HuManBing wrote:Finally, I appreciate The Pickled Punk's contributions, which focus almost exclusively on canonical reasons why the invasion would fail. However, given that the thread's clear intended purpose is to discuss non-canonical ways that an invasion could succeed, it appears perhaps this thread isn't for you.
You're welcome.
If we are changing canon to give Drakov a better shot, he should look into mass producing Warforged. I'm not an expert on the Eberron setting, but my understanding of Warforged is that they were designed to be churned out in magical factories operated by Artificers (Eberron specific class). Warforged are sapient Living Constructs. In 3.X they would not be subject to Azalin's animate dead power (in 4E it's a bit hazier), though they would be vulnerable to the memory effects. (Of course this can be negated by rotating troops, Warforged or Human. Rotating troops is also good strategy anyway, even without needing to worry about a supernatural brainwashing effect.)
If Drakov is open to using Artificers, then why not use another trick that Artificers came up with: rechargable wands that can be used by anyone, alchemical grenades and mortar shells, and magical transportation. That can even be Vlad Drakov's new slogan: "He made the magical trains run on time!"
Regarding warforged: Warforged have much the same thematic traits as golems, so assume my response to that topic applies here too.
Regarding a fifth column, I agree that this is essential and it marks a huge change in the way the Falkovnian army prosecutes a war. (This is intentional, in my campaign. Part of the campaign's focus is on the appearance of a brilliant new Falkovnian spymaster, who is dangerous not through his depravity but through his efficiency. The theme being "the enemy to fear is the enemy who is very good at his job".)
Accordingly, I'm drawing up a list of cities that the Falkovnian army must try to take peacefully, and also a list of possible influential insider sympathizers.
Nartok:
Absolutely essential. The bulk of Darkon's standing army is based out of here, and it's close enough to Falkovnia that it could serve as the southern end of the supply line. The insider would be Baron Eduard Curwen (Gaz2). He may have some information to give regarding Azalin's true nature, glimpsed at the royal moot banquets, but his main contribution is to give over control of the city without a fight. There will more important expert testimonies later on regarding Azalin.
This town will also serve as the Falkovnian temporary base while they conduct operations in Darkon. They will hold a semi-scripted public court (Beurteilung) at Nartok to accomplish two important tasks to neutralize Darkonian hostility: first, they will hold a truth and reconciliations determination, to provide some form of reparations in grain (remembering that Falkovnia is the Core's main breadbasket economy). Although this is far from a judicially rigorous accounting, it is intended to get the citizens of Nartok into a more receptive state of mind towards the Falkovnians ("these seem like a different generation to those who fight against our grandparents, let's at least hear them out").
Second function, the public court will allow the Falkovnians to list their evidence denouncing Azalin and the Eternal Order. This is vital to their cause as it allows the dissemination of anti-Azalin propaganda, and at the very least should sow confusion and break up the possibility of a unified front against Falkovnia.
Here they will need evidentiary help from various Darkonian experts, and this is a crucial list that I'll need help with. Already we've had some fantastic ideas, and I'd like to keep them coming. So far we have: the Fraternity of Shadows, Rudolph van Richten or his cohort of adventurers, or even just the books of van Richten, disgruntled barons, treacherous vassaliches. I'd like to add the possibility of compelled testimony - even people who support Azalin may be brought in front of a court of record and manipulated into revealing condemning information (e.g. unwitting servants, arm's length contractors, etc.). My campaign has several guilds that serve Azalin, some knowingly (e.g. The Il Aluk wizardry circles) and others unwittingly (e.g. l'Agence d'Affaires, a merchant guild). Any of these could have key members brought before the Beurteilung and browbeaten into some sort of damaging confession.
I could start a new thread entitled "who might know or suspect Azalin's true nature?" but for the moment I'll just leave it as a secondary question for this thread.
Other towns they would need: Rivalis, just for proximity to launch covert operations against Castle Avernus. Il Aluk if possible to capture the research institutions which have been collaborating with the king, as well as any capital apartments or residences the king may have. Karg is a distant possibility, but potentially very valuable, as it would allow them to access and publicize the documentation of the secret police.
One final thought: discrediting the Eternal Order is also a major part of the occupiers' plan. As I recall, Nartok is also the "home church" location of the Order - is that correct? At the very least, I seem to recall that Llowellyn Dachine was born there.
Ooh, another fun idea--disgruntled or disaffected members of the Kargat. Maybe that guy from Champions of Darkness who's the only high-ranking human Kargat member? He'd make a great recruit, since he's supposed to be a master propagandist and presumably knows where many, if not all, of the bodies are buried (literally and figuratively, in this case).
