Help Organising an Invasion

[beckyangelix]

So. I have an invasion on my hands.

I have designed a massive world with one central town (as it so often goes). There is a neighbouring northern country full of a Viking-like race of humans and they are coming to sack the town in conjunction with the corrupt mayor. My idea is that the corrupt mayor is going to cash in on the agreements he has with neighbouring countries that will fund the rebuilding of the city in the event that these Viking people attack (they are a huge Klingon-like threat to everyone).

So basically the town guard is out of question for help. The party finds out of this plan and, presumably, will want to defend the city. They have one week. They will have the citizens of the city and the fortifications to help them. Plus the town guard and the mayor hindering them. My players are very experienced, but they're only level fives right now.

How would you DMs out there handle this? Any glaring problems or plot holes you can see so far? Will this work? How have you handled largely un-guided invasions before?

[Ninja_Prawn]

A handful of level fives with no real allies against an invasion? It's a tough ask. They'll need some force multupliers.

Is there a way they could reduce the strength of this 'viking' army? Maybe by killing its leader or convincing a starscream-like character to undermine them?

Hmm. I'll be interested to see what people come up with here.

[Finieous]

Break it up into scenarios/encounters/adventures in which the PCs can star:

* Evacuate the vulnerable, outlying villages (Game of Thrones last night was awesome!).
* Act as envoys to nearby polities, groups or powerful individuals that might offer aid.
* Sabotage supply lines as the enemy army approaches.
* Assassinate enemy leader(s).
* Protect woodsmen from monsters while they harvest timber to reinforce defenses.

[KorvinStarmast]

One of the best ways to foil a military operation is to defeat the plan behind it, or to use spoiling attacks, diversions, feints, or deception to cause the attacker's leaders to either change their minds or change their plan.

Finieous has offered some great choices for prep, but the ultimate suggestion comes from no less an authority than Sun Tzu: Assassinate the enemy leader.

Not saying that you should suggest this to your players, but at fifth level some spells are available to permit an audacious attempt to infiltrate the marauder's camp and cut off the head. If your players take that path, you will want to be ready for to play that out.

No guts, no glory.

(Fin: I particularly like the suggestion about protecting those who will be bolstering the defenses. Ample opportunity for a nice side encounter there).

[Ninja_Prawn]

but at fifth level some spells are available to permit an audacious attempt to infiltrate the marauder's camp and cut off the head.

Clairvoyance-and-Maim?

[beckyangelix]

Thanks, everyone! These are all awesome suggestions. I want to see what my players come up with, I imagine it will be very similar to some suggestions above. As it will be a single session invasion I think it will be a fun pressure test to see how well they can coordinate the city and disrupt the mayor's plans.

[ImSAMazing]

Just beak it up in missions. Make sure someone takes the lead in the defence, not a party member but a veteran with much tactic experience. Make the missions like this:
1. Kill the Vikings' scouts.
2. Evacuate
3. Get help
4. Go into a ruin to get powerful items
5. Make a sieg weapon so you can shoot down the enemies
6. Defeat the Vikings'
7. Create an army which attacks the Vikings'village after they are gone.

[SharkForce]

i'm confused. corrupt mayor or not, it is incredibly improbable that every member of the guard (or even most of the town guard) are going to obey orders to *not* defend the city against a barbarian invasion. their families and friends all live there, their homes are there, their life is there. unless they are robots, i don't see why you wouldn't be able to count on them to do their best to protect the city.

[Ninja_Prawn]

i'm confused. corrupt mayor or not, it is incredibly improbable that every member of the guard (or even most of the town guard) are going to obey orders to *not* defend the city against a barbarian invasion. their families and friends all live there, their homes are there, their life is there. unless they are robots, i don't see why you wouldn't be able to count on them to do their best to protect the city.

Hmm... Orc shaman with Mass Suggestion, smuggled into the city by the corrupt mayor for 'special training'?

[SharkForce]

Hmm... Orc shaman with Mass Suggestion, smuggled into the city by the corrupt mayor for 'special training'?

works on 12 targets at a time, (if they all fail their save). and unless you're scaling up the level of the spell slot, doesn't last for long enough to cumulatively impact a significant portion of the guard.

[Ninja_Prawn]

works on 12 targets at a time, (if they all fail their save). and unless you're scaling up the level of the spell slot, doesn't last for long enough to cumulatively impact a significant portion of the guard.

Sorry, that was a joke. Edited for clarity.

