Ambush on the river

Summary:

For planning the ambush on the river of the tracking party

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Ambush on the river

Daniel Saroff 13 Oct 2020 15:07

For use in planning. Key to reading the map.

• Stone spires are red to make them more visible. The number next to them indicates their height in feet.
• Squares are approx 5'. Drop to the river is greater than the squares show - 25-30'
• Cliffs rise up about 200'. No way to 'get on top of them'
• In the cliff face there are three landings at different heights. They have light green to indicate them with a red number to indicate how far up the cliff they are. (25', 35', 75'). The one at 35' has a steep path indicated in red that can be used to carefully climb to it.
• The following group would be coming from the bottom (South) and the East side of the river.

Last edited on 15 Oct 2020 13:33 by Daniel Saroff Show more

Re: Ambush on the river

Ayrkin 14 Oct 2020 18:23

Some initial thoughts.

1. I like the fact that there's no readily apparent way to reach the top of the cliffs since that will limit our opponents ability to get the high ground. However, if necessary, I could attempt a Fly spell to get to the top. Conceivably by doing this we could then drop ropes down to allow others to ascend. If we were able to get to the top and our opponents unable, that would give us a lot of options.
2. When it comes to the rock spires, I'd love to figure out a way to bring one or more of them toppling onto our foes. Depending on just how sturdy they are, and depending on how adept our dwarves are at potentially figuring out how to undermine or crack the spires, we might be able to figure out a way to rig ropes tied to heavy weights on some of the ledges and then drop boulders to give us the leverage needed to topple one of them onto our opponents.
3. There's also the tried and true option of just setting ourselves up on advantageous ledges out of easy spell range for our opponents and taking advantage of my multi-missile spell to subject them to a fusilade with our doughty fighters in concealment below to take advantage of the attack.
4. If the foes are mounted and charging, it's possible for me to put down a wall of ice horizontally to turn the ground into an ice rink and hopefully cause all sorts of mayhem.

Those are my initial thoughts!

Re: Ambush on the river

Tom Scammell 15 Oct 2020 19:26

Adelard says, "We're outnumbered about 30 to our mere 6, so I agree with Kerrick that we've got to be clever and excogigate as best we can!

Stammor, you grew up eating and breathing rocks… Do you think there's any chance we could partly cut through one of these 5 foot wide granite columns to topple it on command?

I'm also quite fond of Kerrick's idea of using his Flying magic and some ropes to get into unassailable positions for ranged attacks. Still, I worry any of our crew on the ground might get overwhelmed unless they could melee from a very defensible position.

The river looks deep and fast here…I wonder if we could find a way to use the ice or some other means to push some of our pursuers into the drink?"

Re: Ambush on the river

Tom Scammell 15 Oct 2020 19:41

Adelard mumbles, "Traps, traps, traps…Might be able to loosen some boulders up on the cliff or perhaps haul up a tree trunk to dump on them? To get the enemy bunched together, we could also block the trail with some trees or a trench, though it might be hard to dig in the rocky soil…. If we've strong enough ropes, we could haul a tree with sharpened spiky branches up the cliff with one end tied further along the cliff…As we push it off, it would swing down along the length of the trail (and perhaps back again) like a nasty pendulum…

Or something flammable on the ground to set the whole trail ablaze…" He rubs his hands together gleefully….

Re: Ambush on the river

Cirlot 16 Oct 2020 03:19

"Anything our mages might do, theirs might do better - " Ro'an muttered. "Moving this contest above the cliffs by means of flight assures they will do so if they are able, and we lose the advantage of the confined terrain."

"Dropping the spires seems reasonable if we have the means - I'm not sure how able we are to disturb the stone directly: we'd need drills and mattocks and time to prep the stone such that we might fracture it across the base. The ropes and boulders is the best notion if they're intrusions with roots in the earth. If they're not - " the half dwarf scratched his chin. "We undermine the earth around the bases and introduce water, liquefy the foundation and watch it tumble. We mayhaps might even time it with the aid of Kerrick's magics. If he can freeze the water we introduce by one means of his spells and then dispel it at his command we can control when they fall … "

"If we do, I'd suggest these. We trap the body of the force between or under the fallen pillars and prevent their retreat."

"For the rest … "

"Myself and Addelard at this fore ledge, the one but 25' above the pass? Is near point blank range …might well be if they are upon horses, and not so high that descent is impossible unassisted if the situation changes. Stammor and Pbbl to the back where they might take advantage of the path down to the floor? Stammor casts spells first from concealment to block retreat and then P'bbl carves his way down the trail into their rear lines. That leaves the high ledge to Brooke and Kerrick for bowshots and spells? Addelard can likely climb up first and affix ropes such that they might be accessible."

