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...At the junction between Rivers Run Red and Varnhold Vanishing.
Their kingdom has pinged hard on the radar of Regent Surtova. My industrious group has expanded to the rapids that make the east sellen river bad for trade, and built a series of fortified locks to bypass the falls. This opens up the east sellen river for trade all the way from Brevoy to the Inner Sea. This is a huge geopolitical event, and forced Surtova to notice much earlier than I'd have liked. He sent an ambassador asking the group to pledge fealty and acknowledge his rule, and pay a monthly tax to him. The party refused, debated kidnapping the messenger, and sent him on his way. In the wake of the ambassador's departure, they started raising armies equal to one fifth of their kingdom's population (1000 level 1 commoners, 300 level 1 fighters). Naturally, Brevoy took this as an act of imminent war and now there will be serious trouble as Surtova marches troops southward.
Sartova mobilizing has also sparked conflict in Rostland, as the Swordlords see Surtova becoming aggressive and prepare for civil war. The fecal matter is truly hitting the air moving device.
Has anybody else run the civil war in brevoy chain of events? Any advice for me? I'll be setting the events as Rostland loses again without my group's intervention, and then re-unified Brevoy will crush the fledgling stolen lands kingdom.
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Do your players have ties to Rostland swordlords? If not, you could be devious and have Surtova offer to grant the Swordlords the Stolen Lands if they fight with him against the PCs. Whether he is actually going to carry through with this offer or conquer the south himself when the two sides weaken each other is up to you. This would be extremely attractive to the Swordlords.
In response the PCs could either negotiate their own deal with the Swordlords, or bend a knee to Surtova. Unless the Orlovsky family is directly opposed to the Regent and is at a stage where they are prepared to risk civil war, there are really no allies for the players that are powerful enough to make Surtova back off.
The first thing Surtova should do is take the locks, then float a fleet down and form a fortified camp inside the players kingdom to keep them busy until the overland marching forces get their on foot. He will also start sending spies south to join in the "raising of 1/5th of the population" since there will be almost no way for the PCs to monitor spies with that large a buildup. These spies should sabotage the PCs supply lines, taint food stores, burn outlying farms, incite any discontented groups within the kingdom (you don't have any of these in your players kingdom? For shame! :) ) and possibly sabotage the locks if they players have a firm hold on them. They could also intercept communications and substitute their own or just have the messages disappear. All of these will give your spymaster LOTs to do to support the war. :)
This gives the party all sorts of chances to change the momentum of the war, either politically or strategically. If they win the locks, thats huge for them, and could open the door to them negotiating with the pirates of the River Kingdoms for aid vs Brevoy in exchange for booty of sacking some Brevic cities(Pirates! and a chance to use the nifty new pirate books Paizo just released!) If they lose the locks, they will need to lead an assault to get them back. This is a great time for them to call in any allies they have earned along the way.
If the players are very strong militarily, Surtova could make a deal with Lobodka to swing their large fleet south, as well as negotiate with Mivon to move forces up from the south. Mivon wouldn't even have to agree to attack, just draw some of the military forces of the PCs away to guard their southern border. In response, Pitax might offer to help the PCs by attacking Mivon or lending allies, which could make later events in the AP veery interesting.
Remember Surtova has a TON of BP compared to the players and stands to lose his throne if he does not respond swiftly and strongly and most of all win. Losing could weaken his position enough to encourage Orlovsky or the Swordlords to rebel against the throne.
If they players are resourceful and fight hard and well against Brevoy and still are losing, you could have them capitulate and then have Brevoy leave token forces and turn their attention elsewhere, either towards the Swordlords, the Orlovsky family, or because of a plague or natural disaster. This will give the party a chance to regain their kingdom's independence. IMO, the whole series of events should end with an uneasy truce with Brevoy, and a whole lot of hate and discontent between the players and Surtova. This would set up the events beyond AP6 quite well.
Just some thoughts that occur off the cuff to me. I don't know the details of your campaign so some of these may not fit well with what you have done so far, but maybe could give you some ideas.
There's a couple of thread about various ideas, but I haven't seen one where they've actually gone to war yet.
Agreeing with Redcelt, fighting Brevoy, or even just Issia, is, and should be, a rather slow and publicly disruptive way of committing suicide. If you don't want to give your players the choice of abandoning their kingdom or dying, here are a couple of thoughts...
