Forging a Goblinoid Empire IC

[FlamingKobold]

I believe a bit of history will be of some use.

For decades, centuries, millenia, even, as long as anyone can remember or has records of, there have been diivides between the various goblinoid races. The hobgoblins are the highest, strong, proud leaders and warriors. The intelligent and wise goblins in the middle, some were even enslaved to hobgoblins in ancient times. Finally, the bugbears. At the bottom of the pile, they are though of as stupid but useful, and are sometimes used as servants and slaves. However, in recent times, the races have felt much more individuality; they all have their own villages, customs and ways of life, and think of themselves as naturally bonded only insofar as gnomes and dwarves. They are entirely different races, and only occasionally form agreements. Most don't question it, but some have seen that the only way to battle the humans with any chance at survival is to come back together. Not in the slavery-laden way, but rather as equals, to rise up as one against the scourge that is King Vellen.

One prime example is Ralar Kamate, chief of a secluded hobgoblin tribe. He has done his best to try to promote teamwork and cooperation among the various tribes and races, but to little avail.

However, hope may yet be on the horizon. One of Ralar's emissaries, his son, Paga, has recently arrived at the small goblin border village and small warrens that is known a Kultert. All of you have your own reasons for being there; some have been there all their lives, others already on small quests of their own.

Then, at the crack of dawn, the morning after Paga's arrival, the morning he was supposed to speak to Kultert's tribe leaders, a horn sounded, waking the village. It was a horn of the Imperial army. A small squadron of humans could be seen on the horizon, marching in synchronization, all clad identically in chain armor with a small steel shield in one hand and a sword in the other. There were 40 footsoldiers, in eight by five rows. They were led by a man on horseback in scale armor. He was adorned with a bejeweled headband and a cape with King Vellen's seal. They marched ever closer as goblins, knowing what was coming and just hoping to keep their lives, ran away.

What do you do?

{table=head]Player|Character|Race|Class
Ryuuk|Paga Karmate (http://pifro.com/pro/view.php?id=4515)|Hobgoblin |Warblade

Androgeus|Targ (http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheetview.php?sheetid=179590)|Goblin |Swashbuckler

Tyrael|Ghor (http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheetview.php?sheetid=179698)|Goblin|Knight

Paddyfool|Garon (http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheetview.php?sheetid=136667)|Goblin|Rogue
[/table]

[Ryuuk]

Paga

"40 men... weighed down by heavy armor and announcing their coming." Paga speaks to the tribe leaders, if he can get a hold of them. If not, then to whoever is willing to listen. He watches as his the more cowardly of his hosts flee for their lives with disgust. "We can take them. We just need soldiers willing to fight. We hit and run, take them by surprise, let them think they're outnumbered." He tightened the grip on his sword, which even when planted into the ground still stood at the height of many of the green skinned. "Come on! We can't stop them from walking into the village, put we can make them run from it. We can punish them for their audacity."

[paddyfool]

Garon

Overhearing this, Garon chimes in: He's got a good point - slowed down by that armour, they'll never be able to close with us if we don't let them. Also, look at the loot they're bringing in. If we just run now, we'll have nothing. If we stay and fight, we may end up rich and proud at the close of day. And if we can harry these night-blind humans til dark, they haven't a hope. He pauses to draw breath and see what reaction this brings.

[Tyrael]

Ghor

Another goblin nods to Paga's plan. He pushes up the visor of his heavy steel helmet to reveal a goblin with a nasty scar running down one eye and a perpetually disgruntled expression. Clad entirely in steel scale mail, he wears a large shield and longbow over his back, with a longsword at one side and a mace at the other.

"Let's see if we can get some traps set up," Ghor suggests to Paga grimly. "Put some archers up in the cliffs. Hit and fade."

[FlamingKobold]

Despite that many of the goblins in the village are cowardly, there are those willing to fight. After a short time organizing them, you scrounge up 25 volunteers. 16 of which with fighting experience, and 11 with weapons in a usable condition. They, recognizing that the three of you are warriors with ome degree of experience, look to you, especially paga, for what to do.