[Shining Wrath]

The thing about Hordes is that they are usually adept at Hording. The usual military tactics, while useful (like evacuating their path), won't stop them. They'll scout ahead, they'll guard their flanks, they'll guard their leaders.

The advantage PCs have over barbarian hordes is magic. Magic is the one thing I'd expect the party to have more of than the Horde.

It will take exactly one bridge with some planks removed and replaced by illusions to slow the march down for the rest of the journey. Every day's worth of time bought is a day's worth of lives saved.

Fifth level characters can't cast teleport, but if they can get access to it, scouting the area ahead of the horde for likely camping sites can mean they are teleporting into a known area. Teleport into camp, kill leaders, teleport out.

[Soommor]

As a DM, it hardly matters that Mass Suggestion can only work for a small number of NPC guards. The capacity of your own imagination overrules the fact that there is no explicit way of preforming the spell. It could be a ritual preformed by 50 Shaman who were smuggled into the city through the use of trade caravans, or some kind of powerful item placed within the city somewhere that happens to have such effects.

In fact not only does this provide a reasonable explanation, it will also provide your PCs with the chance to learn about such a plot, and put a stop to it in time to repel the invasion, which may act as a sort of timer for them to run against.

[Celcey]

I'd say give the player allies. If this city is important enough that there are agreements in place to rebuild in case of emergency, it's important enough that the people who promised to rebuild it won't want to see it destroyed. The mayor surely has political enemies who would gladly help the PCs; the people who would pay for the rebuilding certainly don't want to pay unless they absolutely have to; and there are other places to get help than the town guards.

Say, for example, your fair city has a large and lively thieves guild- destroying the city would disrupt their money-making, and we certainly can't have that. Say there's an ancient temples in the city, a historic site that's very important- the preists of the temple don't want it destroyed, and neither does the god or godess it's devoted to. Say there's an ancient evil trapped underneath the city's streets, guarded by an order of paladins who certainly don't want that evil getting loose. There are allies everywhere. And if you don't want to go with the suggestion that everyone in the guard is under a spell, than there will definitely be people in the guard who won't go along with the mayor's plan. Even if they are under a spell though, surely a couple of them made their saving throw, or where somehow missed out by the people casting it.

[Brendanicus]

As everyone else said, allies are a huge boon.

Perhaps the payers are sent to gain valuable resources, like those found in the abandoned home of a deceased mid-level wizard. Or, at least, was abandoned until that shadow dragon moved in. Players beat the dragon, then get access to scrolls of Teleport and other powerful utility spells.

Using their new-found magic, the party now has a chance to accomplish something huge, like teleporting into the enemy camp in order to assassinate the leader, or infiltrating enemy ranks in order to sow miscommunication and betrayal among enemy officers. Or, they could kidnap somebody important and hold them for ransom, or they could discover the secret documents detailing that the Barbarian King is an illegitimate ruler. Or, the players make friends with a Doppelganger. Lots of possibilities.

[VoxRationis]

I'm guessing that if the invaders are coming by a prior arrangement with the mayor of the town, then that will be a crucial part of their invasion plan. They won't be equipped for a lengthy siege or for having to break down the gates, because they know there's someone on the inside who's going to open the gates for them as soon as they get there.

The solution is therefore simple: Assassinate the mayor and kill his allies inside the town. Someone else can rally the town garrison from there.

One could also have a PC or two head out to gather allies from other lands as well.

[Celcey]

Oooo, I like Brendanicus' idea. What if the mayor is secretly a doppleganger? The real mayor could be tied up or dead, and the doppleganger plans to take the money and run.

[Brendanicus]

Oooo, I like Brendanicus' idea. What if the mayor is secretly a doppleganger? The real mayor could be tied up or dead, and the doppleganger plans to take the money and run.Thank you, though though was mostly yours.

Why not go even farther? What if there are two or three dopplegangers, who have made an entire career of impersonating the heads of governments and businesses, just to sell them out and run with the money. Such people could have sold out other towns to the barbarians, and plan to sell out even more in the future! The barbarians could unknowingly have had allies who have been responsible for a good chunk of their conquest!

Edit: You could make entire campaigns revolving around such a group! The hook opportunities would be infinite, with rumors circulating of a group of extravagantly wealthy travelers spending money all around any town they enter. However, soon after they stay in that town, they are either invaded, or some other disaster strikes. When the dust settles, they are never seen again.

Who the travelers are always changes. Sometimes they are nobles, other times adventurers, and other times a troupe of bards.

[1Forge]

Not bards, any party bard could easily detect a fake bard in an instant.