1)Swordlords make their move for rebellion. They sent groups to the Stolen Lands to strengthen themselves. Well, with Surtova looking to annex their strongest daughter state, it looks like now of never.
2)Orlovsky might feel threatened enough by the aggression, and see it as a chance to have some allies, that they join in the fight against the regent, possibly bringing other houses with them.
3)Pitax and Mivon could both bring aid to either side. A conquering Regent isn't likely to make territory concessions, but a nice civil war to the north could give Pitax control of some of the southern Brevoy plains. Mivon could be persuaded to fight alongside Restov. They, the other city, may be the treacherous, bastard children of Aldori, but at least they're of the swordpact. Both sides have been waiting for a revenge on the descendants of Choral and his bootlickers.
4)The wildcard barbarians. The border between Numeria and Brevoy is fairly neboulous and barbarian raids aren't uncommon. Chaos in the south and north is the perfect opprotunity for a smash-and-grab.
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There are some more ideas...
5) Surtova is cautious and 'secures' Restov first and then Varnhold to isolate the players and have secure supply bases. And while his army is in Varnhold, the whole town, inculding army, just vanishes. The loss of the elite army spreads panic and unrest through Brevoy and just about everyone interested in concessions takes this as open invitation to come out in the open.
6) Nyrissa doesn't want Brevoy involved in the Stolen Lands, so while Surtova's eyes look south, a number of other incidents pop up everywhere else.
7) Surtova rides south with the army and someone uses the opportunity to assassinate him.
8) A Wyrm White Dragon comes from the north and demands fealty. Brevoy's forces manage to drive of the Wyrm several times, each time at great loss of life, but they never manage to land the killing blow. Surtova simply has no troops to spare to handle the players. Of course the situation won't last too long.
How Rostland responds is directly proportionate to how much they can get away with. How far along has the upcoming Civil War with Issia gotten to. Will their actions negatively impact their relations with the Regent. I probably wouldn't have given them the ultimatum so I guess you already have something planned.
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lots of fantastic stuff
I love your thinking. My players are very stubborn, and will not accept any outcome that involves bending their knee to another kingdom. This is going to be either freedom or death for them. The Duke even mentioned "millions for defense, not one copper piece for tribute!".
The players have very strong ties to the swordlords. The Duke is of a minor swordlord family, and two of the PC's backgrounds are from Restov. The players have maintained good relations with Restov, and Rostland will be fighting on their side. The PCs also have close ties to Varnhold, the Duke's cousin is married to Varn. Unfortunately, they just vanished. I envision the forces that the Swordlords field as better guerrillas and partisans than a standing army, especially given their history fighting the dragonscale throne. Surtova will have to tie up the majority of his troops fighting Rostland, but several divisions of soldiers will be free to attack the players' kingdom.
I had also eyed the locks as the initial target of the Surtova advance. It's a huge boon to economy, and having them under Brevic control would be quite the coup, worth more than taxing some upstart kingdom. I had not considered the River Kingdom Pirates, however. That would be a delicious offer to spring on the players! Their ex-spymaster now high priest player has a vendetta against bandits, would be satisfying watching him try to swallow that to save the kingdom.
If the players can deal a severe bloody nose to Surtova at the locks, and subsequently follow up by relieving the siege of Restov to unleash Swordlord guerrillas, I'll have the Orlovsky family sense weakness in the Surtova family and make their move for the Dragonscale Throne. With the civil war in Brevoy raging, the PC kingdom will survive. Thanks for all your input, and I'll be using your noble houses of Brevoy write up. If you're ever in northeast ohio I owe you a drink!
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3)Pitax and Mivon could both bring aid to either side. A conquering Regent isn't likely to make territory concessions, but a nice civil war to the north could give Pitax control of some of the southern Brevoy plains. Mivon could be persuaded to fight alongside Restov. They, the other city, may be the treacherous, bastard children of Aldori, but at least they're of the swordpact. Both sides have been waiting for a revenge on the descendants of Choral and his bootlickers.
I'll be taking your idea of Pitax getting involved. It'll make the betrayal later all the more venomous. They'll claim encroachment by Brevoy and send troops to nibble off the south west corner of Brevic territory.
Also remember Brevoy self is at the edge of a civil war. Maybe this event is the spark that ignites the war between Noth & South, with the players as "Revolution Leaders"
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I'll be taking your idea of Pitax getting involved. It'll make the betrayal later all the more venomous. They'll claim encroachment by Brevoy and send troops to nibble off the south west corner of Brevic territory.