"If Addelard does not think point blank range is possible then he might switch places with Brook, she standing with me, he with Kerrick, which gives us two fights in front and in the rear with missilers in between."

"As for traps … if you can tell me how they might be constructed in the time possessed with the resources available, you've have my hands to it, but they seem a feat of engineering we may not have the means of."

Last edited on 16 Oct 2020 03:20 by Cirlot Show more

Re: Ambush on the river

Daniel Saroff 16 Oct 2020 12:04

Brook responds that she has only been practicing her bow for a week, so feels her trusty crossbow might be a better option.

Re: Ambush on the river

Ayrkin 16 Oct 2020 13:32

I'll add that Kerrick has darkwalk so for those who are going to be at ground level in concealment, it might be possible to conceal them even better using darkwalk.

In terms of the spires, I really do like the idea of undermining one and bringing it done on them. My suggestion is that we have the party around the bend from the middle column so that they don't have line of sight on the party and then try to have that column top towards the cliff side there. Looking at the map, that looks like a pretty good choke point that could maximize the chance of catching them.

Since we have three days, that gives us a good bit of time to prepare traps. If we want to be clever, we could try to both topple the spire on them while also rigging a landslide to occur slightly later and maybe 50' to the south to catch those who dodge backwards to avoid the toppling spire and also box them in so that we have them in a constrained area.

When it comes to Ro'an's criticism of my magical ability….sigh.

Re: Ambush on the river

Daniel Saroff 16 Oct 2020 15:30

P'bl says, "Darkwalk is a great idea for me, Kerrick, so I can be down with the action honoring my God. Since missile fire is anathema."

"Being out of sight as you suggest is good", comments Brook. She also points out that from the ground, as long as people stay fairly low, they can't be seen on the ledges either. "I'd love to see if we could use your suggestion to break their heads with a spire. I'm tired of being harried across these lands like fox by hunting cats."

Re: Ambush on the river

Cirlot 16 Oct 2020 21:46

Ack! Wasn't Ro'an, was his dumb-ass player, and criticism wasn't intended. The structure of "What X can do, Y can do" was in my head and I might have been writing with showtunes in the background and I didn't re-edit after the first draft.

Not saying to blame Ethel Merman but totally blame Ethel Merman. Also, sorry!

The intended takeaway isn't/wasn't that Kerrick is bad at magery, it's that we can't rely on being on the only ones with magic at the table. At this point we've been surprised by third circle mages and had situations where the opposition pulls off a well timed hold person or protection from normal missiles that we hadn't planned for and that was before we pissed off one of the most well funded national faiths in the 'Lands and the Aeroloean Mages Guild in to boot.

Honestly, in addition to giving us the tactical flexibility of positioning through darkwalk, fly and the like I think one of the things we might need Kerrick to do is play white-hat opposition for us in this scenario. What would he do if he was mage embedded in with the group we're ambushing once the bolts started flying? What do the first few rounds look like, spellwise, if he was the one trapped in the pass defending against attackers with a superior position? Does a single protection from normal missiles or Icewall crafted into a dome ruin our ambush, etc.? At this point I'm assuming any human/demihuman opponents we face are going to have like kind and quality resources to our own, if not more…

Last edited on 16 Oct 2020 21:48 by Cirlot Show more

Re: Ambush on the river

Ayrkin 17 Oct 2020 01:04

No worries!

Re: Ambush on the river

Daniel Saroff 16 Oct 2020 12:16

Stammor and Ro'an and Kerrick examine the stone spires with the rest giving less of an experienced eye.

As was noted in the cliffs themselves, the granite is not a homogenous surface. There are also intrusions of softer stones, especially limestone which has flowed into crevices or cracks in the granite over time.

More useful, especially in relation to the spires, are the many exfoliation joints both paralleling the surface and sometimes cross-sectioning a spire. As the dwarves in particular know, because they are a danger to many communities, exfoliation joints are formed from wet/freeze/thaw cycles expanding and fracturing natural cracks in stone until a catastrophic failure can tumble tons of rock onto dwarven settlements. All the spires show significant exfoliating joints, as do areas of the rock face. This is supported by the amount of rocky debris scattered along the path and in the river bed itself.

Currently, the party estimates they have a three-day lead on their pursuers (when the centaurs alerted them, it was two days, so the party forced marched here while the centaurs tried to lead the following party astray - thus the three-day estimate). So, the possibility of weakening a spire is certainly there (if risky).

