The War in the Core

[Resonant Curse]

I doubt the Shadow Insurrection has any artillery, they have been doing a more guerilla war.

[thekristhomas]

So the first thing that leaps out at me is that the liberating forces will all be approaching on the eastern bank of the Vuchar, making the River Quarter unapproachable until the Bralgaoljanglengzeit bridge is taken.

The centre of the eastern wall, being the furthest point from the Bastion of Iron and the Gate of Justice seems a likely place to attempt a breach, but would Richemuloise cannon be able to be moved over the canals that cross that area?

The canals effectively section off areas of the city, assuming Falkovnians really are the type to burn their bridges, Richmuloise forces might find themselves, upon breaching the eastern wall, stuck in the south east section of the city, which also appears to be one of the areas persecuted by the Talons and therefore with far less in the way of cover

The Shadow Insurrection is unlikely to have had access to cannon, and it is entirely possible that they have limited access to artillery at all, so maybe forced to assault the Bastion of Iron itself, rather than breach the walls.

So, The Shadow Insurrection will find itself in the Generals' Quarter, which you have to assume is the most well defended section of the city, and bars the way to Draccipetri, the seat of government

By the time either group fights it's way to the harbour, I would imagine the outcome of the battle would be a considered a forgone conclusion, and therefore they would hopefully not burn the harbour.

I can't imagine that any of the remaining Drakovs would surrender at this point, Draccipetri would be nearly impossible to take via direct assault, so rather than complete the arduous task of dragging the cannon through the city and levelling it, I imagine that it would be taken overnight by natural wererat special forces units who would kill the inhabitants so none might tell of their nature.

Once all this has been achieved, I imagine that the River Quarter might surrender, unless one last Drakov scion is goading the troops. If this is the case, might this be reason to begin diplomacy with the "Greater Lamordian" government? If the loyalist forces become isolated from their only remaining ally, it might be enough to tip the leadership into surrender.

*The Shadow Insurrection is unlikely to have had access to cannon, and it is entirely possible that they have limited access to artillery at all, so maybe forced to assault the Bastion of Iron itself, rather than breach the walls.*

Remember this is D&D not actual warfare.

Breaching the walls is always only one reasonably powerful caster away. One "Stone to mud" or similar spell could doubtlessly do wonders.

Ha, yeah, I may have got a little used to "low magic" campaigns

That being said, are they likely to have a high enough level spellcaster? I'm a little shaky on the Circle (as I'm guessing the Shadow Insurrection proper almost certainly wouldn't) are they just Knights of Shadow/warrior/fighter types or do they have the odd wizard knocking about?

[thekristhomas]

I doubt the Shadow Insurrection has any artillery, they have been doing a more guerilla war.

exactly

[jamesfirecat]

Ha, yeah, I may have got a little used to "low magic" campaigns

That being said, are they likely to have a high enough level spellcaster? I'm a little shaky on the Circle (as I'm guessing the Shadow Insurrection proper almost certainly wouldn't) are they just Knights of Shadow/warrior/fighter types or do they have the odd wizard knocking about?

Transmute Rock to Mud is a 5th level spell that can be cast by wizards, sorcerer or druids. 5th Level spell means 8th level character.

That said I just looked at exactly how that spell works and it's not super what you'd want, you'd probably prefer 7th level spell (meaning a 13th level character so there are probably a handful of those in each domain) Transmute Stone to Wood, at which point if the thing doesn't collapse due to part of the foundation suddenly being much weaker than the rest, a few "Warp Wood"s spells (2nd level) will handle the mater.

Ravenloft may be a low magic campaign but given that there's pretty much the largest war ever going on there are bound to be some reasonably powerful spell casters getting involved even if it has to be something really in depth like Gondegal going on a quest into Verbrek to link up with some "ancient" druid (13-14th level or so) who lives there to get them to help him liberate Falkovnia.

This is your call of course I just imagine that it is appropriately karmic if part of Falkovnia's downfall involves the fact that the obvious "you idiot, this is D&D, battle magic can make a mockery of conventional standing armies/fortifications" finally comes home to roost. In the Falkovnian army/Drakov's way of thinking you would need a might siege engine to lay waste to a mighty fortress, in the reality in which you live, one guy in a robe can breach your walls in less than a minute by casting the right spell."


If possible I'd expect Jacqueline to also lean heavily on the House of Sages to help provide Richemulot's armies with some serious mystical firepower.

[thekristhomas]

Ha, yeah, I may have got a little used to "low magic" campaigns

That being said, are they likely to have a high enough level spellcaster? I'm a little shaky on the Circle (as I'm guessing the Shadow Insurrection proper almost certainly wouldn't) are they just Knights of Shadow/warrior/fighter types or do they have the odd wizard knocking about?

