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[Ardent Debater]

One more problem with an attempt to exhaust our enemy > They may try to break the siege again and this time they will be successful.

We have the Midnight Imps, Rock Trolls and our own fiery wrath to shatter their formations, our undead hordes and cultist fodder, led by Malkus and eight wights pose a difficult foe, and our Brutewolves, led by our canine daughter will run them down when they rout. Let them come, by abandoning their fortifications, they forfeit their only concrete advantage, and they would be fools to try it.

[10ebbor10]

Under your plan, we and Mkilzk wouldn't be present. Similarly, the rock trolls and midnight imps are too high up the mountain, they can't prevent a breakout operation. You'd leave only a scattering of zombies to hold the fort. This is unlikely to go well.

[NUKE9.13]

NUKE9.13, how did the Hollow Remnants preform in the battle, compared to their skeleton counterparts?

Is it possible to direct our leakage towards corrupting their spring?

Right, yes, sorry. I forgot to answer that.
A: Eh. They did better than regular skeletons. Nothing to write home about, though. They don't cost much to make, but they also aren't a massive upgrade.

At the current rate of leakage you only very slowly and very slightly corrupt the environment. Having been here for two weeks, it will only have had some minor effect. You could try directing leakage towards the spring, but it would still take a few weeks before the corruption becomes a problem for the defenders.
What it does mean is that even after you leave there will be a certain feeling in the air, a vague sense of unease that makes people lock their doors tight and not linger in dark places. This may linger for years before dissipating.

[Strongpoint]

We have the Midnight Imps, 

Ineffective in daylight

Rock Trolls

Slow and far away

And our own fiery wrath

We don't benefit from fighting in the open. Actually, we dislike being surrounded and taking hundreds of arrows from archers

our undead hordes and cultist fodder, led by Malkus and eight wights pose a difficult foe,

They hacked one hundred zombies while retreating. What will they do in a desperate breakthrough attempt? Only Malkus and wights count as good combatants and I expect their best warriors being better

and our Brutewolves, led by our canine daughter will run them down when they rout.

you seriously overestimate brutewolves here. BTW, Our daughter is a child and she is weaker than... pregnant Kate

Let them come, by abandoning their fortifications, they forfeit their only concrete advantage, and they would be fools to try it.

Fortifications is not their only advantage. They have skills, they have weapons, they have divine support, they may get reinforcements. They may have holy things.

[10ebbor10]

Anyway, let's look at the battle.

~250 zombies
~60 skeletons
~10 hollow remains
8 wights

vs

42 soldiers, 51 monks

Results in :
~115 zombies, ~25 skeletons lost
Significantly less than ~20 soldiers ~25 monks lost

So, basically, even with a 3:1 numerical advantage and a perfect ambush, we still lose more than 3 zombies for every target we kill.

The enemy still has 44 soldiers and 52 monks left. That's 300 zombies worth.

I am not actually sure that we want to burn the place down considering valuable goods and desire to use the fortress for ourselves but I am worried about possible reinforcements including something nasty like the angel coming to their aid.

The valuable goods are in warehouses outside the main building. The fire would be limited to those. As for using the fortress ourselves, we don't have the resources to hold it.

Why don't we poison the well.  Oldest trick in the book, with no portable water they'll have to give in.  Their reliance on a spring likely means that they'll lack cisterns and other storage methods.  Further, let's burn some mental might sending visions and dreams and such to convince people we wI'll be merciful should they surrender.
Edit: also send in some sort of plague, or an imp that spreads disease.

It's seems an easy and obvious thing, but I fear for the existence of magic water purification techniques.

and our Brutewolves, led by our canine daughter will run them down when they rout.

you seriously overestimate brutewolves here. BTW, Our daughter is a child and she is weaker than... pregnant Kate

Yu, remember. Two brutewolves vs 2 soldiers => both brutewolves died.

They can't bite through armor.


Anyway, a plan, based partially on Strongpoint's plan. 

~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

Prep phase :

1) Loot enemy corpses to arm cult of the wolf and\or hollow remains. Pile remains of the fallen enemies mixed with zombie chunks and put the whole thing on fire. Use evil fumes generated to teach Mkilzk how to manipulate smoke. Sneak the smoke upwards towards the temple, drenching the entire Temple in the sweet mouth-watering smells of roasted human ribs.

2) Sends Spectres out to scout. We don't want to be caught unaware by reinforcements. Should any be on the way, we will cancel all plans below this point, leave the zombies behind, sneak by the rescuing army and attack some of the now unprotected villages that army was defending.

3) Traitors will argue that the fortress needs to be prepped for more defensive action. Barricade entrances, windows and all that. This will make it harder to get in, or out.

4) A message will appear, written on the wall in unremoveable smokey letters. It would proclaim that we (the demon) have decided to reward them for their good fight, and have enchanted the spring water to heal wounds. The water will be perfectly ordinary. Use our mental powers to intensify paranoia about this undetectable demonic influence, hopefully causing many to forgo drink.

5) The wolf cult has not much to do. They can range out and look for local wolves to recruit, or something.

The burning

6) Traitors, midnight imps and trolls will use various means to start fires within the central compound. Using our control of smoke, we will keep it there, within and surrounding the temple.