More difficult to do, but possible (?) is lateral leaves (exfoliation weathering) of granite paralleling the cliff surfaces themselves that might be broken free, and boulders already resting along the cliff faces (quite heavy though), too.

Last edited on 16 Oct 2020 15:38 by Daniel Saroff Show more

Re: Ambush on the river

Tom Scammell 16 Oct 2020 13:34

Adelard says, "I'm probably trying to be too clever, but I'm fond of the swinging, spiky tree idea. To make a good pendulum, we could haul a tree up to one of our nooks on the cliff, and then tie it via ropes to 2 spires (the bottom 2 or mid 2) so it swings between them, just like a child's swing."

Re: Ambush on the river

Daniel Saroff 16 Oct 2020 15:34

Having scouted up and down the river, you find some nice deadfall trunks about 1/4 mile upstream that could easily be brought down on a travois behind the horses - lots of spikey dead branches protruding. Plenty of places to hoist, once some nice anchorages are hammered in (which with your climbing skills, you feel is easy).

You imagine the party could do it in about a half day. The tricky thing (unless someone really screws up and falls or drops a line when installing the trap) is camouflaging it sufficiently to look good from a distance.

Re: Ambush on the river

Tom Scammell 17 Oct 2020 12:59

Adelard adds, "Our pursuers will clearly spot this canyon as a vulnerable spot, especially if we leave signs of our construction. After our work is done, I expect Ro'an can do a good job of covering our tracks below, and we could then leave fresh horse tracks heading north. Still, how do we get the 30 or so mercenaries to come charging in? Perhaps, our best rider (Pebb'l, I think), can ride a bit south and then when spotted by the mercs, he can charge north through the canyon with them in hot (but unskeptical) pursuit? Once he is through, we trigger all sorts of traps from our hiding spots."

Re: Ambush on the river - On the cleric and mage bodies

Daniel Saroff 20 Oct 2020 14:36

Searching the bodies of the clerics and mages, you are not surprised (with all the pack animals) that they don't have a lot of heavier items or over-land gear. Below is what you find. I am not including miscellaneous stuff. Welcome to ask if something is there because I may have skipped it.

Money:
6 sp, 3 cp
Jewelry worth about 8 sp

General:
Water skins (4)
Wine skins (2)
1 day food (4)

Cleric stuff
Herbalist kit - stammor
Steel Chain – 6’ tall - p'bl
Steel Banded – 5’4”
2x medium shields
Steel Great mace
S.sword
Long sword
2x daggers
Potions of healing: CLW (3)- brook, p'bl, adelard, CMW (2) adelard, ro'an, Regen (2) -p'bl, ro'an
Two warming stones- stammor, adelard
Cleric scrolls: Righteous Sword 2, Neutralize Poison, Lower Water, Flame strike - stammor
Holy symbol: Eheral and Gessar (stammor)
Incense and portable burners - stammor
2 glow stones - brook, p'bl
Helm magic (a partial helm (no AC benefit)) of leather and iron that increases the range and duration of clerical spells by 50%- stammor

Mage Stuff
+1 magic studded leather armor -ro'an
Studded leather
2x medium shields
1 scroll fireball 1- kerrick
1 scroll lightning 2 - kerrick
Two beads of fire (explosive, 30’ radius, explode on impact with a hard surface 2d8+3 – range thrown) - adelard
1 glow stones - kerrick
3 warming stones - kerrick, brook, p'bl
A leather and bronze banded spell book case (presumably containing a spell book). - kerrick
3 points spell storing crystal - kerrick

Spell ingredients: ALL are kerrick
Accuracy 44
Armor 12
Bladesharp 51
Burning hands 12
Charm 11
Cold rope12
Darkwalk 17
Detect magic 7
Firball 30
Flame Rope 23
Fly 20
Lightning 23
Night sight 40
Prot N Missile 20
Reveal owner 9
Shield 22
T’uleys Mystic coord 12
Telekinesis 8
Tongues 10
Wall of fire 12
Wall of Iron Ice 12
Web 13

Last edited on 24 Oct 2020 23:20 by Daniel Saroff Show more

Re: Ambush on the river - On the cleric and mage bodies

Ayrkin 20 Oct 2020 14:46

Thanks, Daniel!

There's ingredients for the Wall of Iron spell? That's not a spell that you list as one that mages can have, is it?

I was hoping to find spell or power storing crystals. Especially considering on just how numerous and varied the spell ingredients are, I'm surprised that there isn't those or a mage's staff. Even divided in half with no overlap, I couldn't hope to have that many spells in memory.

And the mages had actual shields? It never occurred to me to think of carrying one since I assumed that mages would need both hands free to cast spells. Interesting idea.

