1) Use our demonic strength to maintain fear in their minds. Encourage betrayal
2) If we can do it with only minor investment of our power and from the safe distance > raise their fallen comrades as zombies. Not for real impact effectiveness but to force them to kill their own friends
3) Our undead horde should stop hiding. In fact, they should do the exact opposite. Malkus must find a way to make it look like we have way more than few hundreds of undead. The undead will be placed in such way that it looks as if they can storm the fortress at any moment;
4) Mkilizk, Brutewolves and Wolfmaster should fill the air with howling. Again, enemy must be sure that they face way more than few wolves. Also, they should participate in the sheep plan See sheep plan
5) Imps, spectres, traitors should do small scale harassment attacks retreating at any real resistance. Setting things on fire, damaging\destroying bridges, killing lone soldiers, scaring sheep and other livestock, doing various acts of sabotage. It is totally fine if we lose some spectres or imps. Discovered traitors don't bother us either because if they will be captured this will create a sweet distrust among their forces. Take the opportunity to loot the warehouses, they may contain usefull stuff for our forces and are probably not well guarded
6) Rock trolls should keep throwing rocks from from afar. Target priorities will be the skybridges, seperating the main compound from the rest of the fortress
7) Should the enemy try to break through and attack our undead horde let Malkus lead the army and enter the combat after roughly half of our zombies and skeletons are destroyed.
In person, reuse the worm form to execute a series of smash and grab attacks. Smash the underground spring (check first if it isn't holy or something), grab the enemy leadership, collapse their ways out of the compound, consume the sleeping rooms, that kind of stuff. Emphasis on smash and grab, don't get bogged down. We want the enemy to feel fear if they see us retreat, because that means they no longer know where we are and we could strike at any moment.
With much outlying village destroyed in the siege, and the shepherds hiding in the main compound, it's likely that the sheep flocks and dogs are relatively unguarded. Besides, logically most of the flock would be rather far away from the compound at any point in time, because they need to graze to eat and any decent size flock would consume everything near the city in short time.
Using spectres to scare the flocks away from the village, and the Wolfmaster to incentivize the Dog's natural instinct to herd the flocks, it should be possible to push them into a place away from the shepherd where they can be fully taken over by the Wolfmaster. Any particularly stubborn shepherd can be dealt with by the Brutewolves.
We can then slaughter most of the sheep as a huge offering, replacing quality of the sacrifice with quantity. Whatever trickle of evil comes from that should be used to enhance the hunting dogs. The rest can be lit on fire and made to rampage into the city.
Yeah alright.
One hundred times I see the temple burning in my dreams. Each time I feel the flames on my skin, hear the cries for help from my compatriots, and know with absolute certainty that I am going to die. This isn't fair. I don't want to die in this light-forsaken temple in the middle of nowhere. I want to live, to go home, to enjoy life.
Suddenly my dreams change. I see my hometown before me. Scantily-clad women guide me home, stroking my muscles and telling me how brave and handsome I am. A stranger awaits me inside my parent's house, who offers me a choice: bread and water, or a magnificent feast he has set upon the table. I laugh at him; what kind of choice is that? I choose the feast, of course. The stranger smiles, and as the kind ladies serve me all manner of exotic delicacies and fine wines, offers me another deal; he shows me another vision of the burning temple, but this time I am standing outside it, watching it burn. I need not perish with the rest, he says, if only I do him a few favours once I wake up...As dreamers awake either terrified, or your willing servants, you direct the evil generated in the battle to raise many of the dead as zombies. Though they are quickly dispatched, the defenders are suitably shaken at the idea that at any moment the dead could rise against them, and so a group of soldiers decide to dismember all corpses, under heavy protest from the monks, who argue that such desecration will prevent the spirits from finding peace in the afterlife.
Meanwhile, outside the walls, your undead horde proves masterfully adept at inflating their apparent numbers, spreading out and moving around in such a way as to make it seem like there are perhaps three times as many zombies, skeletons, and other, worse things surrounding the settlement. Between them stalk the brutewolves, howling constantly in subtly different ways, giving the impression that a host of wolves is waiting to feast on their flesh.
The appearance of the apparently overwhelming undead horde has an outsized effect on the defenders. This is most certainly the legions of darkness, and the attack they previously drove off merely the scouts of the numberless hordes, rendering their victory hollow, and their chances of survival increasingly slim.
During the night, midnight imps creep in through the windows and stalk the rafters, raining bolts of darkness on unwitting defenders, then fleeing before a response can be organised. Spectres fill the halls with bloodcurdling cries of agony, whilst traitors ambush those walking alone, leaving their corpses to be discovered. They also drop keys to the warehouses outside into the waiting hands of cultists, who in small groups are easily able to infiltrate the outer settlement, thanks to the constant bombardment by the trolls keeping most as far from the windows as possible.
