The Fellowship of the Fourth Age (Part 1): A New Beginning Discussion Thread

[Nogrod]

Originally Posted by Child of the 7th Age

Nogrod, Folwren -- This sounds good too. I'd love to see both Folwren and Dorran part of an "advance" horse guard. I especially like the idea of using this advance guard to spook the other horses and run some of them off. Any character who can sit a horse is welcome to borrow a horse and join. (We have enough horses between us, and I doubt that characters like Carl or Vror will want to fight on horseback!) Of course, if Dorran or someone wants to finish up with a blade to the rider they are chsing that is fine too!

We should deliberate on this... An advance horse guard is a possibility. It might distract the actual attack by drawing some of the attackers after them (and creating suspense among the slavers about possible other mounted escapees to be met).

But what I had in mind was that our riders would stay hidden until the crucial moment when they could flank the attacking force - f.ex. when the first of the slavers hit the tunnels and are unmounted and the first burst of arrows, sling-pebbles etc. have rained upon them, ideally at the same time. In that confusion (the rest of the slavers trying to hold their horses and trying to adjust to the new situation) a mounted attack with even just six riders could do a lot of damage and create even more confusion and even panic.

[Child of the 7th Age]

Nogrod -- I am definitely open to mulling over ideas on this one. One of my concerns is that we get to take advantage of Folwren's fine skills as a writer by having her character involved in the battle in some meaningful way. This seemed like a good way to do it, since the general theme of confusing the slavers is central to our plot.

If we go with a traditional mounted attack, it would be less likely that Folwren would participate. Can we do both? Or should we do one tactic or the other? Anyone else have any opinions here?

Durelin - You're definitely right about the horses. But I remembered we still have two free mounts. Aiwendil and Rog are on foot.

Actually, I cheated.... .... Rog was on foot and I edited my post to free up Aiwendil's horse. Still, they are both in walking distance of the camp.

[Brinniel]

Well, whether an advance horse guard or a mounted attack is used, Shae can volunteer to be a rider. Though Shae isn't an experienced rider, she won her own mount from her kill the previous night, and got a fair share of riding to the Fellowship and back to her camp. While Shae may not be any expert rider, as are Dorran and Athwen, she learned much from her experiences on horseback last night, and because of that she might even know more about riding than many of her fellow ex-slaves. Especially since most of them have been slaves their entire lives and have never even been on horseback before....

Originally Posted by Child of the 7th Age

My guess is that some of the "older" runaways would already have made a bow for purposes of catching game, if nothing else. They can certainly be used as weapons, and the skills and extra weapons can be given to the newcomers. You'll probably need to get in very close, however. With the winds blowing so hard just as the attackers come in range of the camp, there is a possibility of arrows going far astray. The advantage of the winds and sand is that the slavers will be hard pressed to see you, especially since they won't be wearing any protective covering. You might want to consider taking shelter behind some boulders and keeping your heads down, then darting in very close to shoot as the slavers come roaring by you.

Yes, I think that could work. We would need a lead archer if such an attack were to be made- maybe one of the "older" ex-slaves. Who would be skilled with a bow? Maybe Beloan? That could give him another opportunity to take a leadership role...

[Nogrod]

How about the following?

Beloan might be the leader of the archers - here I'll stick with Brinniel. That's a good idea. He might take the leadership there, and on concrete game-terms anyone of us could use him the way s/he wishes as he's a non-player character.

Feel free everyone to recruit to the ranged attack party. A couple of bows and a bit more slings are available. Maybe the gang should be divided in two, half of the people to the other side of the place we think the slavers will ride through and the other half to the other side, hopefully with a little height advantage (let's say slow hills from between which we wish to lure the slavers to ride).


How about the next one? Athwen could be riding boldly to meet the slavers and act like being surprised and make a run away from them towards the camp - thus luring the slavers to follow her. There should be a fake camp with fires burning in the direction Athwen is riding towards so that the slavers would happily follow her. Then, as she would know the exact location of the tunnel-trap, she would let the slavers come near enough her and in the last moment she would make her horse to jump over the trap and the slavers would have no time to react and the first row of them would fall into the tunnel (their horses stumbling and their riders cast off from them). Then there could be a rain of arrows and pebbles from both sides of the slavers who would be confused enough as the leading row has just stumbled in a flash. And before they could rearrange themselves, the party of 5-6 riders would attack them from the flank, galloping through them and causing a maximum damage. Surely a gang of foot soldiers would have been part of the "fake-camp" and would spring to their feet the moment Athwen comes over the tunnel-trap and they would be the ones trying to bring down the unmounted slavers... Hadith could be one of those, maybe one of the the leaders of that party - alongside Khamir and Vrór?