Transmute Rock to Mud is a 5th level spell that can be cast by wizards, sorcerer or druids. 5th Level spell means 8th level character.

That said I just looked at exactly how that spell works and it's not super what you'd want, you'd probably prefer 7th level spell (meaning a 13th level character so there are probably a handful of those in each domain) Transmute Stone to Wood, at which point if the thing doesn't collapse due to part of the foundation suddenly being much weaker than the rest, a few "Warp Wood"s spells (2nd level) will handle the mater.

Ravenloft may be a low magic campaign but given that there's pretty much the largest war ever going on there are bound to be some reasonably powerful spell casters getting involved even if it has to be something really in depth like Gondegal going on a quest into Verbrek to link up with some "ancient" druid (13-14th level or so) who lives there to get them to help him liberate Falkovnia.

This is your call of course I just imagine that it is appropriately karmic if part of Falkovnia's downfall involves the fact that the obvious "you idiot, this is D&D, battle magic can make a mockery of conventional standing armies/fortifications" finally comes home to roost. In the Falkovnian army/Drakov's way of thinking you would need a might siege engine to lay waste to a mighty fortress, in the reality in which you live, one guy in a robe can breach your walls in less than a minute by casting the right spell."


If possible I'd expect Jacqueline to also lean heavily on the House of Sages to help provide Richemulot's armies with some serious mystical firepower.

You definitely have a point that the Falkovnian attitude to battle magic needs to come home to roost, their attitude towards women has already been ticked off the list by Jackie's leadership, and I think that might have been in the back of my mind when I was thinking about the Fraternity and the Radiant Tower.

Outside of those two groups, IIRC spellcasters aren't a numerous commodity and could be bogged down in the other areas at war (SPOILER FOR CURSE OF STRAHD:

VIEW CONTENT:

on the other hand apparently Mordenkainen is running around the demiplane, so who knows anything anymore

Hmmm...another of the Falkovnian prejudices might be the source of some handy battlemages actually, elves. As Lekar is the last city to fall, it is reasonable to assume that both attacking groups would be freeing slaves as they went, it would follow that some of these elves, dwarves etc would want to fight their oppressor, and there's a good chance that some of these will have magical skill, they are elves after all, and dwarves are always handy in a siege, it would be nice, poetic justice if the demihumans played a role in the downfall of Drakov's legacy.

[jamesfirecat]

You definitely have a point that the Falkovnian attitude to battle magic needs to come home to roost, their attitude towards women has already been ticked off the list by Jackie's leadership, and I think that might have been in the back of my mind when I was thinking about the Fraternity and the Radiant Tower.

Outside of those two groups, IIRC spellcasters aren't a numerous commodity and could be bogged down in the other areas at war (SPOILER FOR CURSE OF STRAHD:

VIEW CONTENT:

on the other hand apparently Mordenkainen is running around the demiplane, so who knows anything anymore

Hmmm...another of the Falkovnian prejudices might be the source of some handy battlemages actually, elves. As Lekar is the last city to fall, it is reasonable to assume that both attacking groups would be freeing slaves as they went, it would follow that some of these elves, dwarves etc would want to fight their oppressor, and there's a good chance that some of these will have magical skill, they are elves after all, and dwarves are always handy in a siege, it would be nice, poetic justice if the demihumans played a role in the downfall of Drakov's legacy.

Dwarves could be handy for siege work if you want to go to the most obvious trope in the book for them, but I think if any of the slaves had intense magical talent the kind that could be used for war, they probably would have either been able to escape before now, or been killed off to keep them from escaping.

It's not like Falkovnia has well established system of keeping people who have magical talent from being able to use it after all.

Granted there would be plenty of room for a slave born with the right whatever it is that goes into being a sorcerer, escaped because of it and now is coming back to help free his people.

Granted I suppose this may just be a situation where the crunch quite literally "crunches" my suspension of disbelief, because how do you go about keeping somebody captive who can fling around fireballs on a whim? Maybe keep them drugged up to the gills/constantly bound and gagged, but if you're doing that you're not really getting any out of them as a slave/captive now are you?

[thekristhomas]

You definitely have a point that the Falkovnian attitude to battle magic needs to come home to roost, their attitude towards women has already been ticked off the list by Jackie's leadership, and I think that might have been in the back of my mind when I was thinking about the Fraternity and the Radiant Tower.

Outside of those two groups, IIRC spellcasters aren't a numerous commodity and could be bogged down in the other areas at war (SPOILER FOR CURSE OF STRAHD:

VIEW CONTENT:

on the other hand apparently Mordenkainen is running around the demiplane, so who knows anything anymore

Hmmm...another of the Falkovnian prejudices might be the source of some handy battlemages actually, elves. As Lekar is the last city to fall, it is reasonable to assume that both attacking groups would be freeing slaves as they went, it would follow that some of these elves, dwarves etc would want to fight their oppressor, and there's a good chance that some of these will have magical skill, they are elves after all, and dwarves are always handy in a siege, it would be nice, poetic justice if the demihumans played a role in the downfall of Drakov's legacy.

