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jebob
2010-11-12, 12:35 PM
The local BBEG in our campaign (Orc Shaman of a death god) is waging a one-man war against a small town about a hundred miles north of the capital. He snuck into the local mineworkings and contaminated the water supply with a disease. The villagers begin dying, when a small tribe of kobolds invades the mine, killing the miners. They catch the disease too.

The PCs enter, kill the kobolds, then realise that they are diseased. In a panic, they run back to the capital. The disease spreads to the capital. One of the players sucuumbs to the disease (min/maxed squishy wizard, so yeah :P).

Anyway, back to the shaman dude. He knows that something came in and killed the kobolds, but now he has a pile of corpses to work with. He believes he has a divine duty to wipe out the village, so retreats not an option.

What would you make him do? I was thinking maybe partially bury his new-found army in the dirt of the mine, to ambush the players or whoever investigates the mine next. Should he even go on the attack?

This is a fairly freeform RPG called "Warrior Rogue and Mage" for those who are interested.

Teln
2010-11-12, 01:12 PM
I'd say it's time for him to go on the offensive. From his point of view, he's not going to have a better time to strike than right now. With a plague loose in the city, the guards will have their numbers thinned, the local government is going to have its hands full keeping order, and the nervous citizens might have already begun looting. If he brings in his troops (I'm assuming he's got access to some kind of military), order might break down completely.

blackjack217
2010-11-12, 01:23 PM
I'd say it's time for him to go on the offensive. From his point of view, he's not going to have a better time to strike than right now. With a plague loose in the city, the guards will have their numbers thinned, the local government is going to have its hands full keeping order, and the nervous citizens might have already begun looting. If he brings in his troops (I'm assuming he's got access to some kind of military), order might break down completely.

Or the whole unite in the face of an external threat thing. The real question is, does he think he can win? I assume he has the ability to wipe out the small village now but not the strength to defeat a fortified city. In fact, if he really is waging a one man war i doubt he has a shot, because mindless undead don't deal with walls particularly well. Does he just have zombies or does he have more?

jebob
2010-11-12, 01:24 PM
He has perhaps 30 zombies, but thats all.

The plague is mostly contained in the capital, but security forces are busy trying to prevent a full-scale epidemic.

I think going on the offensive is a good idea, especially if I rule that zombie bites spawn more zombies. The problem is there are about 1000 alive and (fairly) healthy citizens in the town. An organised resistance could stop him.

akma
2010-11-12, 01:29 PM
If I was the shaman, I would animate armies of undead from the mines and sent them to the city. The orc shaman got an advandage possible resistence doesn`t - any man who dies could be reanimated as a soldier in his army.

Teln
2010-11-12, 01:29 PM
From his point of view, that's a problem. From the DM's point of view, replace "organized resistance" with "the party". Unless you've got bigger plans for this guy, I recommend having him invade and hopefully die at the party's hands.

blackjack217
2010-11-12, 01:39 PM
He cannot win force on force. If he manages to turn it into a strait battle 30 zombies vs town defenders everyone with a ranged attack will kill the squishy leaving the zombies mindless and suceptible to kiting tactics.
Ways for defends to run rampant over unsupervised mindless undead:
1. wave to zombe then run inside and lock the door. Drop heavy objects off of roof. repeat
2. Slings from range.
3. divide and conquer
If you assume one in ten is willing to fight then its 100 thinking beings vs 30 mindless undead and one caster who may very well die in the first round. He might win by catching them by surprise but that is unlikely to work unless his opposition is completely disorganized.
These problems will only grow more pronounced bigger his force gets. He needs thinking minions.

jebob
2010-11-12, 02:06 PM
The town is not designed for defence, but he lacks a suitable army.

Ideas include calling for re-inforcements (but I'd like to keep the campaign end-game secret for a while yet) or raids on the town to get more bodies, spread disease and cause havok.

blackjack217
2010-11-12, 02:15 PM
I was saying that zombies are dramatically less effective if no one can think for them, as they are essentially mindless. Therefore he needs one or more people who can order the zombies about without him being in danger himself. Plus this makes him more interesting to fight. Also note I did not say the town was designed for defense, I simply assumed that it was big enough to break up 50 mindless undead into manageable groups, which the defenders would proceed to destroy piecemeal.