Monday, April 11, 2011

Scribblings in the Dirt

When he looked into the faces of the others, Ghanash sighed. "Ok, I can try and draw how the fort looks!"
He started to draw with a branch Orestes had just provided through his demonstration.




He looked at it quite satisfied with himself. "Well, it shows you the main thing. The road goes past in the west while there is forest on the other sides. It's about 50 ft from the palisade to the forest's edge. You can see the buildings I spoke of. The one with the cross is I guess the commander's office and the quarter of the troops. The palisade is about 10 ft high with torches all way round at night and it seems there is a construction inside the wall since the guards can be seen over the palisade. Carts normally seem to enter at one gate and leave through the other after being loaded or unloaded by the people that are with the cart and just supervised by a guard."

18 comments:

  1. Fuck it, let's wait until night and the security force is there sleeping and then burn the whole shit hole down!
    We can pick off any survivors as they run out naked and doomed.
    I'll buy dozen or so crossbows for our camp myself.
    :)

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  2. Orestes nods. "An excellent idea. It will allow us to press the advantage against a foe that is off their footing. We must, however, assume that they are, like us, trained combatants. Trained combatants that happily go to sleep in a wooden fort every night, despite the fact that someone might attempt to burn down their camp around them. A bit of leather and a few buckets of water applied once in a while would, would make our plan worthless."

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  3. You're wrong.
    Wooden fortifications are always susceptible to fire. A few buckets of water and damp leather are no match for burning oil and bloody mindedness.
    The problem is that we want what's in there and it's unlikely to survive the roasting.
    :(
    Also, you're very smart for an Orc.
    :P

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  4. Orestes shrugs,"You'd better hope that they are ALL asleep if you are to succeed with your plan. Burning arrows are easy to see in the dark, and as for applying oil..." He looks over at Ghanash, "How far away is the tree-line from the walls of the fort?"

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  5. Ghanash looks up "50 ft give or take, a bit more on the side of the road"

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  6. Good point...
    How far can I fire an arrow with an oil soaked burning rag tied to its head?

    If we could get Black cloak Indigo inside, he could set the fires AND help open the gate...

    I'm open to other suggestions. Preferably ones that don't involve suicidal charges with no exit strategies.

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  7. Just out of curiosity, do the wooden gates open inward or outward?

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  8. Might I suggest a small modification to the plan?

    We could sneak around at night and prepare the ground with oil, etc, but wait until daylight until springing the attack:

    1) The firelight would be less obvious and less likely to spotted by reinforcements.

    2) The mounted cavalry will be out of the way.

    That said, I prefer not setting fire to everything. Food doesn't taste as good when it's been burned and that is why we're going in the first place...

    I think we should attack during the day.
    Maybe we can waylay a cart on its way to the compound and use Indigo to blag our way inside.

    If it doesn't work, at least we have Indigo on hand so we can kill him quickly and easily. Sneaky bastard lawyer...

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  9. Or....

    Perhaps we're thinking about this from the wrong direction...

    We could target the mounted cavalry.
    Kill them all.
    Steal their uniforms and horses.
    Ride back into the fort dressed as them (with Indigo's help).
    Attack them from within and by surprise!
    (The garrison guard will not be fully prepared as some of them will be sleeping before their night shift.)

    And we burn everything after we've stolen as much food, weapons and gold as we can carry.
    :)

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  10. This is a good plan with a minor flaw - no way could I pass as human cavalry without a lot of make-up or a very blind sentry.

    Still - it is an excellent plan and so far the best we have.

    Unless ... we get something that looks like a TAX cart that we all HIDE in then get Indigo just to pull it in as Mr Black Cloak. Doing normal business. Well, it worked for the Trojans ;)

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  11. We could build them a giant rabbit...

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  12. And then set fire to it.
    ;)

    Who says that the cavalry is all human?
    Even if it is, we'll have to pretend we took a beating as there are meant to be ten of them.
    We could return with several of their bodies over the backs of the horses and some of us just pretending to be dead?

    All we need is the password (or whatever) to get them to open the gate.
    (And maybe Indigo...)

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  13. Jen who was listening to your ideas just looks a bit confused "You don't think they would recognise the men from the cavalry that stayed with them for a while already? Are you capable of illusion spells?"

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  14. Don't they wear helmets?
    What kind of generic uniformed soldiers are they?
    Oh well, I'm back to the burn-the-whole-place-down plan.
    :(

    OK, a few more questions...
    How do the supplies originally get to them?
    How often are replacement soldiers sent?
    Considering that everyone knows everyone else in the garrison, can I assume that there's no secret codes, calls or gestures?
    Does Jen have a boyfriend?
    ;)

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  15. Jen starts laughing "Well, you are rather direct I have to say. From what we know, the forts act as intermediate storage facilities. There are carts bringing stuff and others are taking stuff. They mostly supply troops that are passing through and get re-stocked when necessary. We couldn't figure out the schedule yet when the stationed guards get replaced, but since we are talking about the black cloak's organisation, I'm sure there is a schedule! I don't know of any passwords. Black cloaks normally have signed papers for everything. If they don't know you or if you want to bring or take supplies you need the correct and authorised form. William Indigo can help with that I guess. He knows all their crazy rules." Jen looks and smiles at Vogir "And for your last question, let's just say men normally can't keep up with me for long!"

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  16. Gah! Stop making me flirt with you!
    :S

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  17. I have to admit I enjoy how many of your plans call for a heroic lawyer. I just like to point out that Indigo might be willing to "pose" as a Black Cloak, the operative word here beeing pose. I just don't want you people to get any ideas.

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