[Ryuuk]

Paga

Paga couldn't help but sport a brief smile. He liked this feeling. He had their attention now, and even if his initial plan was to begin an attack as soon as the humans entered the village, the other goblins had a good points... good ideas. After considering them and giving the other two a nod, he turns to the volunteers. "We evacuate for now, get anyone left in the village out and if needed we distract them to buy some time. As soon as its done, we retreat, we let them think that they've won. Over the day we watch them, prepare, set traps, organize what willing militia we have. The best time to strike is under the moon. At daybreak, as soon as the sun sets, we give them a reason to fear the dark." He pauses here, letting it sink in. "We'll fill the night with their screams while their eyes are useless."

[Tyrael]

Ghor overlooks the warriors with an experienced eye, with special attention to those who look exceptionally fit or healthy, as well as the type of equipment they carry.

[paddyfool]

"Good plan, hobgoblin," Garon grunts, then looks to the rest. "Anyone with bows or slings who wants to distract these pink-skinned bastards, come with me." He then heads out to go around whichever flank of the attackers offers the best shooting position (high ground etc.)


EDIT: "Guess we'd better set some traps quickly, and then get set up and ready to shoot. Anyone else who's good at building things, best come with me - and if anyone knows where we can grab some good tools, that'd be great. We'll need sharp sticks, spades, and cord for starters... and I reckon we can take what we need from the houses, since no-one would begrudge it for this kind of use, and if we don't stop these humans, it'll all burn anyway."

OOC: Apologies for the change but since they're 4 hours away (according to FlamingKobold's post in the OOC thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=139244)) we may as well make the most of it.

[FlamingKobold]

Several of the village elders nod their approval and talk amongst themselves, gesturing at Paga several times. One goblin walks up to Garon and says, "My name is Ruk, I am the village fixer. I build things. I have tools. I can make traps. My brother, Arn, is blacksmith. He makes things too. We can build traps together to make them hurt."

One of the village leaders gives the order to evacuate, and soon enough, goblins are grabbing the necessities and shuffling into the tunnels. One smaller goblin walks up to Paga and asks, "Do you think we should hide the tunnels? I think if we can get boulders in front of them, the humans won't be able to follow us, right?"

[Ryuuk]

Paga

Things were looking good so far, at least, as good as the situation would allow it. He turns to the small goblin and considering the consequences of his suggestion. "Its the safest ground we have, any who can't fight should take shelter deep within, but odds are that those of us who counter the humans will need them. They''ll think twice before following us and numbers don't matter much if its in a bottle neck..." It was a good precaution, and as it stood every advantage should be exploited. "I wouldn't block them though. If the humans are intent in giving chase, a few boulders won't stop them and burying yourselves would only save them the effort. You won't need to though, you all know the tunnels better then them, just go somewhere where their size will lock them out."

If no one wishes to speak with him anymore, he'll help with the evacuation and start rallying those who are willing to fight to look for equipment. Anything that can be used as a improvised weapon or shield will do. Likewise, he'll try and get get the recruits organized, sizing up what their best task would be. If nothing else comes up, this will continue until they're 1 hour away. At that point he'll try to call the defenders together to get ready.

[paddyfool]

"Right so... Ruk, Arn, the name's Garon. Pleased t'meetcha. I reckon we'll need traps in two places. Some by the entrance to the village, to slow 'em down and keep 'em scared if they get that far. An' some by the tunnels, t'keep them from chasin' us, an' only to be set off when we want em to. We'll need them to be quick'n'simple.

Now I sees two ways t'go with the tunnels. If we get a tunnel slopin' up, we can get ready to push some nice rollable boulders down it if they chase us. Otherwise, if we got any we can rig t'collapse quick when we need to, that'll stop em nicely.

As fer the way inta the village... we got no time t'dig pits, but... have we got any cesspits on the way in? If so, we could loosen the tops o'them to collapse easy as the pink-skins run over; just one or two fallin' in that'll make em much less keen. If you got any sharp wire, we could rig some 'tween the first buildin's, t'cut em up as they run in. An'... stick some spikes in the handle of a hoe, an' stick the blade where they might step on it, so's to bring the spikes up to'jab em 'tween the legs. That oughta do it. If y'reckon any o'these can' be done, tell me know, an' any other ideas you got, I'd be glad to hear 'em too. Elsewise, let's get t'work."


