Heroica RPG - Quest #17: The Lion's Share

[Brickdoctor]

Arthur puts the quiver with the crossbow. He asks, "How many staircases are here? Would it be possible to destroy all but one of them before the Elves get here?"

Looking at the map, you reason that there is one staircase or ladder between each level in each tower. (and gatehouse towers) You can do whatever you want to them, but remember that destroying them will also impede your own travel during battle.

In the meanwhile, he takes as many cannonballs as he can carry.

You find that you can only pick up one of the stones at a time.

[posades]

"Seeing as how these stones are heavy, might it be best for each of the group members to carry one? And does anyone have any ideas what the stones could be filled with?"

[Kenghis Ghan]

Ideas weren't exactly Spags' speciality, but he thought as hard about it as he could.

"Hmm... how 'bout something that's flammable? We could stuff it in there, light it on fire, then chuck sizzlin' hot stones at 'em!

If there's anything worse then getting hit with rocks, it's getting hit with hot rocks!"

Edited December 14, 2011 by Kenghis Ghan

[Flipz]

"I vote we take the supplies up to the catapult tower, then go to the kitchens. By the way, do you think destroying the footbridge by the river would hamper the elves at all?"

[Fred Daniel Yam]

"Are there any things we can scrap for raw materials to make stuff? The kitchen sounds good" "I would like to take the Standard Issue Halberd if you don't mind party leader." William addresses the Commander, "What sort of forces are you expecting, calvary, archers, kamikaze bombers?" "Also, do you have a supply of black powder and sheet metal here?"

Edited December 14, 2011 by VolcanicPanik

[Brickdoctor]

"Are there any things we can scrap for raw materials to make stuff? The kitchen sounds good" "I would like to take the Standard Issue Halberd if you don't mind party leader." William addresses the Commander, "What sort of forces are you expecting, calvary, archers, kamikaze bombers?" "Also, do you have a supply of black powder and sheet metal here?"

You return to the Officer's Quarters to speak with Sir Lawrence.

"Black powder? No, unfortunately, we lack the alchemists to produce such explosives and the equipment to make use of it in battle. Sheet metal? We have iron, steel, and other metals, yes, but if you want to shape it into sheets, you'll need to heat it in a forge and hammer it out yourself. Blacksmiths aren't exactly common in our ranks.

"I have no idea what to expect, really."

You then bring the stones up to the catapult tower.

With short days and winter right around the corner, night has already fallen and the air is chilly as you reach the topmost level of the largest tower. Since the time the land around the fort was cleared, a few trees have risen above the tower's high battlements. A lone Lion pikeman stands guard, and you can see the catapult mount off to the side. It has four iron hooks to secure a catapult to its wooden surface, and two wooden rods extend out from its sides, allowing its operators to rotate it on small wheels set in iron-lined grooves in the stone floor.

[Fred Daniel Yam]

Can we get some trees from the forest for wood?

[Brickdoctor]

Can we get some trees from the forest for wood?

"I don't see why not."

[Fred Daniel Yam]

"I have an idea, what if we get some wood from the forest, see if they have any string, if they do, we can fashion out a catapault or trebuchet of sorts." "Commander, do you have any spare carts or sturdy wheels here?"

[Brickdoctor]

"I have an idea, what if we get some wood from the forest, see if they have any string, if they do, we can fashion out a catapault or trebuchet of sorts." "Commander, do you have any spare carts or sturdy wheels here?"

"Honestly, I'm not sure. I don't have time to keep track of an inventory of every little thing in this fort. I suggest you go explore more of the fort."

[Fred Daniel Yam]

"How about we try the stables?" "We might find some things of use, Althior, what do you day about chopping down some trees for wood?"

[Fred Daniel Yam]

William is frustrated at the lack of action from his fellow questmates. "Commander, are your men currently down at the barracks?"

[Dharkan]

" I have an idea, Sir Lawrence. If you have some cauldrons and plenty amount of oil, we can place cauldrons of burning oil on some strategic places like walls, gates and such. What do you think? Can it work?"

[K-Nut]

"Sorry I'm late to the party!" Althior closed the locket, "For now, I'll give the Standard Issue Sword to Isabella, The Halberd to Spag, and the Crossbow to Alexandre. I wonder if, using my Garnet, I could strengthen some walls and Towers. Would that be a possible tactic?"

Edited December 14, 2011 by K-nut

[Capt.JohnPaul]

"OOhh... thank you for the crossbow dearly loved party leader."

Alex equips his crossbow.

I think we should go to the Storage Lean-To, useful supplies should be in there.