So who would be riding and how many horses we do have? Dorran surely and Athwen if you buy my plan, and Shae as Brinniel said. But that still leaves something like four horses to be used (if we have one or two captured ones from the last attack). I propose Joshwan to be one of the riders, the others might be some of us writers characters here or then unnamed veteran escapees. That ok.?

[Durelin]

Yes, I thought the fake camp idea would be a good one, but I quite forgot about the horses. I think, if Athwen was up to it, that having her lead the slavers in would be marvellous.

Beloan as leader of the archers sounds great, too.

Hadith could be one of those, maybe one of the the leaders of that party - alongside Khamir and Vrór?

Alongside Khamir sounds good. I have another plan for Vrór, I think.

I propose Joshwan to be one of the riders, the others might be some of us writers characters here or then unnamed veteran escapees. That ok.?

Definitely! Keep using those cool NPCs that have gotten so much char. development.

[Nogrod]

Originally Posted by Child

I think there is one thing we are all going to have to be careful about. We have 24 or so slavers so we should probably resist the urge to take out 6 at a time! Rather than describing large numbers hitting the dust at once, we will probably need to have the focus be the single individual and the particular enemy he/she is facing.

I agree to the fullest!

Let's not play the baffling heroes but let us also describe the misjudgements and unlucky strikes of our characters too. And the actual situations where our people are just outwitted or overcome by the enemy...

The enemy has 24 (?) battle-hardened riders, we have one to match them (Dorran) and some nearing that status (Beloan, Joshwan, maybe one or two more -and a few to rise to the occasion, maybe?). Still we are outnumbered on count of staunch warriors by 1:5 or something. For a commoner to bring down a soldier is more than a feat! So let us make this not too easy! (Well, we have to win anyhow, but still, let's not make it without a cost or with incredible heroism)

[Durelin]

So let us make this not too easy! (Well, we have to win anyhow, but still, let's not make it without a cost or with incredible heroism)

Yep, and I can pretty much guaruntee you that, personally, I'm going to kill someone off...

[Folwren]

Originally Posted by Nogrod

How about the next one? Athwen could be riding boldly to meet the slavers and act like being surprised and make a run away from them towards the camp - thus luring the slavers to follow her. There should be a fake camp with fires burning in the direction Athwen is riding towards so that the slavers would happily follow her.

Originally Posted by Nogrod

How about the next one? Athwen could be riding boldly to meet the slavers and act like being surprised and make a run away from them towards the camp - thus luring the slavers to follow her. There should be a fake camp with fires burning in the direction Athwen is riding towards so that the slavers would happily follow her.

Good thus far, yes...

Then, as she would know the exact location of the tunnel-trap, she would let the slavers come near enough her and in the last moment she would make her horse to jump over the trap and the slavers would have no time to react and the first row of them would fall into the tunnel (their horses stumbling and their riders cast off from them).

But here there is a problem. I thought of her jumping the tunnel myself, once, but realized that a horse won't jump unless there is something to jump over. They just won't, so far as I know. You might give a cue to jump, or you might be able to approach a jump just right, but a horse won't jump unless there's something there.

I thought about it and perhaps, if, as you said, Athwen knows just where the tunnel is, she can stop just before she reaches it, turn her horse around, wait until the slavers are very, very near, and then charge right through the center of them. Then, if they hadn't slackened their pace, they won't turn about and will charge right into the trap. That sounds unlikely, though...

Here are the problems with it...

• She might have to ride too dangerously close to one of the men and get herself wounded
• They might have bows and arrows that they know how to use on horse back (we could always say they didn't) in which case, any person riding before them to lead them on would be in danger of being shot...but even if they do have bows, we can still risk it.
• They might just be able to get a hint of her trick and pull their horses about before they reach the tunnel....
• And I'm sure there are more.