I've a +7 in craft(trapmaking), and I'd reckon on spending the next two-three hours setting & planning traps with my two new friends before going up to a shooting position. Perhaps you'd better do the rolls, since you know the other two's stats? I reckon the ideas I've posted could be simulated by the following from the SRD (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/traps.htm):

1x Rolling rock trap, CR1
1x Stone blocks from ceiling ("tunnel collapse"), CR1
2x Pit traps (the cess pits... not sure how to represent what'll be in them), CR1 +X for contents
1x Razor wire, CR1
2x Custom "scything blade" trap (the spiked hoes - as scything blade, but piercing?), CR1

The craft DCs on those should be 20 each (unless the pit traps end up as a higher CR than 3), with whatever circumstantial modifiers should apply for us working in a hurry.

[FlamingKobold]

Okay, looking at the prices for traps, I've come to the conclusion that they make absolutely no sense, timewise and price-wise. I think that, if you can think of a simple way to do it, you should use the booby trap rules. For example, there is no way that a tripwire attached to some thing holding a boulder back should cost 660 gp and several days to make. Alternately, you could just push boulders.

Booby traps are from the DMG2. Basically, use 1 minute and DC 20 craft (trapmaking) for a simple effect. You could easily get a lot of these done, if you want. Just tell me precisely what and where, and I'll roll (Or you can auto succeed by taking 10 minutes.)

[Tyrael]

Could we perhaps get a map of the area so we can decide where to put our traps and ambushes?

[FlamingKobold]

Hmmm... I don't really have access to a great mapmaking program, and I'm not very experienced at doing so. Generally what I do is just give a basic premise of where you are (as I did in the OOC) and let you guys ppick out a few minor details/ask about them. For example if you say that you put a trap in the front gate, then there's a front gate. Just make it make sense and you're golden. This applies to just about everywhere: In a fight in a tunnel, if you say that you duck behind a boulder, then there's a boulder for you to duck behind. It adds to storytelling and diversity without slowing down the game. Just make it logical and don't overuse things (No, there isn't a perfectly sized piece of cover everywhere, but in some scenarios, it's cinematically awesome)

[paddyfool]

Yeah, I was figuring the GP cost made no sense, and was just throwing out what traps made sense for things you could throw together, although I don't have the PHBII to refer to, I think the following should work, perhaps:

- First, the way into the village (first so we can do it before they can see what we're about). We'd start by taking advantage of any pre-existing pits for pit-traps (hence the cess pit idea). If there are any smaller holes, we could use those too (e.g. covering over potholes in the road with a really fragile covering and something spiky underneath). Whatever you think fits this possible village, but we'd take ten over these as well, since it's good to stop the humans outside the village if we can. And we'll take ten over, say, three such traps, since any traps that stop them outside the village are best, taking half an hour.

- At the entrance to the village itself, maybe a tripwire tied to a big loose swinging beam. (Either swinging end-on, a-la Ewoks in Endor, or side-on, with spikes on it) Maybe not too much fuss about hiding this one, since seeing it would make them approach carefully. Take ten over this as well, though, so a total of 40 minutes so far.

- Just inside the entrance, quickly set up some really simple traps underfoot. That hoe-with-a-spike-in-the-handle idea of mine was along the lines of the comedy classic garden rake. (Heh, if goblins have rakes, it'd work as well with one of those...) Best left around the entrance to the village, with a couple different suitable tools, rolling for each. Likely these'd only do minor damage, but they should slow people down. Roll for three of these, so another ten minutes there or so.

- Among the buildings... Really sharp wire to cut them if they run into it, but if they have it, it's the simplest thing possible to set up. And maybe some tripwires, tied to release sharp spikes held back under tension. Let's say... roll for each of three of these as well, taking us up to an hour.

- On the way out of the village, give one of the more obvious escape tunnels weakened supports that we can collapse behind us (risky, but potentially devastating) and in any tunnels that slopes upwards, position some rocks in place that anyone unarmed can roll down from hiding as and when they see humans coming, before retreating further. Let's say one tunnel collapse, set up in a tunnel that leads through to connect with others, and taking ten minutes over this (because dangerous). Also setting up two rolling boulders in other tunnels, rolling for each of these, and a few more trip wires and sharp sticks. Total time - an hour and fifteen minutes by the PHBII times? Of course, with all the faffing around etc. that'd go on along the way, it'd take more like two hours. And then we could take our positions, with Garon taking a position at the entrance to the village itself, so he can lead people among the traps, positioning his new two friends by the boulders (assuming they don't have bows or slings), and encouraging other shooters to take up positions on the balconies you mentioned.