The warehouses prove to contain a variety of things; extra food, clothes, and blankets, which your mortal followers eagerly secure for themselves; crates filled with cloth, spices, and other valuable goods which your cultists leave be for now, as they will make fine loot should the settlement fall to you, but for now they are useless; and in a stroke of luck, a few crates containing military supplies- including a little in the way of weapons and armour, which again your cultists take for themselves. They may not know how to use them properly, but it's far better than nothing.
During the day, there is no rest either, for you return several times to the temple, smashing through it, eating civilians, killing soldiers, and retreating quickly before suffering much damage. Your attempts to destroy the spring prove futile, however, as attempts to collapse the cavern it is in fail, and burying it in rock only causes it to rise through the rubble, and attempts to destroy the source only create more cracks through which the water can seep. Eventually you give up, and focus on the less resilient targets above.
After a few days, the defenders come to the conclusion that waiting inside whilst the opponent whittles them down to nothing is a fools game, and that a daring, lighting-quick raid on the besieging forces is the best way to even the odds. Leaving a third of their forces behind to guard the temple, the rest prepare to rush out, strike at the unprepared enemy, and quickly retreat once superior forces arrive. Unfortunately for them, traitors amongst them manage to send word of the plan to your forces before the attack starts, and Malkus
* quickly arranges a counter-ambush.
The attack is silent, to maintain the element of surprise, and meets little resistance as they charge forth into the snow. Surprisingly little resistance, given the number of besiegers. Just as someone suggests that there might be something wrong, the full might of your army bursts out of hiding and smashes into their flanks. Malkus rides throughout the mellee, striking at foes with his cursed sword as cackling wights cleave heads from necks, skeletal warriors surround soldiers and overwhelm them, and a tide of zombies washes over the battle, if not causing many casualties, at least tying up defenders and preventing them from striking back against your other forces.
Despite their losses, the defenders manage to maintain discipline, gradually reorganising their forces, and engaging in a fighting retreat back to safety. Perhaps desperation provides them additional strength, for during the retreat the tide of battle turns definitively in their favour. Zombies, never the best fighters, are cut down by the dozen, whilst soldiers fighting back to back defeat their fair share of skeletons. The wights take a few hits, but they are made of sturdier stuff than the rank-and-file corpses, and brush off the pitiful blows. Malkus does his best to salvage the situation, directing the troops from atop his horse, calling back zombies that are getting slaughtered and sending wights to cover their retreat.
Eventually the undead fall away completely, letting the defenders return to what they perceive as safety. Cheers can be heard as they reenter the temple, for despite considerable losses on their own side, more than a hundred zombies have been destroyed, as well as two dozen skeletons.
You round off the week with a mass sacrifice of sheep, having been rounded up by Mkilzk and the brutewolves, along with a couple of dogs that eventually responded to your wolfmaster's howls. Their pitiful lives are worth but a fraction of a human's, but you sacrifice hundreds of them, which does eventually add up to something respectable.
At the end of the week, the defenders look around and realise they are still alive. Despite suffering innumerable hardships, devastating their morale, they are still confident enough to defy you for another week. Who knows whether they will succumb after one more week of torment, or ten? You must also consider the possibility that they have summoned reinforcements, which could arrive at any time. Is it still worth continuing the siege?
-Of course! Reinforcements might take weeks to arrive, and they are on the verge of breaking!
-Perhaps not. You too have suffered losses, maybe it is time to cut them and leave.
Your forces (updated): ~135 zombies, ~35 skeletons, 10 hollow remnants, 20 spectres, 8 wights, 6 brutewolves, 5 midnight imps, 2 black imps, 2 rock trolls, Malkus, 14 cultists, 1 Wolfmaster, Mkilzk
Their losses: ~20 soldiers ~25 monks, ~40 civilians. (suffered over the entire turn, not just the battle)
Name: Nokluvgn
Age: 10.5 months
Physical might: 49 (+2 p/w: province-wide suffering)(+2: OMNOMNOM)(-3: battle damage)(+5: sheep)
Mental might: 70 (+2 p/w: province-wide suffering)(+3 p/w: Worship)(+1: OMNOMNOM)(-2: leakage)
Followers:397 (276 cultists, 7 magically trained cultists, 50 Nails (armed), 1 Finger (heavily armed), 40 mercenaries (armed), 3 Lesser Wordbearers, 4 Wordbearers, 2 trained Wordbearers (armed), 1 Wolfmaster, 7 knights (heavily armed), 7 mining engineers, 1 Mayor (lesser Wordbearer), 1 Duke)
Slaves: 18 (4 priests, 1 high priest, 7 guards (armed), 6 captives)
Servants: lots (10 Brutewolves, 3 Smokewraiths, 30 spectres, 4 giant-rat-packs, 12 black imps, 4 ultraviolet imps, 5 midnight imps, 54 skeletons, 14 Hollow Remnants, 6 fungal druids, 155 zombies, 3 Klrntvs, 8 Wights, 2 rock trolls)
Cults:
The New Way: Medium organization. 320 members (194 cultists, 13 Acolytes, 50 Nails (armed), 1 Finger (heavily armed), 40 mercenaries (armed), 3 Lesser Wordbearers, 2 Wordbearers, 2 magically trained Wordbearers, 2 trained Wordbearers (armed), 5 knights (heavily armed), 7 mining engineers, 1 Mayor (lesser Wordbearer), 1 Duke)
Slaves: 18 (4 priests, 1 high priest, 7 guards (armed), 6 captives)
Power level: 25 (12 used)
Of which: 6 spent recruiting, 6 spent constructing underground temple in Nuulyd (44/100)
Secrecy estimate: Fine
Resources: 1117 (+30 p/week: Duke's income)(+5 p/w: Copper mines)(-22: constructing underground temple in Nuulyd)(-6: Kate's recruitment)
Locations: Nuulyd: Merchant & town council & jail connections. Mayor converted.
