OOC VIII

[MonsterMash]

I'm up for it, Thurgan wants to show his mettle.

[thirdkingdom]

Okay. All I'm going to ask is that we resolve the individual combat quickly, so the others aren't standing around.

[Wyzard]

I am going to try and avoid kibbitzing in the troll fight after this, but I recommend taking it down fast and then burning it before it gets back up. Your weapon mastery bonuses might be more useful at the start of the fight than trying to light it up immediately is.

[MonsterMash]

Got to admit I'm thinking that now, though Thurgan doesn't have weapon mastery yet with his sword.

[Atlictoatl]

I don't mind kibbitzing. That's useful info. Don't know that I've fought a troll before, and certainly not an early version of one.

[Wyzard]

They're typically 5 or 6HD, IIRC, and they regenerate damage that isn't inflicted by fire. The regeneration ability increases the value of alpha-strikes; because they have excellent survivability versus an attrition strategy.

However, it's hard to deal 6HD worth of fire damage before it eats you. They often have three attacks per round. So, typically, you bash them until they fall over, then one person sits there hacking at its brainpan to keep it from getting back up, while the others douse it in oil and set it alight.

[MonsterMash]

Yes, thinking that unless you had lots of fire arrows prepared and plenty of archers to chuck them in it does mean getting in and close with melee weapons where we've got better damage, e.g. Thurgan with +1 for Str and a +1 Sword will do 3+ damage each hit and hopefully has enough HP to survive a couple of blows.

This is where you wish you had an MU with fireball.

[Atlictoatl]

Is this the part where we send Quint into town with all of the collected loot and ask the troll to wait a week while Quint studies a spell?

[thirdkingdom]

Wyzard, as Thurgan, Tev and potentially Vanco will be engaged with the troll they will be unable to lead their units. Let me know how you want to distribute the leftover units, and which ones you will personally command. I will update the map this evening; the closest warg unit is four rounds away.

[Wyzard]

Wyzard, as Thurgan, Tev and potentially Vanco will be engaged with the troll they will be unable to lead their units. Let me know how you want to distribute the leftover units, and which ones you will personally command. I will update the map this evening; the closest warg unit is four rounds away.

This is going to depend on how far ahead of the goblin army as a whole the wargs are going to be, and where the fight with the troll is happening.

Severi is going to send his (injured) 0-level squad back into the city with the chest of treasure. Other than that he'll keep his own units, and mostly just needs the others to be where the appropriate PC could take over for them...

If you'll give me an updated map, I could draw in where to put our own units?

[thirdkingdom]

I'll get you a copy of the map, sure. And the wargs are way ahead of the other goblin troops. I probably spread the map out more than I should have.

[Wyzard]

I'll get you a copy of the map, sure. And the wargs are way ahead of the other goblin troops. I probably spread the map out more than I should have.

Ginning these things up on the fly always ends up providing a dozen lessons on the value of experience.

[phil285]

I'm up for Vanco getting involved against the troll. Obviously, he'll borrow more oil (he should already have some on his character sheet). If we just bombard early, then try to knock it down / trip it / whatever works, then douse it with more oil. Hopefully that'll keep the risk relatively low for the PCs.

[phil285]

Cool, guys. Everyone who designed a crest add 300 XP (this award does not get modified by ability score boni).

Aha. If Vanco survives the troll and gets back to town, that's pushed him over the XP threshold for level 5.

[thirdkingdom]

I'm going to keep this OOC thread open until we end this scenario. I've posted the updated maps in the Siege of Threshold thread. I'm going to go ahead and start running the troll combat, and we can retcon troop placements as needed. Like I said in the other thread, this might get a little tricky with combat. The melee phase will be done in 10-second rounds, while the mass combat will be done in 1-minute rounds.

[Atlictoatl]

Now that I've finally opened my eyes and see the maps, I'll be less of an obstacle to smooth running. I'll be okay with things being tricky. Thanks for taking on the extra headaches; this is fun!

[Wyzard]

I'm posting here what Severi is proposing to do with the troops while you guys fight the lake troll. Best of luck. That sumbitch needs to die; in fact I'm surprised they've risked such an effective terror weapon in open combat. Steal the rings, btw.



I've color-coded the troops. White for Severi, black for Thurgan, red for Tev, blue for Vasco. I've also put a yellow ring around each PC's nominal personal unit. The red dots show the extent of how far Severi's elves can potentially hit a target with longbows.

If Severi's orders were for inside the city were followed, there should be archers on the parapets. So, if the bad guys get close to the walls, advantage to us. They have to fight us while getting bombarded. So, they damn near have to come at our flank. I put Thurgan's dwarves there, since they're tough, and the elves can support them with sorcery. If they do come at our flank like that, though, we should consider falling back toward the wall. Depending on what happens in the next few turns, we might need to do that anyway. Note that I've arranged it so that our command units can file neatly into the gate if we start taking too many losses.

The only thing I'm not certain about is that maybe unit 15 should be in hex 73.56. If they do go for our flank, that'll probably be one of my first moves.

Anyway. Good luck fighting the troll.

[Atlictoatl]

That's a great strategic plan.

~*~

If Thurgan's AC is that good for a finite number of rounds, maybe he should take "point" and Tev can swap in when Thurgan's AC resets, assuming the fight takes time. It would be a shame for Tev to need Thurgan to relieve him right when Thurgan's AC goes back to 2.

I'd initially thought Tev was going to get full benefit from his weapon mastery, but since the troll is unarmed, Tev gets just the Deflect 1, not the AC -2. If the Deflect is more useful than Thurgan's low AC, then Tev should definitely stay in the "point" position. (By which, I mean be the guy trying to take the brunt of the attacks.)

[thirdkingdom]

Al, do you want the .hxm file so you can position the northern troops while we resolve the troll fight?

[Alethan]

Al, do you want the .hxm file so you can position the northern troops while we resolve the troll fight?

Sure!