Dwarves could be handy for siege work if you want to go to the most obvious trope in the book for them, but I think if any of the slaves had intense magical talent the kind that could be used for war, they probably would have either been able to escape before now, or been killed off to keep them from escaping.

It's not like Falkovnia has well established system of keeping people who have magical talent from being able to use it after all.

Granted there would be plenty of room for a slave born with the right whatever it is that goes into being a sorcerer, escaped because of it and now is coming back to help free his people.

Granted I suppose this may just be a situation where the crunch quite literally "crunches" my suspension of disbelief, because how do you go about keeping somebody captive who can fling around fireballs on a whim? Maybe keep them drugged up to the gills/constantly bound and gagged, but if you're doing that you're not really getting any out of them as a slave/captive now are you?

OK, what you're saying makes sense, it's not like there's a canonical "elf leash" that keeps them in line. So, how about this? The Shadow Insurrection has been freeing slaves for some time, through raids on small work gangs. Some of the elves freed have gone on to become experienced mages, tutored by Circle sponsored wizards, so they weren't powerful spellcasters while they were slaves, but they are now

[Resonant Curse]

You definitely have a point that the Falkovnian attitude to battle magic needs to come home to roost, their attitude towards women has already been ticked off the list by Jackie's leadership, and I think that might have been in the back of my mind when I was thinking about the Fraternity and the Radiant Tower.

Outside of those two groups, IIRC spellcasters aren't a numerous commodity and could be bogged down in the other areas at war (SPOILER FOR CURSE OF STRAHD:

VIEW CONTENT:

on the other hand apparently Mordenkainen is running around the demiplane, so who knows anything anymore

Hmmm...another of the Falkovnian prejudices might be the source of some handy battlemages actually, elves. As Lekar is the last city to fall, it is reasonable to assume that both attacking groups would be freeing slaves as they went, it would follow that some of these elves, dwarves etc would want to fight their oppressor, and there's a good chance that some of these will have magical skill, they are elves after all, and dwarves are always handy in a siege, it would be nice, poetic justice if the demihumans played a role in the downfall of Drakov's legacy.

Dwarves could be handy for siege work if you want to go to the most obvious trope in the book for them, but I think if any of the slaves had intense magical talent the kind that could be used for war, they probably would have either been able to escape before now, or been killed off to keep them from escaping.

It's not like Falkovnia has well established system of keeping people who have magical talent from being able to use it after all.

Granted there would be plenty of room for a slave born with the right whatever it is that goes into being a sorcerer, escaped because of it and now is coming back to help free his people.

Granted I suppose this may just be a situation where the crunch quite literally "crunches" my suspension of disbelief, because how do you go about keeping somebody captive who can fling around fireballs on a whim? Maybe keep them drugged up to the gills/constantly bound and gagged, but if you're doing that you're not really getting any out of them as a slave/captive now are you?

OK, what you're saying makes sense, it's not like there's a canonical "elf leash" that keeps them in line. So, how about this? The Shadow Insurrection has been freeing slaves for some time, through raids on small work gangs. Some of the elves freed have gone on to become experienced mages, tutored by Circle sponsored wizards, so they weren't powerful spellcasters while they were slaves, but they are now

Probably not enough of a timeframe for that to really occur except for pcs.

[Resonant Curse]

On the topic of spellcasters, while yes, spells like Rock to Mud are great for adventurers, there isn't necessarily a reason for most wizards to learn it, unless you are trying to build a stronghold or something.

Not to mention, unless you also have other spells like invisibility, etc. your spellcaster has to make it to the walls in he first place. Also, if you collapse he wall, you need to make sure that it won't fall on you, and while, yes, pc wizards tend to have at least a few ranks in every knowledge skill, npc ones are going to be more specialised and there ae no skilled siege wizards in the Domains of Dread because there have been practically no wars.

[Dark Angel]

On the topic of spellcasters, while yes, spells like Rock to Mud are great for adventurers, there isn't necessarily a reason for most wizards to learn it, unless you are trying to build a stronghold or something.

Not to mention, unless you also have other spells like invisibility, etc. your spellcaster has to make it to the walls in he first place. Also, if you collapse he wall, you need to make sure that it won't fall on you, and while, yes, pc wizards tend to have at least a few ranks in every knowledge skill, npc ones are going to be more specialised and there ae no skilled siege wizards in the Domains of Dread because there have been practically no wars.

I could see a few in Darkon (not at Azalin's behest, but 'privately' arranged for), but no where else. Maybe the Insurrection could have developed contacts and arranged to have that person join in to fight Falkovnians. Unless one was dropped in from outside the Demiplane otherwise, but that is total railroading.