Also, if you wanted to, you could fiddle with another canon figure and say that Bastion Raines, instead of being the most open of all the Ezrans to non-humans, is the least open, and wants to subjugate the demihuman population of Darkon with Falkovnian assistance. (Imagine what a coup it would be to convert Drakov to the Ezran faith, or at least get him to tolerate it!)
Nathan of the FoS wrote:Also, if you wanted to, you could fiddle with another canon figure and say that Bastion Raines, instead of being the most open of all the Ezrans to non-humans, is the least open, and wants to subjugate the demihuman population of Darkon with Falkovnian assistance. (Imagine what a coup it would be to convert Drakov to the Ezran faith, or at least get him to tolerate it!)
You wouldn't need to change Raines that much; while he displays no animosity to non-humans, he might argue that the slavery in Falkovnia is a lesser evil compared to the Time of Unparalleled Darkness. If he thought he could save the souls of the Falkovnians he might be willing tolerate the opression of Dwarves, Elves, etc., even those who revere Ezra. He'd be convinced that for the "greater good" he needs to turn a blind eye to things that disgust him personally.
Might also add that if one could find proof that Azalin was to blame for Requim there at Il Aluk and it wasn't an "accident" might deter people against their king....
Could you possibly turn Ebb and her mate against azalin?
The Requiem hasn't occurred yet - although Azalin certainly plans to trigger it in the future. (That element also has very heavy changes, which are beyond this thread.)
Your mention of Ebb is important: if she were set loose on the battlefield, things would turn very bad for the Falkovnians very quickly. In terms of mass combat, what could a strong, well-equipped medieval army do against a dragon?
(I am intentionally avoiding the issue of Gloom because he doesn't enter my campaign until after the Requiem.)
Zilfer wrote:Might also add that if one could find proof that Azalin was to blame for Requim there at Il Aluk and it wasn't an "accident" might deter people against their king....
It certainly would for many, but this is set before the Grand Conjunction and the Requiem, so it hasn't come up yet.
Another couple of points in re: Bastion Raines--he's one guy who would really, really care about Azalin's being undead, and he (which is to say, the Darkonian Ezrans) probably stands to gain the most of anyone from the discrediting of the Eternal Order, so that's two more reasons to involve him.
The problem with that is that he doesn't establish the Fourth Sect until after the Grand Conjunction, so you'd have to rejigger his timeline, but we have already established that canon is no object.
I'm sold. Bastion Raines is going in. Let the two religions fight!
As far as the Kargat goes, I see this as being a very high-risk gamble. Bringing in any secret police agents risks giving Azalin a direct conduit to the workings of the invasion if the agent turns out to be a double cross. As noted, the agent would almost certainly not be an undead or a werebeast because those are the very things the smear campaign against the king will be focusing on. A human could work - I'll have to do some thinking.
One other interesting thing could be if the Falkovnians captured a Kargat agent, and forced them to recant publicly in the Beurteilung, or even killed him and hung his inhuman corpse up with a sign saying "the true nature of King and Kargat" for all to see.
Other damaging evidence could be showing that the Eternal Order itself is behind the undead low-level incursions (which they then conveniently "save" the locals from). Any of these could help turn public support away from Azalin and give the Falkovnian propaganda machine some credibility.
Last edited by HuManBing on Thu Apr 18, 2013 6:39 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Things to restrict the dragon from flying first off would be helpful. Not sure if a hold Monster or Hold person would work on Ebb.... <.< Maybe a those large crossbows... forget their name at the moment ah! bastila, with rope attached to it for if they do get a hit get a free trip attack to pull Ebb from the air. While a dragon is scary, an Army that can attempt to HIT the dragon can eventually make it retreat or kill it. xD Explosives would be my choice against a dragon. Maybe balista's drenched in poison might help.... <.< imagine drow sleeping poison hitting a dragon and actually making ti fall asleep mid flight....!!
Could also sabotague the Dragon's food supply poisoning nearby cattle and live stock and animals that the dragon eats and hopefully it isn't noticed before she takes a few bites of the seeming 'easy meal' since the animal isn't doing too well and can't flee the dragon.... Sometimes dragon's think their soooooo smart. xD
Alternatively if a large enough sum is offered Ebb might 'find an excuse' not to show up. Dragons are greedy no?
First off, at this point in the history, Ebb still lives with Azalin in Castle Avernus, so her supply line would be limited. If she gets injured, hungry, or tired, she must fly all the way back to the Castle in order to rest. She can't just touch down in a nearby city without causing a major panic. She could rest in a lake or forest or other secluded natural place, but likely only during night, when she's less likely to be seen by some citizen in the wrong place at the wrong time. Her heavy reliance on Azalin's hospitality probably makes her one of the only allies he can entirely trust at this point - coupled with the fact that the Falkovnians have very little to offer her which Azalin cannot immediately raise with a better counter offer.