I reckon that would do, don't you?

[FlamingKobold]

I like the extreme tactical mind, I've got to say.

Ruk and Arn are ecstatic about all the traps that will be set up and, after listening to Garon's order, immediately run off to work. They are suprisingly adept at making traps, and together turn out to be making quicker progress than Garon himself. They laugh maniacally as they set up traps, happy to be useful. They add a light layers of dirt over the rakes and hoes, to make them less visible. Arn had several weapons lying around his forge, and ads several touches to Garon's orders, such as, instead of one log, he has three, each with sharp object sticking out in all directions. Everything is done, including setting five boulders up, ready to roll down the central, and only extremely visible path. All is done in just under an hour, thanks to the teamwork of the brothers. Garon gets done setting up the last of the boulders and comes down the tunnel to find the two goblins, along with three friends, digging a shallow trench, about the width of the tunnel that extends from the mouth and straight through the center of town., all of them looking very pleased with themselves.

[paddyfool]

Shiny, and thank you for your compliments and complementary additions.:smallbiggrin:


Garon looks with interest at their construction. "So Ruk... what are we digging here?"

[FlamingKobold]

Hey, these are some smart goblins. Very maliciously smart goblins

They all look up and grin at Garon. Arn steps forward, "Well, if we just push the boulder down the tunnel, it would come out at the bottom, see? And when it does, we don't know which way it'll go. It might crush some buildings or something. So we're digging this so that it just keeps going straight and doesn't break too much stuff." Ruk nods and adds, "Plus, this is where the others will be. More dead humans is always better, you know?"

[paddyfool]

Garon joins them in their work, with a grin as wide as his face and a few ready jokes at the human's expense. These were good, skilled, hard-working goblins in this town. Hopefully they could fight as well as they crafted...

[Tyrael]

The goblin knight leaves the traps to those who are more skilled at it. Instead, Ghor strolls among the goblin soldiers themselves, inspecting their performance and equipment. While they clearly aren't disciplined enough to convert into any sort of organized military force, he nevertheless does what he can to instill some sort of fighting cohesion into them before the big battle arrives.

[FlamingKobold]

If no one has anything else that they explicitly want to do, then we'll just assume that Paga and Ghor are training the "recruits" to grab the correct end of the sword and Garon is building evil, human killing traps of doom.

[paddyfool]

Sounds good. As they get closer, Garon will meet with the others to check plans on the positions of troops, and final tactics.

I suggests I wait in the village t'taunt 'em into the traps, but we keep everyone else out, 'cos only me an' two others know where they all are an' we don' want to trip over 'em all an' waste them an'us. We put shooters on balconies, an' have all our guys wi' swords an' spears waitin' ta ambush 'em in the tunnels. You guys want t'lead the ambush?

[Tyrael]

This is reeealy slowing down. :smallfrown: Let's get going!

[paddyfool]

Agreed, and my apologies for taking so long over the traps. Wanna taunt them with me in the town or wait with the ambushers?

[FlamingKobold]

Later that day, the army is finally upon you. They seem hesitant, by both the seeming lack of people and by the lack of apparent defenses of any kind. You have successfully gotten the goblins organized, and many traps laid. Now you face a tough choice: start picking them off with bows and prepare to attack, or let them set off the traps first and shoot later?

[Ryuuk]

Paga

Sorry, I don't have much time for a good post, but I like Paddyfool's idea. Lets let them run into the traps, provoking with some archers if they don't seem to want to move. From there they would either have to leave or try and take out the archers. When they try and enter the tunnels to get to them, the melee ambushes.

It should work out pretty well.

[FlamingKobold]

Alright, that seems to be the general consensus.

The soldiers approach hesitantly, with the leader not leading the charge, but sending others in before him. You hear the shout of charge, and the forty soldiers all run towards the village gate. You hear screams and yells of pain and surprise when, all of a sudden, the ground gives way beneath the first ranks, and suddenly there are eight soldiers in pits. It doesn't look especially fatal, as six of them crawl out, albeit injured. After this, they walk, looking around, constantly searching. However, despite this looking, another four troops got cut by the razor wire, causing intense bleeding. A soldier with a sword leans close to the wire and cuts it with his sword, then they continue through, though many are waiting outside the gate, and talking between them is picking up, though you can't make out what they're saying. Suddenly the log traps go off, but all but three were able to jump out of the way, though you hear much yelling and cursing, as three bloody corpses are now impaled on the logs. In their haste to get away, however, severall step on the rakes and are hurt further. By now, you count that six of the forty are dead or unconcious, and another 7 are severely hurt. THe traps have done their job, and the caped leader finally arrives. He starts barking orders, and soon enough a fire has been lit and the soldiers began to eat, taking it in shifts. Some ate, some guarded. Many prayed for their fallen comrades. The leader, apparently not caring about the losses, gave a scroll to a young man who began to run in the direction the army had come from, obviously bearing a message of victories to the man's superior's.