[Dharkan]

"Thank you for the sword. And about your idea, it'd be great if you can use it to strengthen the towers."

[Brickdoctor]

William is frustrated at the lack of action from his fellow questmates. "Commander, are your men currently down at the barracks?"

"My men are scattered throughout the fort at the time."

"Stop asking me what this or that cannot do. We aren't going to have the specific equipment you need for all these plans. Go find a way to improvise."

Althior Emorith

, Level 14 Mage (K-nut) *Party Leader*

Power: 19

Health: 18/18

Ether: 18/18

Gold: 5

Inventory: Dragoro (WP:5), Topaz (Lightning), Amethyst (Darkness), Ruby (Fire), Sapphire (Wind), Garnet (Earth), Opal (Ice), Aquamarine (Water), Emerald (Wood), Diamond (Light), Potion x2, Tonic, Shovel, Bedroll, Grand Tonic, Smelling Salts, Mead, Nostrum, Remedy, Healing Staff

Xander Unth'or

, Level 9 Barbarian (posades) *Party Second-in-Command*

Power: 17

Health: 16/16

Gold: 30

Inventory: Pongcanis Club (WP: 8), Enigmatic Hammer (WP: 3), Robe of the Pongcanis Champion (WP: +1

^{Front Row}

; SP: +1

^{Back Row}

), Mead, Potion, Grand Potion, Phoenix Essence

Arasmyth RuGard

, Level 7 Mage (Kadabra)

Power: 11

Health: 11/11

Ether: 11/11

Gold: 3

Inventory: Sapphire Staff (WP: 4; Wind), Robe of Magi (SP: 1), Scroll of Sealing, Sapphire (Wind), Topaz (Lightning), Potion, Smoke Bomb, Smelling Salts, Water Bomb, Grand Tonic

William Harkenshire

, Level 5 Ranger (volcanicpanik)

Power: 9

Health: 10/10

Gold: 0

Inventory: Mockthril Longbow (WP: 4; Fire), Potion (2),Remedy, Smoke Bomb, Bedroll, Mead, Smelling Salts, Pickaxe

Alexandre le Chevalier

, Level 1 Knight (Capt.JohnPaul)

Power: 2

Health: 10/10

Gold: 0

Inventory: Standard-Issue Crossbow (WP: 1), Sword (WP: 3), Buckler Shield (SP: 2), Bedroll, Potion

Isabella del Toboso

, Level 1 Rogue (Dharkan)

Power: 4

Health: 7/7

Gold: 5

Inventory: Golden Dagger (WP: 3), Standard-Issue Sword (WP: 1), Venom, Potion, Bedroll

Spag Bitterstalk

, Level 1 Barbarian (Kenghis Ghan)

Power: 4

Health: 8/8

Gold: 0

Inventory: Crude Splinterwood Club (WP: 3), Standard-Issue Halberd (WP: 1;

^{Total Damage doubled against mounted enemies and enemies scaling walls}

, Potion, Mead (2)

Arthur Justus Regulus VII

, Level 1 Mage (Flipz)

Power: 4

Health: 5/5

Ether: 5/5

Gold: 0

Inventory: Serpentine Staff (WP: 3), Opal (Ice), Potion, Bedroll

[Flipz]

Arthur nods, finally understanding. Arthur grabs a torch from the wall and hands it to Alexandre. "OK, listen up. Alexandre, fire your arrows through this, it'll set them alight and, hopefully will light the elves aflame when they hit. William, your idea about the trees is excellent, and I think we should get as much extra wood as we can. We should set up the trees to trigger like I mentioned earlier, and then cut down a bunch of others near the river there. If we're going to take out the footbridge (which should force the elves to come at us primarily from the north and the west), we should also clearcut along the river, so they have no means to cross the river aside from boats, which we can sink with Althior or Arasmyth's magic or light ablaze with Alexandre's arrows. Xander, you have that new pickaxe, right? If someone has a shovel, we can use both tools to dig a shallow tunnel all along the north and west sides of the fort, dangerously shallow. When the elves walk on it with their mounts and their seige weapons, the tunnels will collapse, injuring them and possibly rendering their seige weapons useless. Now, I would like to go to the kitchens, where I will try to whip up some greek fire to launch at the elves. Who's with me?"

[Kadabra]

"Excellent ideas, Arthur. I'll go to the kitchens with Arthur. Althior's Garnet might be of use to create tunnels."

[Flipz]

"Your Topaz will also come in handy against their Mechanical Siege Weapons. It's a shame we don't have a Ranger in the party, we might have been able to summon a few woodland creatures to our aid. We could probably still use them as an extra layer of defense, though; if we run into the woods, agitate a bunch of monsters (this would be after we set up all our other traps out there, of course), and lead them back to the fort. Once we retreated back inside the fort, it's quite likely that they would turn and attack the elves, as they would be easier targets than us."

