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Post by Hussar on Jun 4, 2004 0:25:17 GMT -5
Here's where you guys can plan your attack. Here's a view of the Giant's cave from your position atop the lip of the volcano. It is roughly 900 feet to the cave entrance. There is little cover, other than rocky outcroppings. Approaching without being seen will be very difficult. (BTW, I made this picture entirely myself using Photoshop and Terragen. Not bad for a first try.)  |
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Post by Kelly on Jun 4, 2004 16:35:24 GMT -5
Great pic Hussar.
Ok, so far here are some of the ideas I have heard in planning.
1. Prepare spells, equipment and men for battle. (Agreed).
2. Return to the Giant's cave tomorrow and set up the marines up in an ambush formation using their crossbows. Use the Arcane Eye Spell or other stealthy means to get an idea of how the cave is laid out and the positions of the creatures inside. (Agreed).
3. Lure the Dragon (and ratmen) out of the cave using either illusions/the ship in the harbor for trade/or other means, and then attack with the ambush. I favor a means which will ensure that the Dragon or Dragons come out of the cave if we use this strategy, since at that point we lose all surprise. (However, I am not sure what will guarantee that the Dragons will come out of the cave).
One issue, what will be the plan if the super intelligent Dragons refuse to come out of the cave and instead send some of the lowly ratmen to investigate? I assume full ambush of the ratmen, then we march into the cave without surprise on our side to face the readied remaining ratmen and Dragons?
4. In the alternative, enter the cave with surprise and bring the attack to the unsuspecting Dragon and ratmen. Then, if we get into trouble we can fall back and spring the ambush on whatever chases us (if necessary). This ambush would also serve as a way to keep any others from entering the cave and would protect our rear flank.
I favor this approach unless we can somehow guarantee the Dragons and/or the bulk of the ratmen can be lured out of the cave into the ambush described in #3 before we enter. This approach also has the advantage of surprise when we enter into the cave, the surprise ambush if we have to retreat, and finally it keeps most of the combat action and noise underground and not out in the open where the other Dragons only a mile away at the other volcano might hear it.
5. Attempt to take out the Dragon or Dragons plus ratmen on this side of the island. Then either assualt the caves on the other side of this island, or blow the conch signal horn and lure more Dragons and Ratmen into a second ambush at the Giant's cave. I prefer the conch signal horn/ambush strategy.
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Post by CosmicHorror on Jun 4, 2004 20:13:46 GMT -5
plan 4 is better, though we really should check out the lay of the cave first, if it looks like it would be dificult to move through, then we should try to fight the dragon(s) on a more stable location.
And for the ratmen guards... a rogue would be nice, move up and sneak attack them, getting into posistion using invisability or gassous form.
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Post by shadowbane on Jun 8, 2004 6:19:47 GMT -5
((Chey looks around nervously, "send the rogue down their to attack the ratlings...."  "..... i think i need to go and draw some more maps" ...... runs away.... jk)) Cheys no good at stealth or attacking so shes just to back up the archers/marines with bardic song, and try to keep watch on anything aproaching the scene of battle |
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Post by Myrfol on Jun 9, 2004 0:46:09 GMT -5
Well, I am definatly not on for stealth so #5 sounds good, but if we could lure them out with the trade, run in and find somewhere to hide... that might work well or somthing until they sleep, Provided they don't er smell us? Then, perhaps we could sdo something like cast... say... Silence on a rock, its area affect correct? We take the rock and get it as close to the dragons head as we can. He stays asleep... hopefully, cause he cant here us and we all tak shot on his sleeping head, and then try to fair all the ratman and other dragon(s). It worth a shot I think. But if all else fails... # 5  |
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Post by Kelly on Jun 9, 2004 12:44:19 GMT -5
Actually the above list is a series of steps. #5 comes into play only after the dragons and ratmen in the cave below our ambush position have been dispatched and we control this side of the island. Essentially the plan as it stands right now is #1, #2, #4 and #5.
Yes it would be nice to catch them all sleeping, but that is likely impossible. These dragons are geniuses. They are not likely to all just fall asleep at the same time like a group of 1st level goblins. Besides for the ambush to work our marines must be able to see, which means we likely will do this during the daytime and not at night.
Do not worry, we are not going to send a rogue down to stealthily battle the ratman army. I think all that player meant was if there is a lone guard or two guards, then we use stealth to take them out. We have access to invisibility spells, gaseous form, spells that improve armor class, etc. (all of which we need to use to full advantage to survive these encounters).
No one will be facing an entire army alone, but I imagine that all the PCs will want to enter the cave with the main assualt group (assuming they wish to share in the experience, treasure and other rewards).
Sargents as members of the crew would be entitled to a normal crew share even if they stay at the ship, but should go into the cave if they desire the experience points. Chey, as a passenger onboard, would not be entitled to a crew share so she should consider going into the cave at least for the experience points.
