Jakkedin's page

In Book #1, the PC's learn that supplies are being sent down the Tamran highway to the Ironfang Legion soldiers who have cut-off the highway traffic and capturing everyone trying to use the road.

Not much has changed in Book #2.

As Book #3 begins: "Strategists in both Molthune and Nirmathas expect
the Legion to seize Tamran imminently, and the forest
marshal has already begun concentrating what forces he
can around the tiny city to deflect the expected invasion."

At the conclusion of Book #3: "In retaliation
for the embarrassment her forces endured, she (General Azaersi)
dispatches a small army to the east to burn Nirmathas’s
capital of Tamran, hoping the threat of retaliation will
prevent communities from allying with would-be saviors
in the future."

I have some questions...

1) What is the "S" on the map for Kosseruk's encampment? Is this where the tunnel to the town from the ankheg leads?

2) What would be an appropriate use for the 20k GP they get from the mayor? I hinted that it's not for them directly, but that seems a bit... odd.

3) What should I do with all of the turns that get mooted by finishing previous entries? The biggest is the catapults (they killed the Nuckalevee). It just seems odd to say "alright, war has begun..." then wait for several turns before anything else. I was thinking they have smaller ones instead, or not as many, and they only inflict half the damage. Another option was to have a pair of regular hobgoblin troops march on the town.

1) You would be correct. S marks the spot from where the tunnel originates inside the camp.

2) It is up to the PCs on how to use this money. They could buy stuff for themselves, buy services (physical labor maybe), buy supplies (foodstuff, war stuff, building materials), or keep it or some of it as a retainer for their services. You can reward them for creative use of this money (increasing the town's defense) and penalize them for hording it. As the townsfolk could see the PCs as greedy and less caring and the town"s morale could falter, lowering the town's defense.

3) The town's defense still gets lowered in these turns without scripted scenes. Just because there isn't something special going on in a turn that doesn't mean that nothing is happening. Hordes of attackers are still pushing at the gates, assaulting the walls, and just being a general nuisance. These turns without special actions by the Legion are turns that the PCs can finish up previous turns' encounters or attempt to do something special themselves. See the Unorthodox Tactics sidebar on page 46. I believe the movie Kingdom of Heaven a classic example of a siege of a city by an army that would be equipped fairly typical of Golarion equivalent time frame.

The Ironfang Legion now has a new campaign of conquest to wage, not on behalf of soft human masters (Moltune), but to seize their own destiny and carve out a homeland for so-called “monsters.”

With her armies and a dwarven artifact, the leader of the Ironfang Legion is prepared to launch her campaign of lightning-quick assaults to carry her across Nirmathas, and eventually Molthune and Lastwall. She intends to carve out a homeland for the monsters humans fear, with Phaendar as the beating heart that will deliver her Nirmathi food, mines, and lumber. Her people need only land to settle and enslaved hands to raise their empire.

So if a band of heroes rises to the occasion:
At the beginning of the adventure, there is an uneasy truce between Molthune amd Nirmathis. Molthune has been concentrating on a siege of Kraggadon. As the danger posed by the Ironfang Legion increases, the PCs attempt to find allies from within the region. The PCs have the opportunity to from an alliance with the Fey, Nesmian Plains and Hollow Hills inhabitants, Chersando Rangers, dwarves of Kraggadon, and even Molthune. If the Ironfang Legion is defeated, this could lead to peace in the region. At least for a time.

If no heroes take on the Legion or if the heroes are defeated:
The Ironfang Legion has carved out its own kingdom and the rest of the region is shattered, scattered, and threatened by the Legion.

Worst case scenario:
The PCs could defeat the Legion but disaster still occurs. Or the PCs fail at the last moment. And the region "will be devastated by an impact unseen since Earthfall". Molthune, Nirmathis, Nesmian Plains, Hollow Hills, Fangwood Forest are destroyed. Kraggadon is buried or ruined. Ruin and destruction. "Monsters" loose everywhere in the region. Maybe the leaders of the Legion are still alive and so the area is now a kingdom for the Ironfang Region.

Since using the militia system still appears to be somewhat confusing, I would like to go over what my group and I have done for setting up the militia to start.

Note, we have just set-up the militia and haven't started rolling for training and actions or phases. I have determined that the militia can be formed just at the end of book 1.

What you need: access to Land of Conflict book, militia sheet from the Ironfang Player's Guide, attribute scores of PCs and notable NPCs (this may mean stat'ing out some of them- Kining, Rhyna, Vane, and Jet), and knowledge of how many refugees your group has. And lastly, at least one player interested in managing the militia.