Then there could be a rain of arrows and pebbles from both sides of the slavers who would be confused enough as the leading row has just stumbled in a flash. And before they could rearrange themselves, the party of 5-6 riders would attack them from the flank, galloping through them and causing a maximum damage. Surely a gang of foot soldiers would have been part of the "fake-camp" and would spring to their feet the moment Athwen comes over the tunnel-trap and they would be the ones trying to bring down the unmounted slavers... Hadith could be one of those, maybe one of the the leaders of that party - alongside Khamir and Vrór?

And this rest looks good. The only problem, as I said, was making the horse leap the tunnel. . .

-- Folwren

[Child of the 7th Age]

We need Tevildo and Folwren to weigh in on these suggestions before we take this too much further.

Yeah! Half of our equation is here.

Folwren --

Hmm..... I doubt they would be trying to shoot you. In fact, Imak can give a strict order not to do this. Perhaps he announces that he wants to have the woman taken alive and unharmed, and will give a reward to whoever can do this. This should give the men plenty of incentive to follow close on her heels. So you likely won't be killed by an arrow or sword.

The question is would some of the slavers catch on and pull back their horses and try to follow Athwen instead of surging straight ahead and falling in the tunnel. If you wanted, you could actually incorporate this into your story line. Could you swerve right or left, and have one to two follow you as you ride out? You'd have to figure out how to deal with these riders..... Maybe coordinate with Tevildo and have him come rushing up to fight the brutes? Or figure out some way to "lose" them? The rest of the slavers would continue straight ahead.

Would this work???

[Folwren]

Alright, here I am....with a little bit of time under by belt. Yehaw.

Originally Posted by Child

Since Folwren's poster and character both have a lot of experience with horses, she would be the logical one to play this part, but we have to see if she would like to do it. I hope so.

Thank you, yes, I am quite willing to do it. It's something quite exciting and I think Athwen will be willing to do it, too.

I have to admit that the slavers would be more likely to follow an attractive woman, seemingly unarmed, with hair flying out in back of her, rather than a battle hardened man.

I think the thoughts in their heads would be more a bad thing than a good thing, but yes, you're probably right.

Hmm..... I doubt they would be trying to shoot you. In fact, Imak can give a strict order not to do this. Perhaps he announces that he wants to have the woman taken alive and unharmed, and will give a reward to whoever can do this. This should give the men plenty of incentive to follow close on her heels. So you likely won't be killed by an arrow or sword.

This would definitely be a convenient thing. That was the most that I was worried about. But how will the plan makers (Dorran particularly) guess or expect this? It's not so difficult talking myself into letting Athwen decide to do it, but I can't speak for Tevildo, or what Dorran will think about sending his wife into such a possition.

The question is would some of the slavers catch on and pull back their horses and try to follow Athwen instead of surging straight ahead and falling in the tunnel.

If Athwen allowed them to pretty much catch up to her, until they were on her very heels, and pulled up suddenly directly before the tunnel, they couldn't stop their horses in time if they tried. I'm sure that if this happened, someone would end up colliding with her and she'd make a wreck to help with the havoc. It's a dangerous business stopping your horse at the head of a race, but it's liveable, if you're lucky.

Another thing I just realized though was if a horse gets excited and is running as fast as he would be with other horses behind him, he doesn't always stop when asked. It was just today that a horse took off with me and I couldn't stop him for the life of me. I had to bale off.....If Athwen's horse doesn't stop, she'll fall in the tunnel, or swerve...in which case....

Could you swerve right or left, and have one to two follow you as you ride out? You'd have to figure out how to deal with these riders..... Maybe coordinate with Tevildo and have him come rushing up to fight the brutes? Or figure out some way to "lose" them? The rest of the slavers would continue straight ahead.

She could turn and run parrallel to the tunneling. I would figure out some way to either lose them or have her knight in shining armor come rescue her. Or I could simply go galloping to where the ex-slaves fighters are. They'd open ranks, allow her in, and shoot down or try to kill and stop the slavers chasing her. Then she'll hop off her horse and go wait for the wounded to come to be tended.

So, what do you think? Does she stop her horse and the slavers charge past her?

Does her horse not stop and she actually fall into the pit?

Or does she turn and get chased some?

If she is chased, my only other worry is that if some slavers could follow her on that turn, all of them could. BUT, if they see the slaves in front of them, maybe only two or three will follow her, the others will make a charge towards them and then fall plump into the tunnel.

And I think that's all I can think of right now..........if I do end up thinking of any more, or if any of you see any holes in my ideas or have more questions, I can always say more and do more thinking.

-- Folwren