will wage or how the chips will fall. I can tell you that I will do everything in my power to get the outcome I want. And I want us to win. And I DONT want some black magic warlock strolling in with corpses and fiends galore."
As she says this last sentence, she begins to head away in the direction of RL, before stopping and adding rudely, "You're no use to me dead. Go lay the groundwork to ensure that doesn't happen."
RL is very overwhelmed by all the people and planning which are things he has no experience with after his relatively quiet time in the forests. He slinks off to the side around a building and goes looking for Gnasher. He Wild shapes into a mastiff and spends an hour or so playing with Gnasher to calm his nerves and escape from the stress and anxiety of the camp of humans. He keeps the playing to the confines of the camp since there is a danger of running into foes outside it.
RL is very overwhelmed by all the people and planning which are things he has no experience with after his relatively quiet time in the forests. He slinks off to the side around a building and goes looking for Gnasher. He Wild shapes into a mastiff and spends an hour or so playing with Gnasher to calm his nerves and escape from the stress and anxiety of the camp of humans. He keeps the playing to the confines of the camp since there is a danger of running into foes outside it.
Esa eventually goes in search of RL, and after struggling to find him at a glance, not realising he's in Mastiff form, she just gives up and screams out "WHERE'S A WARHORSE WHEN YOU NEED ONE?!" And waits to see if he appears.
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How long would it take RL as a warhorse to get to Marl please? That's 60ft of movement doubled to dash the whole way. He could carry a rider
Grimbald will enquire as to any way to delay the arrival of at least one of the armies by sabotaging the path of one or both. Do either have to cross a bridge, is there a narrow area of otherwise difficult terrain that could be blocked. could we sow doubt by felling trees across the path, suggesting an ambush?
Let's say 30 minutes
There are numerous streams that have cart wide footbridges which create natural bottlenecks.
Do Augustin or Vakiel want to go for a ride? Esa can fly above as top cover and we could go scouting and try to ambush some of the Iron guard or at least disrupt things in Marl
We have a discussion with people who know of the bridges to get some insight into the quickest way to damage the bridges, and which streams would be otherwise difficult to cross. Would two draft horses be able to pull them down? do we have spells to damage them? do we just burn them, even if the smoke alerts an army?
Fernie tells you most of these bridges are guarded to prevent just that outcome.
Heavily guarded?
More heavily guarded the closer you get to Dardun. Not many going to Marl.
how far to Darl, do we go that way to sabotage the bridges and take out a few troops guarding the bridges?
Dardun is west south west about the same distance as the crow flies (7 miles away) but takes a bit longer because the route isn't direct due to having to cross small bridges over streams. People travel about 3 miles an hour at a careful pace, but can double that if they use a fast pace (with disadvantage on perception checks).
Esa is on board with this.
augustin tries to speak to the gang and voices his opinion on what to do below:
I think the priorities should be:
1- long rest before fight
2- imps/undead- brief incursion to disrupt
3- mess up coordination of attacks via bridge destruction
4- ????
Everything else we can try and delegate.
He quietly discloses the following to Esa in private;
Augustin is very… confused by all the organisation skills required to pull off this coordination. He tends to be more ….direct…. in his approach, he turns to Esa for advice on what to do, but notes he would like to deal with the undead, he does t know if he’s good enough to be a stealthy boy.
Esa listens to Augustin intently, before letting out a long sigh.
"I agree that you aren't the stealthily, and also your concerns about not being ready for battle. Let RL and I go and scout Marl and the locations of the prisoners. If there is anything we can do without jeopardising tomorrow, we will. And we will be home before bed.
As for the matters around camp, you are foolish to think this all relies on you. Not only are there three other members of our party who's knowledge you can lean on, but you have other great leaders here who can advise you. I'm smart, yes, but this is also my first war. I cannot tell you how the battles will wage or how the chips will fall. I can tell you that I will do everything in my power to get the outcome I want. And I want us to win. And I DONT want some black magic warlock strolling in with corpses and fiends galore."
As she says this last sentence, she begins to head away in the direction of RL, before stopping and adding rudely, "You're no use to me dead. Go lay the groundwork to ensure that doesn't happen."
As the paladin looks ruefully at Esa's retreating form, an old man with half his teeth missing grins at Augustin.
"I think she likes you, boy!" He says. "Or at least she cares, she just ain't good at showin' that side o' her, I reckon."
He grins again and saunters off to help with barricades.
RL is very overwhelmed by all the people and planning which are things he has no experience with after his relatively quiet time in the forests. He slinks off to the side around a building and goes looking for Gnasher. He Wild shapes into a mastiff and spends an hour or so playing with Gnasher to calm his nerves and escape from the stress and anxiety of the camp of humans. He keeps the playing to the confines of the camp since there is a danger of running into foes outside it.
Grimbald will stay in town, scouring vantage points, listening for squirrel barks, repositioning some posts and torches for blind spots.
specifically looking for spies Perception 13
Esa eventually goes in search of RL, and after struggling to find him at a glance, not realising he's in Mastiff form, she just gives up and screams out "WHERE'S A WARHORSE WHEN YOU NEED ONE?!" And waits to see if he appears.