Prologue: The Mad Scientist

[Adamah]

Mackenzie shrugged, "You three have enough on your plates in the coming weeks for me to put that on you. I try to keep track of him as best I can, and he hasn't gotten himself into any major trouble yet." He smiled.

"Iggy might surprise you, he's quite capable of defending himself when the situation warrants. I've seen him make an orc warrior wish he was never born, without even acknowledging that the orc was there."

"As for the mission, we really don't have a choice. Besides needing him for maintenance of the cannons he's not even a member of the Andoran military. He's free to travel where he pleases. Knowing Iggy, if we tried to prevent him from coming he would simply build the cannon himself from scratch, hire a company of soldiers, and go to Trunau anyways. He's extraordinarily wealthy. This whole scheme was originally his idea, I simply persuaded him to do it in conjunction with the Eagle Knights instead of going off by himself."

"We don't even have any proof that he's suffering from an illness. About six months ago I persuaded him to get checked out by some pretty powerful clerics. They all said that there's nothing actually wrong with him. As explained to me, he might be acting this way because he really CAN see things that we don't. Somehow he may have gained the ability to see beyond what's physically here. Or some mystic mumbo jumbo like that."

"Regardless, he's here now and it's my job to keep him safe, not yours. But he is incredibly important to this mission, Andoran, and possibly the whole of Golarion. So I won't be mad if you look out for him either, just don't let it interfere with your jobs."

"If that's it, I think I'm going to go catch some shut eye." He looks at Gnar, "thank you again for saving my life, the rest of you too, even if we were to turn back now, as far as I'm concerned you three have already passed your Exam with flying colors."

 

You guys have about 2 days of downtime to get anything done you want, story wise or not. I'll act out NPC's as needed, but this period is pretty much in your control. Once I get the feeling that you've done about as much as you want or can do in that time period I'll advance the story. (Note this does not have to be a long drawn out affair if you are just interested in getting on with the story, a quick blurb about how your character passes the time sleeping/crafting bullets or something works just fine, I just find players often crave having some downtime to get things done with their characters or further interact with NPC's)

[MundayKnight]

"Sargent I need some information on these orc raids, do they surround the city entirely or do they attack from a specific direction? Also what is the general make up of the forces? Do they attack with barbarians up front or do they soften Trunau up with magic or arrows first?"

[Adamah]

"Bwa?!?" MacKenzie bolted upright in his hammock, where he had been sleeping for the last nine hours or so. This, of course, did not conform properly with the laws of physics, and with no magic on hand to counteract those laws, the end result saw him falling face first to the deck.

"Desna weeps! Don't you cadets know that I'm the one who's supposed to be waking you up in the Pharasma damned wee hourse of the morning?"

He stood up and stumbled over to his trunk, pulling out a cup and making his way towards the door. "Alright, Alright, follow me so I can get some coffee, and grab your buddies while you're at it."

After he had his second cup with some bacon and eggs to go with it, he seemed more cheerful.

"Ok, Orc tactics."

"Now, most people out there that think Orc strategy revolves around getting angry and charging in a mob 'till either you kill them all or they kill you." He took a gulp of coffee.

"Maybe that's how they once did things, but we haven't seen that at Trunau as long as I've been taking cadets there. Orcs aren't smart or disciplined generally, but they are crafty. In previous years their basic tactics have been to surround the town under the cover of darkness, then attack in waves on all four sides." He paused for a few seconds to wolf down some more eggs.

"They hit the wall on the north side the hardest, but they've made attempts to scale the bluff too, so we have to watch out for that."

"Many Orcs fight by working themselves into a rage, then charging. But just as many are capable and careful fighters. Though they haven't had many magic users in the past, they have had a rather large supply of archers. If you're not indoors it's normally wise to either be within sprinting distance of overhead cover, or carry a rather large shield. There's been more than one joke made about "Trunau Rain", and the green slobs like putting poison on their arrow tips whenever they can."

[MundayKnight]

After getting the other recruits up and a few bites of breakfast the Sargent gave a quick overview of what to expect from the Orcs in Trunau. "I figured as much, I have thought of a way of getting rid of the problem of the bluffs giving us fewer avenues of attack to worry about. If we can use grease to cover the sides of the bluff they would be have a harder time of climbing it. Another thought, though an admittedly costly one, would be to make a fan of planks from the bluffs that goes out about seven feet so that they would not be able to climb over the top, unless they can climb horizontal surfaces that is."

[Xbow]

Akoragh is focused on crafting his blackpowder, though he does turn in to chime in every once in a while and say, If we had more magic users the arrows and darkness would be irrelevant. Besides we can also herd them into certain areas for fighting by setting up pikes protected by a mere handful of archers. The defense of the city and be prepared quite easily. In the underdark we used the pikes in multiple rows, that said it discourage many from blindly charging into the wall. Another thing to note would be that you can burrow the ground in front of the pikes. effectively trenching them, those that rush the wall, will fall into the pit or impale themselves. Those that don't, will be met with arrows. Then again, I am no tactician.

[jalroy]

Gnar had spent a good three hours of the evening dealing with the spirits who had decided to still follow the boat leaving Eranmas, including the old Crone who took a liking to Dracknor mostly. He learned she called herself Agatha, and was a Witch in her mortal life and not related to the Elven scroll merchant at all, just enjoyed following spell casters. Agatha had a wicked tongue and sense of humor, and a dislike of Orcs, so she desired to see the battle against the horde for herself, choosing Gnar as her latest spellcaster to follow. Much to his chagrin, yet it gave Dracknor a spirit friend who he could focus on. The other spirits who were haunting around Gnar included the elder brother of one of the soldiers who wanted Gnar to look out for his brother and keep him alive, worried should he come to harm it would hurt the family too much. Gnar made the promise he'd do what he could but duty came first.