[Resonant Curse]

On the topic of spellcasters, while yes, spells like Rock to Mud are great for adventurers, there isn't necessarily a reason for most wizards to learn it, unless you are trying to build a stronghold or something.

Not to mention, unless you also have other spells like invisibility, etc. your spellcaster has to make it to the walls in he first place. Also, if you collapse he wall, you need to make sure that it won't fall on you, and while, yes, pc wizards tend to have at least a few ranks in every knowledge skill, npc ones are going to be more specialised and there ae no skilled siege wizards in the Domains of Dread because there have been practically no wars.

I could see a few in Darkon (not at Azalin's behest, but 'privately' arranged for), but no where else. Maybe the Insurrection could have developed contacts and arranged to have that person join in to fight Falkovnians. Unless one was dropped in from outside the Demiplane otherwise, but that is total railroading.

Even grabbing possible spellcasters that we don't know and just assuming that "generic unnamed spellcaster from somewhere" would get involved and on whose side seems pretty railroadish towards specific outcomes one wants over the likelihood of it happening. Better to assume standard siege with possible low level magic support. No particular reason for Darkon or Hazlan to become involved and they are the only real likely candidates for high level mages to wander over from.

[jamesfirecat]

On the topic of spellcasters, while yes, spells like Rock to Mud are great for adventurers, there isn't necessarily a reason for most wizards to learn it, unless you are trying to build a stronghold or something.

Not to mention, unless you also have other spells like invisibility, etc. your spellcaster has to make it to the walls in he first place. Also, if you collapse he wall, you need to make sure that it won't fall on you, and while, yes, pc wizards tend to have at least a few ranks in every knowledge skill, npc ones are going to be more specialised and there ae no skilled siege wizards in the Domains of Dread because there have been practically no wars.

That's why I suggested predominantly druid based approach to siege warfare.

Druids get to pick their spells fresh every day and automatically have access to the full possible spell list based on their level so even if they've never needed a particular spell before, or thought about needing it, they can still ask for/get it on the fly with only 24 hour waiting period at most.

Likewise druid could use wildshape and natural spell any number of different ways (turn into a bird and do a fly by, turn into a mole and tunnel) in order to get close to their target in a way no conventional army would be able to properly defend against.

If I recall my Gazetteers correctly Falkovnia has a number of heavily wooded area where even Drakov's men don't really have control/go all that often which could play into the "escaped slave" angle mentioned in other posts as a place for where the druid escaped to/spent time mastering their mystical art.

Granted all of this really just goes to show that Druids are broken in 3.5, and how much your campaign setting lives up to that particular fact is not something known to me, but there's an entirely "in system" explanation for how a relatively powerful druid could be used to break a siege.

I HAVE SPECIAL ABILITIES THAT ARE MORE POWERFUL THAN YOUR ENTIRE CLASS!

[Resonant Curse]

I don't think I've *ever* heard anyone say 3/3.5 druids are broken before. In very specific circumstances they become extremely useful, but in general they aren't overpowered and the same can be said for any class.

[thekristhomas]

I'm not sure if this is possible , but I'm trying to be edition agnostic (my background is in 2nd ed and BECMI)

I think it might be fair to say that druids can be considered more available in the setting generally due to several groups and regions producing them, whereas, as has been pointed out there is no tradition of battle magic anywhere in the demiplane.

I wonder though, if the leaders of the assaulting forces, Jackie in particular, might not be thinking that, from a symbolic, PR perspective it would be good if the regime was defeated by those it had considered inferior, and might find themselves wondering if there was a female elf battle mage available for hire.

[thekristhomas]

Are all the elves held as slaves "locally bred" or are they captured somehow? Do the Falkovnians send slaving parties into the Mistland? Seems unlikely that Azalin would stand for that. I'm guessing that, generally, elves would go round if they needed to pass Falkovnia, so I suppose the majority would be either bred or mist-led.

Is there any info on slave numbers? Are they a major part of the rural economy? If so then the abolition might cause a delay in resumed production on top of the interruption already caused by the war.

This might have the most effect on the political situation in Dementlieu, the original D'Honaire administration had been cut off from Falkovnian food markets with the out break of Drakov's hostilities with Richemulot. With the Lamordian invasion, grain had begun to flow again, as Falkovnia traded with her ally. Now, with the Richemuloise counter offensive, Dementlieu and Lamordia are again cut off from the grain, and even if the Baroness von Aubreker can come to an arrangement with Jacqueline swiftly, there is the possibility that without slaves the supply will not start again straight away, which puts pressure on the Lamordian administration.

A fair number of countries are going to be hit by the loss of trade, some seem more self sufficient than others, Mordent IIRC imports less generally, but they'll still have to deal with refugees I would think. Where else might refugees head?