3)Pitax and Mivon could both bring aid to either side. A conquering Regent isn't likely to make territory concessions, but a nice civil war to the north could give Pitax control of some of the southern Brevoy plains. Mivon could be persuaded to fight alongside Restov. They, the other city, may be the treacherous, bastard children of Aldori, but at least they're of the swordpact. Both sides have been waiting for a revenge on the descendants of Choral and his bootlickers.
The Pitax idea is great like you said it'll make their backstab just that much more poignant.
Thanks, glad to be of assistance.
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Slight correction and explanation, prompted by a PM I got. The East Sellen river flows from Bevoy's Lake Reykal, through the Hooktongue Slough, past Mivon, then to Lake Kallas in the River Kingdoms. There, united with the other two branches of the Sellen, it flows southward through Galt, between Taldor and Andoran, into the Inner Sea.
The East Sellen is the primary trade route to Brevoy, despite the dangers of the Slough. It is currently closed due to monster activity, weakening Brevoy.
The Shrike river flows from Iobaria, past Restov, along the South Rostland Road, and dips south through the Stolen Lands, feeding Tuskwater and Candlemere lakes. The Shrike flows into the Little Sellen river, which joins the East Sellen river near Mivon. Removing the obstacles to navigation along the Shrike allows direct river trade between Brevoy, the River Kingdoms, and the Inner Sea nations to flow again. It's a much safer route than through the Slough, and it greatly increases the economic power of Restov. This shifts the balance of power significantly south in Brevoy. Rostland has been chafing under Brevic rule, and in my game Rostland, Restov, and the Swordlords were fomenting rebellion with the slogan "Rostland Rises!".
Surtova saw the new trade route as a threat to his rule and moved to bring the locks under his control. Diplomacy having failed, he now moves militarily. This sparks the Rostland Revolution, which the PCs join.
Pitax will see an opportunity to annex some Brevic territory, although Irovitti won't risk too much.
Mivon will enter the war on the side of Rostland, seeing the chance to redeem themselves of their ancestors' flight from Rostland. If the PCs agree to join the Swordpact and allow the Aldori legacy to blossom in their land, they'll send mercenary help. The re-unification of the Aldori legacy would make a good sub-plot. The Duke player is from a minor swordlord family, so I can parlay this into the rise of his family. I can even see the PC kingdom annexing Rostland and Mivon into a swordlord nation, which would be a satisfying plot arc and good note to end the campaign on.
Surtova quickly moves to attack Restov. Unable to storm the city by force, he settles in for a siege. Meanwhile he sends troops to capture or destroy the lock system. He also sends an army to Olegton, and intends to sack the town and fight southward to punish the PC kingdom.
Success for the PCs hinges on defending the locks, defending Olegton, and breaking the siege of Restov. With those three conditions met, House Orlovsky makes its move for the throne, sensing that Surtova is weak. Lobodka fights on the Surtova side, and Rogarvia fights with the Rostlanders. This is enough of a dust-up that the PCs can emerge with kingdom intact. Orlovsky will defeat Surtova, and Regent Surtova himself will be killed. Brevoy will splinter back into Rostland and Issia. Issia will be tied up in Orlovsky vs. Lobodka fighting and be a political non-player from that point on.
I think I've got the war charted out pretty thoroughly now. Thanks for all your help, everybody. I'll let you know how it goes.
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Looks fantastic RR!
Just a suggestion, you could have some diplomatic/RPing activity that preludes the war, just to let the players know what is on the line and what they could achieve with each victory. Then they can decide which one to prioritize. Maybe your group already does this alot, but I know this is one of the favorite aspects for my group, discussing treaties with other nations/countries.
House Lebeda isn't thrilled with the idea of being surrounded with Surtovan forces (being Rostlandic), and will remain neutral in the coming conflict if they can achieve a victory at Olegton. House Lebeda could be supplying large quantities of food and siege engines to the forces sieging Restov, which if delayed could hamstring Surtova at this battle. Of course, they might be unhappy about this decision if Pitax decides to "borrow" some of their land!
Mivon promises to deliver relief forces by ship to help break the siege at Restov if they can defend the locks and ensure safe passage up to Restov.
House Orlovksy like you mentioned above, could require all three victories as a condition of moving against the throne.
Keep us posted, this sounds like an awesome turn of events in your campaign.
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Looks fantastic RR!