We always try to protect the weaker members of the party with positioning and spells as much as possible. However don't worry, I can bring back the dead if necessary. Mawahahahahahahaha!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOL
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Post by Myrfol on Jun 9, 2004 14:01:56 GMT -5
That is a wonderfully comforting thought, hey you can only res if you can get a piece of us ... heh... acid tends to dissolve human flesh if I rember my alchemy. I'm begging to think that trying to take on more than 1 dragon and like 2096503476 ratmen could prove... er... how can I put this... STUPID we are going to get ourselfs killed... Sounds good to me, can't wait. But seriosly i think we should maybe observe for a few more days to see exactly what they want to do, we have an idea of what we want to do when the time ofor action does come, but we should atleast gather a little more information about everything before we do anything, like what exactly that horn is for, try to get a count on ratmen/dragons/ and other nasties that might be in there so we know exactly what we are up against instead of a few dragons a lot of rattmen and ?nasties. I know not many people like waiting but... Better safe,smart and alive than Stupid and dead.
(I might be a little late to the game tonight if school graduation runs long I am stage crew so i have to make sure stuff goes right so i have to be there)
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Post by Kelly on Jun 9, 2004 17:08:38 GMT -5
It would be good to have more information. Unfortunately waiting could lead to our discovery which would be catastrophic, since surprise is our biggest weapon. Hopefully the arcane eye will reveal alot of pertinent information. But no decisions on any strategy will be made until we have that information.
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Post by Myrfol on Jun 9, 2004 17:51:09 GMT -5
All the arcane eye can tell us is what is outside unless we dare to send it in. Which is not much help unless everything is outside, if we do deside to go into those caves to attack we will surly be outmatched, we dont know the caves at ALL they know them, wthey might have evne constructed som of them. Giving them the upperhand, Luring them out of the cave would be good because only so many things can come out of one cave entrance... I hope... and we could cut them down as they exit, that might lower the number a little bit depending on our numbers and our crew members skill. this would work well against the ratlings since the dragons will probalbly fly out the center and get us from behind, or call for help. I don't know this is just me rambling.
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Post by Myrfol on Jun 9, 2004 18:27:59 GMT -5
Hey, I'm sorry to post this so late but some of my relatives that were passing through today stopped and im being forced to go visit them so I wont be able to make it to tonights game. Sorry again, I really wanted to see how this battle goes down, Please send me all of what happens so I can know for next week. Have fun guys and er.. Good luck. SEEYA NEXT WEEK
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Post by Kelly on Jun 13, 2004 11:17:58 GMT -5
NEW PLAN
1. For now we are going to intercept the supply ship heading to the island. Initially we will try to take the ship intact so that we might use it to get close to the island in some kind of attack. Most likely we will be forced to sink it in an attempt to starve the dragons and ratmen out.
2. We also should have a backup plan to return to the island. These possibilities have been discussed.
A) Use the supply ship to get close or to land.
B) Use the dingies to drop off an assualt team on the side of the island near the Giant's cave. Then use the ship to attack the caves on the opposite side of the island as a diversion (attacking with seige weapons). When the diversion starts, the assualt team would go into the giant's cave and try to take out the foes there.
3. It would be helpful to refine these plans since it is unclear whether we can starve out the dragons or how long this would take. I can use a divination spell to find out the likelihood of the success of such a plan. We must find this out since it is possible that the dragons are nearly done using the giant and there would be no time to stop them by the starvation method.
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Post by Hussar on Jun 13, 2004 20:53:27 GMT -5
Having given some thought to taking the ship, I realized that Turjan and probably Apoctus, if he can cast the spell, has a good spell for freezing enemy ships in the water. You might want to ask them.
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Post by Merkuri on Jun 14, 2004 7:18:43 GMT -5
Problems with the plans:
A) Once we get our captured ship close enough, then what? If they buy our disguise then odds are that there will be a lot of ratmen and a dragon or two to unload the supplies. Do we turn and attack with ship weapons (if any)? Do we hope they let us all the way to the beach and attack with ground troops? Or do we use our hypothetically captured ship as a decoy? Is it possible (through magical or mundane means) to sail a ship for any amount of time without crew? It doesn't need to turn or fire, just go straight? One possible diversion would be to sink this captured (and unmanned) ship with the Tally while in view of the shore, thus hopefully drawing all the forces to chase the Tally while our land crew attacks the caves. This only works, of course, if they have ships to chase us with.
B) Now that our element of suprise is gone, it's likely that ratmen will be on watch and will see our dingies before we come ashore, probably when the Tally drops them off. Realistically, how far can we expect to drop the dingies and have them row in? Do we have anything that could help us row in without being seen, just in case the Tally's firing doesn't draw the scouts where we plan to land? Is it possible to use ghost image to "cover" something up? For example, could we project a ghost image of water or waves over the dingies and hide beneath them?
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