Once the dust has settled, I do plan to do a fly over the debris with a detect magic to see if there's anything worth taking the risk to recover.

Re: Ambush on the river - On the cleric and mage bodies

Ayrkin 20 Oct 2020 15:18

I also have to say that, holy crap, it's a good thing our ambush succeeded: in anything close to a fair fight we would have been demolished.

Re: Ambush on the river - On the cleric and mage bodies

Daniel Saroff 20 Oct 2020 15:41

Mages have always been able to have medium shields (not iron) or smaller. It can slow down a two-handed spell.

I should have written "wall of ice." I'll correct.

Also an oversight on the crystals. Adjusted.

Re: Ambush on the river - On the cleric and mage bodies

Ayrkin 20 Oct 2020 16:15

Awesome, thanks.

It never occurred to use a shield. I'll have consider it for the future.

Re: Ambush on the river - On the cleric and mage bodies

Ayrkin 20 Oct 2020 16:16

Kerrick is interested in the spell storing crystal, the spellbook and the ingredients if no one objects.

Re: Ambush on the river - On the cleric and mage bodies

Ayrkin 20 Oct 2020 16:17

and the scrolls. While the leather armor would be great, I rather suspect that it isn't sized for a darkling troll. :-)

Re: Ambush on the river - On the cleric and mage bodies

Daniel Saroff 20 Oct 2020 17:55

I presume you me the mage scrolls, not the clerical ones (you can't use those). I'm afraid the armor is too large and modifying it for your size would destroy the magic. Probably could save it to trade for something in your size (wouldn't be 1:1 trade, but it would get you a deep discount).

Re: Ambush on the river - On the cleric and mage bodies

Ayrkin 20 Oct 2020 18:09

Yup. I was only referring to the mage scrolls.

I figure the armoire would be good for Ro’an or Brook who want to maintain some stealthiness than chain armor wouldn’t permit.

Re: Ambush on the river - On the cleric and mage bodies

Ayrkin 20 Oct 2020 18:14

An armoire might also be nice but I meant armor! Stupid autocorrect.

Re: Ambush on the river

Tom Scammell 22 Oct 2020 12:42

Would the +1 magic studded leather be an improvement over Adelard's current steel studded leather?

Re: Ambush on the river

Daniel Saroff 22 Oct 2020 15:44

Yes…While it wouldn't change your armor class (steel also adds +1), it would reduce your chance to be criticaled by 5%.

Re: Ambush on the river

Daniel Saroff 23 Oct 2020 13:31

Unfortunately, it is too big for you Adelard. Would fit someone from around 5'2 - 5'7

Re: Ambush on the river - Surveying for clearing and recovery

Daniel Saroff 23 Oct 2020 14:24

Returning to the site of the ambush and surveying it for feasibility and safety, the party agrees that some areas are either too unstable or would be impossible to clear.

Some areas are found that the dwarves (with consultation) agree might take 1-day or 2-days to excavate, respectively (i.e., one-day recovery areas and two-day recovery areas). In both circumstances, there are risk of triggering further collapse (the whole cliff face and spires have been destabilized).

Kerrick flying over the areas founds signs of magic in some of the one-day and some of the two-day clearing points.

So, it depends on the party's tolerance of risk and how much delay they wish to incur.

Re: Ambush on the river - Surveying for clearing and recovery

Ayrkin 23 Oct 2020 14:46

Hmmm…..

I'm in favor of at least trying for the one-day clearing stuff.

We may be able to reduce some of the risk or, at least, maximize our efforts through some creative uses of our individual abilities.

For example, I have a wizard eye spell that would allow me to visually travel into the interstices between the rocks and get a better sense of what magic I'm detecting. If what I'm detecting turns out to be a potion then it might not be worth the digging and risk of reinforcements showing up. My wall of ice could be used to help shore up risky areas temporarily while we dig.

Stammor could use an augury spell at the places we propose excavating to get a sense of the likelihood of dangerous result of our digging. There are other spells such as speak with dead and animate dead that could also prove helpful but I'm a trifle doubtful that Stammor would think it appropriate to use in such a fashion.

Re: Ambush on the river - Surveying for clearing and recovery

Tom Scammell 23 Oct 2020 14:48

Hard to turn down magic items!

I doubt we'll have trouble from more mercs in the coming days. Though one escaped, we'll likely not see more of them for another couple weeks.

We could bring down any worrisome spires in a controlled way. I imagine that stabilizing the cliff with traditional engineering would be quite tough, but could Kerrick's Wall of Ice provide some protection? …Still, ice might not hold up too well against a mess of rocks!

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