They will stay for the rest of the day, nursing the wounded.

[paddyfool]

Sorry about my absence. Let's see if we can't get this rolling again.


Flush with satisfaction at the traps' success, Garon pulls as many goblin(oids) together as he can and suggests it might be time to make a sortie and try to draw the humans further in. "They sound unhappy now... let's make it worse for 'em. Go out, fire off some arrows at 'em an' fade. An' if we can, I reckon we should try an' shoot that leader of theirs - the rest don' seem too keen, an' might jus' pull out easy-like without 'im. But we better have lads ready to set off them rollin' rocks, an' more lads ready t'mob 'em if they do manage t'follow us. Now, who's with me?"

[FlamingKobold]

You get 7 volunteers with bows, and the rest of the ten you have with you are ready to fight. You already have some goblins strationed at the boulders.

The seven sneak down the side tunnel, arrows knocked. They all make sure to step high over the barely visible wire that sets off the tunnel collapse and go towards the village. The goblins take up spots behind houses, then on the command of the most experience goblin, turn around and shoot. All of them get at least two arrows fired, some of them get three or four. After that they all run back towards the tunnel, taking great care to jump high over the triggerwire. They get back to you, all grinning broadly, and trade their bows in for small swords, waiting for the humans to charge.

[paddyfool]

Garon follows their example and puts his bow away in place of his daggers. He readies them a little uncertainly, and eagerly strains his senses for any sign of the traps going off below.

[Ryuuk]

Paga

Paga nods to himself as Garon organizes the recruits. Once the initial provocation occurs, he'll wait in hiding along with the other armed goblins for the humans to try to come in, or for the sound of the traps going off to start things.

If the humans seem to be on the cautious side, he'll take a few armed goblins and leave the tunnels, slowly, and watch for the opportune time to hit them and spill some blood. once he's got their attention, he'll retreat into the tunnels.

[FlamingKobold]

You here the humans yelling from below, and the shufflw as they grab weapons. You watch as the begin to come up the ramp, and are only met with oncoming bolders. Four to be exact. Many are killed immediately, but by the time the fourth rolls down there are very few left. They cautiously regroup and walk slower now, watching for anything from up the tunnel. Due to this, however, they neglect to look down and trigger the falling rocks trap. Another sevveral are killed. In the end, only five come running up the tunnel, including the leaders. The goblins run forward, Ghor at the forefront. However, against well armed and trained military men, even many goblins are easy prey. By the time the last man is struck down, you have lost 6 goblins, including the knight Ghor. The remaining goblins cheer, and several begin to carry away the bodies of the fallen.

[paddyfool]

Breathing hard and ragged, Garon keeps a wary eye down the corridor as he quickly frisks the human leader for loot. As he gets his breath back, he suggests to the others "Reckon we need t'check fer stragglers, an' take the town back. Anyone who isn' wounded, an' still has fight in 'em, yer welcome t'join me."

[Ryuuk]

Paga

Paga cracks his knuckles before drawing his sword from the human corpse that held it standing. "Lets go then." Shield ready he follows the trapsmith.

[FlamingKobold]

You two, along with several off the local goblins, walk warily down the tunnell. You arrive at the town to find that much of it hhas been ransacked, large quantities of your food eaten, and the majority of your supplies wasted. You find two humans, crippled from the traps, lying in the middle of the town where they had been camping. They are both unconcious. Other than that, however, you don't find any humans.

[paddyfool]

Garon sets to work dismantling any traps that haven't sprung yet, pausing only to ask another goblin to get Ruk and Arn down to help and to quietly lift coin purses from human corpses along the way. Once Ruk and Arn get there, he praises them on their work and offers them a cut of the loot, figuring that since the three of them did much of the work they deserve a decent share of it.