Just a suggestion, you could have some diplomatic/RPing activity that preludes the war, just to let the players know what is on the line and what they could achieve with each victory. Then they can decide which one to prioritize. Maybe your group already does this alot, but I know this is one of the favorite aspects for my group, discussing treaties with other nations/countries.
House Lebeda isn't thrilled with the idea of being surrounded with Surtovan forces (being Rostlandic), and will remain neutral in the coming conflict if they can achieve a victory at Olegton. House Lebeda could be supplying large quantities of food and siege engines to the forces sieging Restov, which if delayed could hamstring Surtova at this battle. Of course, they might be unhappy about this decision if Pitax decides to "borrow" some of their land!
Mivon promises to deliver relief forces by ship to help break the siege at Restov if they can defend the locks and ensure safe passage up to Restov.
House Orlovksy like you mentioned above, could require all three victories as a condition of moving against the throne.
Keep us posted, this sounds like an awesome turn of events in your campaign.
Yes, keep us posted. I love hearing how others are running their KM.
I want to see what happens. It sounds a lot like my Kingmaker campaign. Though I swear upon my life that all this happened before I found this thread.
The current ruler is a bard with the Sword Scion trait. The player joined the campaign late, at level 6. The kingdom was in a real tight spot, unrest was 15, so our goodly bard sailed up the river from Mivon with a house army and put an end to the foul ogres plaguing the kingdom. As reward for his selfless aid, the Baroness and people made him Baron, while the baroness stepped down to become general. In effect they switched places. This change of rulers gave me an excuse to chop the unrest down to seven.
Bard's story is the 4th son of a tangential member of a minor house in Restov. Just enough nobility to know what is possible, but far enough removed and with enough brothers in the way for it to be forever beyond his reach. So, he took his sword and headed south to 'that other place' to continue his swordplay and gain experience in one of the Mivonese mercenary house armies. After spending several years in service, he heard about the budding kingdom to the north, their disastrous situation, and their reluctant, and not terribly respected ruler. This gave him an idea. And the rest is history.
When a charismatic human with an army appeared on her door step, the half-orc fighter baroness with charisma of ten roared with joy and said, 'It's all yours and don't you dare think to give it back! Now, How about me and your boys have a drinking contest, beat the %*^$ out of each other, and then kill some ogres.'
So, as you can imagine, your campaign will hopefully be a canary in a cage for mine.
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First session of this arc was last night, went well.
Hargulka finally ran out of BP and maxed his unrest, and was forced to attack the PC capital of Silverado (their group was called the Argent Wardens, they named their nation Argentina... big silver theme combined with terrible naming ability :) ). With some well-placed divination magic, the PCs learned of the troll attack plan and defended their city. I rubbed it in to them that they hadn't done any hexploration/monster clearing from RRR, and had lizardfolk, trolls, the huge owlbear, and the lake turtle all attack the city in a two-pronged land and amphibious assault. The PC armies were victorious, though not without losses, and the PCs themselves handily defeated the troll commanders in individual level combat. I did this to give them a taste of the mass combat rules and to get their troops some combat experience.
Following that, there was a council of war with the leader of the Aldori Council in Restov, where the PCs (more accurately, their players) were informed of the political machinations in Brevoy. I don't think any of my PCs had thought the logistics of the upcoming war through. The Aldori mentioned that they could muster 1000 swordsmen guerrillas and 2000 infantry, and House Rogarvia had 4000 infantry and 1000 cavalry, but they would be severely outnumbered by the armies from the rest of Brevoy. This elicited winces and concern from my players as they realized how outmatched they are. Good for the sense of tension! They laid plans for war, and decided that the best places to dig in and fortify are the locks and Olegton. They know that the Aldori suspect decisive victories at Olegton, the Shrike river locks, and Restov will bring Orlevsky into the war on their side.
Irovitti of Pitax sent a messenger informing the players that he would be helping them by attacking south west Brevoy on a land grab. The players were rightfully distrustful of this news (I have built Irovitti up as a significant badass). Concerned with the possibility of Pitaxian troops using the South Rostland Road to move troops against their kingdom, the PCs staged a raid on the massive stone bridge that spans the East Sellen at the Rostland Road and destroyed it, chasing away the force of pickets set to guard the bridge. They now feel more secure to their west, allowing them to focus their defenses north.