[Brickdoctor]

QM Note:

Just so you know, digging tunnels all the way around the fort and rigging all the trees in a forest isn't exactly within the realm of plausibility that I mentioned you had time to do. (not that that should stop you from trying - try whatever you like, and I'll tell you what happens)

You make your way to the kitchen.

You can see a couple peasants preparing supper. One is roasting a chicken. Unfortunately for Finnegan, it's just a generic - though massive - chicken, not a certain talking chicken. The other is taking out some bread and cheese, and you can see that one of the Lion soldiers who has some time off has come to help prepare apples for baking.

[Flipz]

QM Note:

Just so you know, digging tunnels all the way around the fort and rigging all the trees in a forest isn't exactly within the realm of plausibility that I mentioned you had time to do. (not that that should stop you from trying - try whatever you like, and I'll tell you what happens)

OOC: Not around the whole castle, just two sides!

-==IC: Arthur==-

"Hmm...chef, do you have any alchemical ingredients at all? How about oil? HEY! I've got it! I need water, cornstarch or flour (preferably corn starch), and sugar, and I need someone to go find me a bellows."

OOC: Heh heh heh...thank you Mythbusters!

Edited December 14, 2011 by Flipz

[posades]

Arthur nods, finally understanding. Arthur grabs a torch from the wall and hands it to Alexandre. "OK, listen up. Alexandre, fire your arrows through this, it'll set them alight and, hopefully will light the elves aflame when they hit. William, your idea about the trees is excellent, and I think we should get as much extra wood as we can. We should set up the trees to trigger like I mentioned earlier, and then cut down a bunch of others near the river there. If we're going to take out the footbridge (which should force the elves to come at us primarily from the north and the west), we should also clearcut along the river, so they have no means to cross the river aside from boats, which we can sink with Althior or Arasmyth's magic or light ablaze with Alexandre's arrows. Xander, you have that new pickaxe, right? If someone has a shovel, we can use both tools to dig a shallow tunnel all along the north and west sides of the fort, dangerously shallow. When the elves walk on it with their mounts and their seige weapons, the tunnels will collapse, injuring them and possibly rendering their seige weapons useless. Now, I would like to go to the kitchens, where I will try to whip up some greek fire to launch at the elves. Who's with me?"

OOC: Umm, pickaxe? I have a hammer if that is what you meant.

"It might be best to split up to investigate the rest of the fort and then report our findings to the group once we reunite. We have two people going to the kitchen, and I can accompany William to the stables."

[Brickdoctor]

"Hmm...chef, do you have any alchemical ingredients at all? How about oil? HEY! I've got it! I need water, cornstarch or flour (preferably corn starch), and sugar, and I need someone to go find me a bellows."

"'Corn starch'? I'm not sure what you mean by that. We do have flour, yes. Sugar, we do have, though it is a rarer item and we only have a couple handfuls reserved for special occasions. You can have some honey, though. I'm sure there's plenty of water in the well, but we don't have a bellows as far as I know."

QM Note:

From what I read, corn starch wasn't invented until 1842.

[Flipz]

"'Corn starch'? I'm not sure what you mean by that. We do have flour, yes. Sugar, we do have, though it is a rarer item and we only have a couple handfuls reserved for special occasions. You can have some honey, though. I'm sure there's plenty of water in the well, but we don't have a bellows as far as I know."

QM Note:

From what I read, corn starch wasn't invented until 1842.

OOC: OK, how a bout a substitute used in South America that's pretty much a straight up plant? Better yet, both chalk and gypsum are natural elements that are found in deposits, and wither one of them might be in the general geographic area of the fort in this world...

"How about arrowroot? If you have the leaves of the arrowroot plant, I can grind them up to get what I need. Actually, chalk dust (which you may know of as agricultural lime) would also work, or gypsum if you have it." Arthur then considers the honey. "That will work, I'll have to dilute the mixture and change the means of deployment. Actually, that'll make the powder unnecessary, though it would be very useful for other purposes." Arthur decides to explain what he's planning. "If I can get a dry powder mixed with sugar, I can create a powder that will linger in the air when blown out through a bellows or something similar, and can be lit into a spectacular fireball even without magic. Since the honey is a little more dense, we'd probably be pouring it into jars and throwing them, but it'll still be effective. We just dilute the honey, add a tiny amount of oil to ensure easy ignition, light, and throw. Boom! Sticky, burning mess all over the elves and their stuff."