Ebb also is single at this point, as Gloom has not yet arrived in Ravenloft to mate with her. Accordingly, she has no eggs to hold hostage, so the Falkovnians can't get leverage over her that way.
The two ways I can think of to fight Ebb would be through massed projectile fire aiming to injure the vulnerable wing membranes, or some sort of explosive introduced to her by trickery.
The first would require not only an organized volley line of bowmen, but also adequate lighting, given that Ebb would only attack at night (in order to render her intervention plausibly deniable). Once the dragon became active and the Nachrichtendienst was certain it was behind the night time attacks, they could set up a quadrangle or perimeter of bright chemical flares, to be set off in case of dragon attack. The archers would scramble to a volley line and pepper the dragon with arrows, hoping to drive it off.
The second would piggyback off of Gonzoron's (?) suggestion of self-destruct necklaces. In the movie Dragonslayer this tactic is brought up - the dragon picks you up in its claws or mouth, at which point you use magical or chemical explosives to blow yourself up, and hopefully take it with you. The Falkovnian (edited) high command would probably have equipped its top military brass and intel staff with suicide necklaces to prevent them from being tortured or reanimated by the enemy. If this were the case, a suitably fanatical officer could be put in either a leadership position, or an artillery position to provoke the dragon into picking him up, whereupon he detonates his self-destruct necklace. The blast would probably not kill Ebb outright, but if it's powerful enough to shred a human body then it would probably be powerful enough to cripple her talon or even cause blindness/deafness if detonated near her head (in case of a jaw bite).
One thing Ebb wants to avoid is ground combat - that puts her at risk of serious injury or death or capture, regardless of how strong her apparent advantage is. The best option is to stay at a distance and wear down the numerous granular Falkovnian army through ranged attacks or bombardment from the air.
Last edited by HuManBing on Thu Apr 18, 2013 4:18 pm, edited 1 time in total.
HuManBing wrote:The Fallopian high command would probably have equipped its top military brass and intel staff with suicide necklaces to prevent them from being tortured or reanimated by the enemy.
I'm guessing that's an all-timer of an autocorrect error there? Although in this context it has some possibilities, or would if Ebb had already mated..."Your Majesty, the Fallopian High Command is holding the eggs hostage!"
*ahem*
The real problem with massed archers (and probably the biggest problem for any army faced with a dragon) is dragonfear. I think they'd have to try to address that somehow first. I'd also strongly consider assembling an elite strike force (more than one, if I could) to find, follow and incapacitate Ebb somehow. I'd also make everybody who could memorize blindness. It only takes one failed save! (Since you're not using D&D rules, that may not be useful.) A simple magical way to tag Ebb so her location could be tracked would also be very useful.
Oh yeah.... how does GURPS do magic anyways? Is it free form? I mean slaming a large chunk of rock up from the ground is enough to throw a dragon off balance. xD
HuManBing wrote:The Fallopian high command would probably have equipped its top military brass and intel staff with suicide necklaces to prevent them from being tortured or reanimated by the enemy.
I'm guessing that's an all-timer of an autocorrect error there?
Goddammit.
Yeah, it's strange how such a small autocorrect error can make such a vas deferens in a sentence's meaning.
On a serious note, the Falkovnians could field a conscript or fanatic scrimmage line equipped with some magical enchanted baubles acting as homing beacons. If they can taunt Ebb into swallowing them, then the enemy can keep track of where Ebb is geographically.
The second would piggyback off of Gonzoron's (?) suggestion of self-destruct necklaces. In the movie Dragonslayer this tactic is brought up - the dragon picks you up in its claws or mouth, at which point you use magical or chemical explosives to blow yourself up, and hopefully take it with you. The Falkovnian (edited) high command would probably have equipped its top military brass and intel staff with suicide necklaces to prevent them from being tortured or reanimated by the enemy. If this were the case, a suitably fanatical officer could be put in either a leadership position, or an artillery position to provoke the dragon into picking him up, whereupon he detonates his self-destruct necklace. The blast would probably not kill Ebb outright, but if it's powerful enough to shred a human body then it would probably be powerful enough to cripple her talon or even cause blindness/deafness if detonated near her head (in case of a jaw bite).
What about trained falcons with that kind of device attached to them? They could be trained to fly and detonate in kamikaze attack. Set loose a few of those and you might well take incapacitate a dragon.
Plus it could be a parallel to real life german army that in WWII used trained dogs with explosives attached to them to take out tanks by getting under them and blowing them up from below.
Just a thought.
"Man is born free, but everywhere he is in chains."