Castle Brylib: Court connections+.
Oegorda: Nokluvgn may have been detected here. No wizards to be found.
Fözdoch Province (misc): No special features.
Other:
The Arms of He Who Beckons: Medium Organisation. 63 members (63 cultists)
Power level: 7 (4 used)
Of which: 3 spent on extra training to stand out, 1 spent recruiting.
Resources: 0
Locations: Army camp near the capital. Divided amongst several units of trainees.
Other:
The Cult of the Wolf: Low organisation. 15 members (10 cultists, 4 cultists (armed), 1 Wolfmaster(armed))
Power level: 4 (4 used)
Of which: 3 spent worshipping Nokluvgn, 1 spent worshipping Mkilzk.
Resources: 0
Locations: Following Nokluvgn
Other:
Champions:
Mischa Alwiz: The Duke's 'loyal' companion, now corrupted by the allure of evil.
Physical Might: 2 (+1: the Vessel)
Mental Might: 12 (+5: the Vessel)
Knowledge: Magic, adequate Necromancy.
Possessions: Grey imp (knowledge of human & demonic magic, disguised as a crow), the Vessel (An urn containing 100 souls and a chunk of Nokluvgn's essence; +1 physical and +5 mental, enhances spell-casting stamina. Large and unwieldy, requires knowledge of Necromancy to use), Necromancy study book (enables further Necromancy progress)
Other: Mischa spends all week reading her new book. She barely takes any time to eat or sleep.
Malkus Rom: The captain of the mercenaries in the Duke's employ, he proved an especially eager convert, requiring only the most minor of rewards before pledging his loyalty to you.
Physical Might: 11 (+2: Devil-horse, +2: Blade of Eternal Ash)
Mental Might: 4 (+1: Burnt Silver Medallion)
Knowledge: Competent Tactics.
Possessions: Devil-horse (A huge black horse with demonic strength and intellect; +2 physical strength, greatly increased mobility), Blade of Eternal Ash (+2 Physical, captures souls of its victims (increases Mental)), Burnt Silver Medallion (+1 Mental, attracts Evil and repels Good)
Other: A useful tactician.
"Kate": A female Wordbearer, trained in combat and magic and provided with arms and armour, now the vessel for your demonic offspring.
Physical Might: 6
Mental Might: 5
Knowledge: Adequate Mesmerism, basic Magic.
Other: 4/8(?) months pregnant.
Mkilzk: The child of Nokluvgn and a female brutewolf. Triplets. They have wings, bladed tails, and horns. Her fur ripples like smoke, yet is solid. They only has one soul.
Physical Might: 4.5 (child)
Mental Might: 2 (child)(+1: Worship)
Knowledge: Understands demontongue.
Other: 1 months old. Growing extremely quickly.
Fortresses:
Fellshore: Was a small fishing village nestled between a small lake and a forest (with mountains not so far in the distance), it has now been razed. It is undermined with many tunnels and chambers forming a twisted maze, lit with smoky torches, where the shadows form strange shapes in the corner of your eyes.
Smallish labyrinth (10, increases secrecy)(being upgraded to Medium Labyrinth 76/200)
Hidden altar: A suitable place to sacrifice to you and praise your dark name.
Copper Mine: A recently reopened mine. Converted engineers and Black Imps oversee the work of the prison labour.
Copper Veins: Generates income (5 resources p/w) if fully staffed (requires 100 workers and 10 overseers)(currently at 100 workers and 12 overseers, generating 5 r p/w)
Author
Topic: Demonhood 2 -Number of giant minions lost: between 0 and 3- (Read 143541 times)