Mivon's Swordlord council met with the Duke PC as the rest of the group was destroying Brevic Bridges. The Duke PC hit it off well with them, and their shared Aldori heritage made for a friendly meeting. The Duke agreed to enter into a free trade and mutual defense pact with Mivon, who welcome the opening of the Shrike River for trade, which doubles the amount of river traffic that flows past Mivon. The Mivonese mentioned they were always eager to stick it to Choral's legacy and will be sending troops north by boat to help defend the locks. I will set up that battle so that the PCs will be losing, perhaps badly, when Mivonese reinforcements arrive and turn the tide of battle. The Mivonese swordlords also mentioned using the PC nation as a neutral ground for reconciliation with the Rostlandic swordlords, and proposed opening a college of swordsmanship to aid the effort. After this war, conflict between the two branches of Aldori will flare as centuries-old honor demands play out. PC intervention and roleplaying can put an end to the fighting and re-unify the swordlords.
As the session closed, I montaged the early days of the war, describing House Rogarvia suffering several major defeats and being pushed back almost to the Brevic border. Surtovian troops sweep through Rostland, and although the swordlord guerrillas slow them down, stage several assaults on Restov. Unable to carry the city by force, they settle down for a siege and send troops to attack the locks.
Next week will be the battles of Olegton and the Shrike Locks.
Indeed!
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Yeah, I'm stealing alla this. Gives me a nice subplot between books 3 + 4.
Wow, that means a lot coming from you!
The second session saw the Battle of Cascade Locks.
The PCs split their troops between the two domestic locations they must defend - Olegton and the locks. The Spymaster's minions managed to recover a battle plan from the Surtova army that shows 6,000 infantry detailed to attack the locks. I drew the locks and their fortifications on the battlemap and let them deploy the troops at their disposal: 300 level 2 fighters, 1000 level 2 commoners, and 4 heavy ballistae. I really feel for my players, they have zero tactical acumen. The wizard didn't think of using scry or other divination magic to gather information on the troops coming their way, nor of sending Perlivash (her familiar now) to scout. The PCs sent the spymaster north to see how the troops would be transported to battle... but he doesn't have a mount or fast movement and didn't beat the troops to the battle and so was useless. The only recon the players managed was to send one of their own with fly and invisibility to get an aerial view, which let them see the enemy right before the battle.
The Surtova troops were transported to the locks in six unarmed merchant sailing vessels, escorted by a heavily armed pirate frigate who's captain has ties to the Surtovas. Their attack plan: Two of the ships would land troops north of the locks, landing a Gargantuan army of 2nd level fighters. These troops would assault the northern walls to tie up defenders, under the cover of bombardment from the pirate frigate. One of the emptied ships would then become a fire-ship, loaded with combustibles and gunpowder, set on fire, and sent unmanned down the river to smash into the river gate protecting the locks. Following this, the remaining four troopships would row into the fortifications and land their 4,000 soldiers.
The defender's cunning plan: Station their infantry on the northern walls of the fortifications, along with the four ballistae, and hold a reserve inside the walls to reinforce any breakthroughs.
It would have been a massacre.
So, to help out, I told the PCs who had Profession: Soldier to roll to gain tactical insight to the situation. I then told them that the fight ahead of them was impossible with conventional tactics, that the Surtova force had clearly brought enough manpower and firepower to wipe them up easily. Told that they needed to get creative, they did.
As the Surtova force arrived too late in the day to stage their assault, the ships anchored a few miles upstream, in a defensive formation with the frigate and a screen of pickets and light infantry providing security. I had made sure to tell the players that the transports were unarmed and the frigate armed to the teeth: Six heavy ballistae and two light cannons. I had figured upon them sneaking onto the frigate, capturing it, and turning its weapons on the troopships; instead they had the wizard cast invisibility and fly on three PCs who were carrying barrels of mixed gunpowder/alchemist fire that the Spellslinger PC cooked up. This outright sunk two ships, burned two to the waterline with the loss of all hands, and fatally damaged two troopships who were then able to land their troops. The Psychic warrior PC customized his psy-armor to let him breathe water and walked underneath the frigate. He carved a hole in the bottom, climbed in through it, and murdered the repair parties sent to fix the hole. He then went to the powder magazine of the ship in an attempt to fire it. However, he encountered the pirate captain (a hastily-re-purposed level 7 gunslinger PFS pregen) and her two lieutenants (Highwayman from the NPC gallery). He killed the lieutenants, but the captain shot him down without taking a scratch herself. Seeing the shambles that the attack was in, she decided to cauterize his wounds and bind him. After the hole was patched, the frigate rowed north carrying the PC (their Marshal) captive with them. She intends to ransom him back to the PCs, and her demands might include free use of the locks for pirate ships.