Gnar didn't get as much sleep as he desired due to the spirits, not to mention he was still getting his sea legs, not being used to long trips by boat. When he was awoken, the half-orc lumbered around for a bit before grabbing a large plate of food and sitting down at the table. A large jug of coffee levitated across the table into his hand, to accompany his breakfast.

Before he could swallow his first bite, Dracknor barked out his opinion "Orc Heads on Spikes, all across the wall, Graffiti in Blood proclaiming their Weakness and Their Imminent DEATHS! That is the way to Intimidate the Orcs Before the Battle's even Begun!"

[MundayKnight]

"You raise a good point Akoragh, I think we could also make the area around it somewhat more difficult for a charge by making holes slightly larger than an Orcs foot, while Orcs have good eyesight in the dark if we have a fire set somewhere we could make that into a disadvantage. How many days do you expect to have before they first strike Sir? Also what kind of resources and manpower are we looking at on our side? If we could make a cover for the major avenues of movement we could eliminate much of the threat from the archers."

As Gnar speaks out Hurin finds himself somewhat taken aback by the violent outburst. "The only problem with that idea my friend is where do we get the Orc heads to start with? Although the graffiti in blood, or perhaps a substance that looks like blood, idea isn't a particularly bad one... Hmm...."

[Xbow]

You dont need a real orc head to make an orc head. All you would need is make up and a boars head or a pigs head for that matter, said Akoragh. These ideas are relatively low cost and low maintenance, some water resistant makeup, some strong wooden pikes, and some nice holes. Could maybe take 50-100 people just guessing about a day... he pauses for a second. Depending on how well you want them to work. Hell you could even have rope laying out in the field beyond the holes, have both ends within the city tied to horses. Then make sure that the holes on the outside have a mini ramp nothing more than 2 feet extending, this way when they pass the ropes and you have hit the horses, they will take off. Eventually the rope will begin to come off the ground and it will hit the orcs in the back pulling them into the pits and pikes. depending on how many orcs would depend on how many horses. Though, then again this is all speculation. Personally I would rather us leave the main gates open, line up 4 cannons and just light them up. As he finished what he was saying he had with his materials, drawn a circle of non explosive gunpowder for it was not mixed yet, and made a demonstration of how it could possibly work. two circles in fact, the other having a opening and 4 big X's in the middle for the cannons. He looks up and says, all is well in theory, all is well in theory.

 

[MundayKnight]

"Leave them one entrance point and turn it into a killing field? Risky but if it works it will be devastating. I also like the idea of the horses but if they come in the numbers that we are led to expect I suspect it would be somewhat difficult. Sir one last question of you, how high are the walls?"

[Adamah]

"All of you have some very interesting ideas," MacKenzie said, "we should certainly discuss them with the town when we arrive. Much of what we can accomplish will depend on what resources they have to muster."

He looks at Hurin, "the walls are ten to fifteen feet in height. They are reinforced by being built into the surrounding rocks, each rock has a rather large watchtower on it."

"Gnar, the town has actually already decorated the walls with the armor and shields of orcs who have fallen against them in battle. Generally a number of orc body parts tend to make their way onto the walls when the town is besieged."

"Ackoragh and Hurin, maybe you should try talking to Iggy about cannon tactics or the possibility of alchemical tricks to make scaling the walls and bluffs more difficult. Though, again, much of that will depend on the resources we have at hand when we arrive at the town, and the amount of time we have to implement them before the attacks begin."

[MundayKnight]

Well the walls are decent but any Orc with some upper body strength will be able to pull themselves up top. Well until we know more no point in worrying about it all.

[jalroy]

Gnar, or more to the truth Dracknor in possession of Gnar, growled at the Sargent for calling him the wrong name. He knew that Gnar was the one who was in the Eagle Knights and that he was just the spirit who gave the Half-Orc his magic and divine abilities. He knew he'd been long dead and forgotten in the pages of time, but he was quick to temper just the same.

"I Am Dracknor, the Elite Chosen of Aspu! Gnar is just the pathetic Host I must inhabit to return to this World... you shall address me as..." Gnar slammed his fists on the table and ducked his head, struggling for a moment. Utensils and plates shook from unseen hands, cups rising above the table for a few moments surrounding Gnar till finally resting back on the table, all of the plates and cups landed. What ever struggle he was having finally passed, Gnar's face returned to normal.

"I'm... sorry... I am in control again...." Clearly ashamed of his spirits outburst, and still a bit distraught over the display of his spirit. "He's a proud warrior... just so easy to anger..."

Gnar bows his head, unwilling to look into the others eyes after the display. He could still hear Dracknor fuming at the perceived insult and Agatha was cackling in the corner.

[MundayKnight]

"Worry not Gnar, we all have our demons, yours just gets a voice of his own." Hurin gives the half-orc a gentle smile before finishing his meal.

[Adamah]

The cadets wrapped up their conversation with MacKenzie and went their separate ways for the rest of the day. Later, the three were relaxing next to the rail on the top deck, enjoying the sunset, when Professor Ignacious walked up to them.

"Hey all," he said in greeting, "Mac tells me that you were looking for clever alchemical solutions to our orc problem. He mentioned something about greasing up the side of the bluffs. That's not a bad idea, the only problem is one of scale. I can develop a frictionless liquid easily, but nowhere near enough to cover even a significant percentage of the entire side and rear of the town. Since this was your idea to begin with I thought I'd come discuss it with you. Thoughts?" He seemed remarkable lucid.

 

I need a perception roll from everyone as you interact with him

[Xbow]

Well, we came up with several ideas, said akoragh while

Dice Perception:

1d20+5

(9)+5

Total = 14

looking around. we can explain them and perhaps see the feasibility.