So... the steps are (have the militia sheet in front of you):

1) Start filling out the top of the militia sheet
Choose a name
Rank= 1
Max Rank= PC level - 1
Treasury= 10 gp
Max Treasury= Rank (1) x 10 gp = 10 gp
Training= 0
Notoriety= 0
Choose a Focus from Loyalty, Security, and Secrecy (see page 49 of Lands of Conflict)

2) Assign Officers from PCs (if desired) and/ or NPCs
Ambassador should ideally have a high Constitution or Charisma modifier
Marshal should ideally have a high Strength or Wisdom modifier
Spymaster should ideally have a high Dexterity or Intelligence modifier
Overseer should ideally have a decent Constitution or Charisma, a decent Strength or Wisdom, and a decent Dexterity or Intelligence
Commandant should have the highest level/ HD possible (at early stages this should ideally be Aubrin if she survived)
Strategist could be anyone really.

See Land of Conflicts pages 51-52 for more details.
*As a note, I have decided in my campaign that any PCs assigned to Officer positions need to be available, i.e. not adventuring away from the militia at the beginning of a week, to grant bonuses to organization checks, training, and the extra militia action.

3) Fill out the Officer part of the militia sheet.
Ambassador's best of Constitution or Charisma modifier is bonus to Loyalty
Marshal's best of Strength or Wisdom modifier is bonus to Security
Spymaster's best of Dexterity or Intelligence modifier is bonus to Secrecy
Commandant's level/ HD is the bonus to training.
Strategist grants an extra Militia action if one is chosen.
Overseer gives best of Constitution or Charisma modifier is bonus to Loyalty, best of Strength or Wisdom modifier is bonus to Security, and best of Dexterity or Intelligence modifier is bonus to Secrecy while the Militia teams take actions only.

4) Fill out Organization Check part of the sheet.
Whichever of Security, Secrecy, and Loyalty is the Focus, that one gets a 2 as its base score.
If an Overseer has been chosen or is available, the other 2 checks get a base score of 1. See Land of Conflicts pages 51-52 for details.
Fill in Bonuses from the Marshal, Ambassador, and Spymaster.
The other column is for situational, temporary, and other bonuses.

5) Choose teams and fill out team part of the militia sheet. Max number of teams at rank 1 is 2. Choices are Espionage, Intelligence, Military and Treasury teams. See Lands of Conflict pages 52-54.
Here is where you need to know how many refugees are available as team size and number of Officers matter. If you don't have enough people, you cannot have more teams.
Manager of a team is not really necessary as far as I can tell so far.
Bonus on this part comes from events and previous militia actions if applicable.

6) Fill out Militia Action part of the sheet.
Rank (1) + bonus for having a Strategist (1) so 2 militia actions.
Check-marked actions in this list do not require a team to accomplish. Team actions are limited to those listed in their descriptions.

7} The other parts of the militia sheet:
Events: At rank 1, and as the militia has just been formed, the percentage chance any event occurs is 10% (and will never be above 95%).
Active Events: here are recorded any events that are not resolved within the current week.
Allies and Boons: here is where you record what is granted to the players as the militia gains ranks.

Settlements: There really is no reason to list Misthome or wherever the refugees find themselves in Books 1 and 2. But Phaendar definitely should be listed. I would also list Fangwood Forest. Any place the militia operates should be listed here.

In conclusion, you should now be set-up to run the newly formed militia. The rules to run the militia starts on page 54 of the Lands of Conflict.

I do have a personal concern over Notoriety. It is a rather vague concept that will require DM interpretation. Which also messes with the chance for events happening.

1) From the spell- "warded area can be as much as 20 feet high, and shaped as you desire. You can ward several stories of a stronghold by dividing the area among them"

Since you are the DM, then yes, you can use the spell in that way. Just be consistent. If you use this spell that way, then a PC should be able to as well.

If this was PFS though, expect table variation.

2) yes

3) yes, its a 6th level spell, so saves for all effects are based off 6th level spell.

SO he is level 5 transmuter with an Int of 16. Assuming he started with a 16, the minimum amount of spells he would have of each level is:

0th level- all spells with the exception of Illusion and Enchantment (his opposition schools)

1st level- 8= 3 (starting amount) + 3 (bonus for Int 16) + 2 (level 2)

2nd level- 4= 2 (level 3) + 2 (level 4)

3rd level- 2= 2 (level 5)

And the number of different spells he has memorized:

3rd level- 3
2nd level- 4
1st level- 5.

So we need at least 3 more first level spells and he already has an extra 3rd level. And we should look at his combat gear:

oil of magic weapon, potions of cat’s grace, potion of protection from law, scroll of beast shape I, scroll of elemental body I, scroll of gaseous form, scroll of owl’s wisdom.

Of those items, the only item he couldn't make himself is the scroll of Elemental Body 1. So reasonably, he should have all those spells on his list but that one.

So far,

3rd level spells- blink, dispel magic, slow, beast shape 1, gaseous form

2nd level spells- acid arrow, blindness/deafness, see invisibility, spider climb, cat's grace, owl's wisdom

1st level spells- crafter’s fortune, identify, mage armor, magic weapon, protection from law.

I'd add bear's endurance, bull's strength, magic missile, shield, protection from evil, and protection from good. Maybe Haste and 1d4 or a d6 or even d8 random other first level spells.