Meanwhile, at dawn, the tattered remnants of the Surtova army staged an assault on the locks, which was brutally thrown back with great loss of life. A few survivors in ships' boats head north carrying news of this defeat to Brevoy.
Next week: The Battle of Olegton! followed by the relief of Restov.
Wow! That was an awesome turn of events, Red Rampage. I'm envying you and your group. I always wondered what would happen if the players pushed Brevoy into a war, and it's great to see it play out in your campaign. Looking forward to the outcome of the next battle!
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Wow! That was an awesome turn of events, Red Rampage. I'm envying you and your group. I always wondered what would happen if the players pushed Brevoy into a war, and it's great to see it play out in your campaign. Looking forward to the outcome of the next battle!
It's a ton of fun to DM this. I like how the story is playing out, and the tension at the table is real and palpable. I have the most fun at the DM seat when I'm adjudicating results of PC actions on the fly.
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Wow! That was an awesome turn of events, Red Rampage. I'm envying you and your group. I always wondered what would happen if the players pushed Brevoy into a war, and it's great to see it play out in your campaign. Looking forward to the outcome of the next battle!It's a ton of fun to DM this. I like how the story is playing out, and the tension at the table is real and palpable. I have the most fun at the DM seat when I'm adjudicating results of PC actions on the fly.
We love reading it. Keep it up!
*applause* Bravo, bravo! Encore! More, more!
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... :O
*orders Kingmaker 1-6*
Hmm, I just noticed that Choral (the dragon) has the feat Stunning Critical but none of the prerequisite feats.
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Choral does not need prerequisites.
Choral is the Chuck Norris of Kingmaker. I like it! :)
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Most recent session was this tuesday, work has been keeping me unbelievably busy and I didn't get a chance to post till now.
Following the battle of the Cascade Locks, the spotlight shifted to Olegton, where battle was joined the following day. As all the PCs were tied up at the Locks (or in one's case, in the hold of a pirate ship), I ran it as a straight mass combat encounter. Oleg had repaired his four catapults and had his compound counted as a guard tower. The PCs had deployed their unit of Sootscale sappers to fortify the rest of the village and set traps. I had given their kobold troops the abilities Rapid Fortification (if given one day to prepare, give all allied troops in the battle +2 DV) and Trapsetting (straight d20 roll vs enemy DV as bonus damage every melee phase), as well as Sneaky (kobolds may not attack unless they are the only allied unit left, and enemies may not attack the kobolds unless they are the only allied unit left). With their 100 kobolds, 300 level 2 warriors, and 50 level three fighters (knights raised from estates), Olegton was attacked by 1000 level 2 fighters from the Surtovas' armies. My players rolled extremely well, and I poorly, with the result that Olegton was victorious, with the PC kingdom suffering only the loss of the knights.
Encouraged by this victory, the PCs assembled their forces at the Locks. Left behind to guard their capital was a skeleton force of wood-cutters. These had been provided by Axemaster Armanci, a midlevel manager in the Brevoy Lumber Consortium who was sent to expand that company's operations into the new kingdom, and who has been steadily creating a monopoly on the lumber trade. He has been a thorn in the side of my PCs, obeying the letter of their decrees while completely ignoring their intent to keep him from getting his monopoly. In return for ennoblement and an estate on the shores of Candlemere Lake, Armanci levied some rough and tumble lumberjacks to form a militia at the disposal of the PCs. These men were the sole forces left behind as my players marched to relieve Restov, which was besieged by forces loyal to the Surtovas.
It was at this point where my PCs received a ransom note from the Dread Captain Lirianne (the hastily re-purposed level 7 PFS pregen for an unexpected fight last session). In return for the safe return of the kingdom's captured Marshal, she demanded 10,000 GP, with an additional 1000 to cover her ship's repairs. She also demanded that pirates of the River Kingdoms be allowed to use the Locks and pass through the PC kingdom without harassment. With much reluctance, the PCs decided to agree to her terms. They met her at her anchorage and loaded 11,000 gp worth of mithril into her ship's boat. They waited apprehensively (and covered by the ship's weaponry) as the boat was rowed back, but the pirate captain did not double-cross them - Oathbreakers Die, as she reminded them. After the Marshal was returned, the PCs decided to pay Captain Lirianne off and get her on their side. For the sum of 20,000 GP they enlisted her services as gunboat for the upcoming battle of Restov. I played her up as extremely mercenary and dangerously unhinged, without any trigger discipline. She was always twirling her loaded pistols around, and gesticulated wildly with them, pointing one at whomever or whatever she was talking about. After making their battle plans, they split company to assault Restov on the appointed day.