7) Under the cover and panic of smoke, begin moving the zombies upwards to cut down any escaping stragglers.

Use this giant sacrificial pyre to summon something neat.


On a side note, one of the primary issues with zombies is that they're literally braindead. Malkus has to micromanage them to get them to do anything at all. As such, I propose we create sort of unit for later on.

Cryptbrain

An undead with minor necromantic powers, which it uses to control other undead and lead them in battle. Similarly, it can use these powers to mold and repair undead, reattaching or reanimating lymbs. Cryptbrains are actually quite smart, but tend to be weak at least initially. They are perfectly aware of their weakness, and thus tend to use their necromantic power to upgrade themselves with the best bits of their fallen subordinates.

[Strongpoint]

+1 to the above

[Puppyguard]

-snipped to save thread space-

+1 I like this plan.

[omada]

-snipped to save thread space-

+1 I like this plan.

+1 to the above

+1, YES

[Ardent Debater]

NUKE9.13, how did the Hollow Remnants preform in the battle, compared to their skeleton counterparts?

Is it possible to direct our leakage towards corrupting their spring?

Right, yes, sorry. I forgot to answer that.
A: Eh. They did better than regular skeletons. Nothing to write home about, though. They don't cost much to make, but they also aren't a massive upgrade.

At the current rate of leakage you only very slowly and very slightly corrupt the environment. Having been here for two weeks, it will only have had some minor effect. You could try directing leakage towards the spring, but it would still take a few weeks before the corruption becomes a problem for the defenders.
What it does mean is that even after you leave there will be a certain feeling in the air, a vague sense of unease that makes people lock their doors tight and not linger in dark places. This may linger for years before dissipating.

Good to know, good to know. Thanks for answering my question.

-snipped to save thread space-

+1 I like this plan.

+1 to the above

+1, YES

+1, I also like this plan. Essentially, The Cryptbrains are intelligent zombies with minor necromantic powers, right? What if we created a dozen or so Cryptbrains, left them behind with the remaining zombies, and tasked them with spreading as much carnage as possible by attacking and reanimating villages indefinitely to cheaply and subtly gather a vast horde of undead we could use when we eventually go on the warpath, along with cause suffering and instability in the region?

[S34N1C]

-snipped to save thread space-

I like this, but the water thing sounds kinda dumb. Why should they believe us?
Although, on the other side of this argument, either they believe us, and drink the paranoia water, or think it's a trick, and die of thirst. So, either way, I guess it gets the job done.
+1

[VoidSlayer]

Could we use the sacrificial pyre to enchant the cultists who set it?  Ask them to disrupt any firefighting activity with backstabbing and murder and then raise them as some kind of self willed char-smoke-ash vampires.  They could be living looking undead or something.

[NRDL]

-snipped to save thread space-

I like this, but the water thing sounds kinda dumb. Why should they believe us?
Although, on the other side of this argument, either they believe us, and drink the paranoia water, or think it's a trick, and die of thirst. So, either way, I guess it gets the job done.
+1

+1

[Ardent Debater]

We have the Midnight Imps, 

Ineffective in daylight

Rock Trolls

Slow and far away

And our own fiery wrath

We don't benefit from fighting in the open. Actually, we dislike being surrounded and taking hundreds of arrows from archers

our undead hordes and cultist fodder, led by Malkus and eight wights pose a difficult foe,

They hacked one hundred zombies while retreating. What will they do in a desperate breakthrough attempt? Only Malkus and wights count as good combatants and I expect their best warriors being better

and our Brutewolves, led by our canine daughter will run them down when they rout.

you seriously overestimate brutewolves here. BTW, Our daughter is a child and she is weaker than... pregnant Kate

Let them come, by abandoning their fortifications, they forfeit their only concrete advantage, and they would be fools to try it.

Fortifications is not their only advantage. They have skills, they have weapons, they have divine support, they may get reinforcements. They may have holy things.

Where would a Demon be without his hubris?

[Origami_Psycho]

I still think we ought to poison the spring, doesn't have to be supernatural or anything, just tunnel in as the worm with a dozen or so zombies and tell them to take a big 'ol shit in the spring.  Then leave them there.  Or skip the zombies and we take a big demonic dump in it or something.

[NUKE9.13]

Anyway, let's look at the battle.

~250 zombies
~60 skeletons
~10 hollow remains
8 wights

vs

42 soldiers, 51 monks

Results in :
~115 zombies, ~25 skeletons lost
Significantly less than ~20 soldiers ~25 monks lost

So, basically, even with a 3:1 numerical advantage and a perfect ambush, we still lose more than 3 zombies for every target we kill.

The enemy still has 44 soldiers and 52 monks left. That's 300 zombies worth.

Now, I'm not saying you're wrong, necessarily, but I will say that combat relies on several factors, some of which are random. I always write it out in such a way that it makes sense, explaining why they did well (see for example 'strength from desperation' means: they rolled well).
To be absolutely clear, this does not mean that combat is a crapshoot. Tactics, numbers, and quality of forces all have a non-random part to play.
But don't expect every fight to have the same outcome. Sometimes you get lucky, or not.


Anyway, it seems there is basically a consensus. Let's see about writing that update, eh?

E: About that update. Do you want to create the Cryptbrains now, or is that for later?