As they neared Restov, the PCs encountered an army 2000 strong of Mivonese swordsmen sent to aid the city. As they attacked the besieging troops, Restov's defenders sallied forth and joined the fray. The Surtovas had 8,000 fighters arranged in four armies. The PCs had their 1500-strong motley force, 2000 Mivonese, and 2000 Restovians, with Lirianne's ship, the River Rebel providing artillery bombardment.
The battle started with a fierce artillery duel between the Surtova encampment and the River Rebel. The ship suffered significant damage, but silenced the Surtova's artillery and was free to bombard unopposed. After about 15 minutes of dice rolling, the PCs were victorious! The Swordlords had suffered about 45% casualties but had nearly wiped out the Surtovas' armies.
When news of these defeats reached house Orlovsky, they decided the time was right for their move on the throne. Surtova fights Orlovsky in the Issian Civil War, leaving the southern territories at peace - for now. Brevoy splinters back into Rostland and Issia. The swordlords move on House Rogarvia and defeat them, solidifying Rostland under Aldori control with Restov as their capital.
Rostland, Mivon, and the PC kingdom celebrate, and re-forge the Swordpact. I had tensions flare between the leaders of Restov and Mivon, defused by the charismatic PC priest. They will flare up again, and I plan on having significant plot drama regarding the re-unification of the Aldori legacy. It will involve the deaths of both the leader of Restov and Mivon, and the PC King left to pick up the pieces and carry on the traditions of the swordlords - if he can survive the many duels he will certainly be challenged to!
Meanwhile, Captain Lirianne has sailed to Tuskwater Lake, where she is building a fortified mansion/dock to be her new base of operations. She won't commit piracy in the PC kingdom, but there will be delicious drama as victimized members of the River Kingdoms and Rostland pressure the PCs to go after her. Meanwhile, she's busy spending her extra 30,000 gp...
But for now, the PCs are taking a break from the (real-life) months of mass combat and politics. Maegar Varn failed to show up for war talks, and messengers sent reported his colony completely abandoned - including Maegar's wife, the King PC's cousin. After all this war stuff, the players and their characters welcome the chance for a good adventure like in old times.
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Most recent session was this tuesday, work has been keeping me unbelievably busy and I didn't get a chance to post till now.
Following the battle of the Cascade Locks, the spotlight shifted to Olegton, where battle was joined the following day. As all the PCs were tied up at the Locks (or in one's case, in the hold of a pirate ship), I ran it as a straight mass combat encounter. Oleg had repaired his four catapults and had his compound counted as a guard tower. The PCs had deployed their unit of Sootscale sappers to fortify the rest of the village and set traps. I had given their kobold troops the abilities Rapid Fortification (if given one day to prepare, give all allied troops in the battle +2 DV) and Trapsetting (straight d20 roll vs enemy DV as bonus damage every melee phase), as well as Sneaky (kobolds may not attack unless they are the only allied unit left, and enemies may not attack the kobolds unless they are the only allied unit left). With their 100 kobolds, 300 level 2 warriors, and 50 level three fighters (knights raised from estates), Olegton was attacked by 1000 level 2 fighters from the Surtovas' armies. My players rolled extremely well, and I poorly, with the result that Olegton was victorious, with the PC kingdom suffering only the loss of the knights.
Encouraged by this victory, the PCs assembled their forces at the Locks. Left behind to guard their capital was a skeleton force of wood-cutters. These had been provided by Axemaster Armanci, a midlevel manager in the Brevoy Lumber Consortium who was sent to expand that company's operations into the new kingdom, and who has been steadily creating a monopoly on the lumber trade. He has been a thorn in the side of my PCs, obeying the letter of their decrees while completely ignoring their intent to keep him from getting his monopoly. In return for ennoblement and an estate on the shores of Candlemere Lake, Armanci levied some rough and tumble lumberjacks to form a militia at the disposal of the PCs. These men were the sole forces...
I'm really enjoying reading your story unfold.
Amen!
More!