What Ba Chim's spy tells you about Il Tasi'in
What Ba Chim's spy tells you about Il Tasi'in
Il Tasi'in, a thick-walled town of 3000, is the seat of power for one of the the most isolated of the borderland satrapies of the Scarlet Sultanate. Located on the east coast just after the shoreline turns south, it is a bare 60 miles from the Xobi, the cold rocky southern desert in the Weird.
The town which is dominated by the two raised quartz-dome hills called the Teats of Manat was formerly called Manawat and was deeply associated with the worship of that chthonic goddess (who is said to have ruled over fate itself and “sapped the self-will and value of Men”).
The ruling satrap is like other borderlands satraps both a highly-positioned courtier and necromancer, an important role in the maintenance of the undead-worked plantation system (more about Industrial Necromancy in a blog post).
Ul-Namihirra is generally considered to be a deeply incompetent in both his expected roles but survives politically by his ability to shift positions to whatever the winning side is in any kind of court intrigue. He is also fabulously wealthy, even more so than the typical satrap skimming should entail, and he is widely considered to be supplementing it through piracy and other nefarious schemes. He is known among his many conspicuous vices for his menagerie of creatures bizarre (notably apes of ferocious aspect) and his harem composed strangely only of elderly, obese women.
The locals revile and fear the satrap in equal measure. Nearly everybody owes a terrible personal debt to the man in the town.
The barge is being held in the Waram, a large sea-cave harbor that is blocked by a giant metal-chain. Several personal vessels (and reputed corsairs) share the space with the barge.
The palace is walled off and separate from the rest of the city, located just east of the main bazaar and on the summit of the eastern Teat of Manat. It is known that the satrap has two barracks of zombified (but barely sentient) guardsmen, who are rumored to be lead by both living and sentient undead officers, toward the front gate. Total numbers are unknown but likely in the 100-200 range for the whole complex.
Il Tasi'in, a thick-walled town of 3000, is the seat of power for one of the the most isolated of the borderland satrapies of the Scarlet Sultanate. Located on the east coast just after the shoreline turns south, it is a bare 60 miles from the Xobi, the cold rocky southern desert in the Weird.
The town which is dominated by the two raised quartz-dome hills called the Teats of Manat was formerly called Manawat and was deeply associated with the worship of that chthonic goddess (who is said to have ruled over fate itself and “sapped the self-will and value of Men”).
The ruling satrap is like other borderlands satraps both a highly-positioned courtier and necromancer, an important role in the maintenance of the undead-worked plantation system (more about Industrial Necromancy in a blog post).
Ul-Namihirra is generally considered to be a deeply incompetent in both his expected roles but survives politically by his ability to shift positions to whatever the winning side is in any kind of court intrigue. He is also fabulously wealthy, even more so than the typical satrap skimming should entail, and he is widely considered to be supplementing it through piracy and other nefarious schemes. He is known among his many conspicuous vices for his menagerie of creatures bizarre (notably apes of ferocious aspect) and his harem composed strangely only of elderly, obese women.
The locals revile and fear the satrap in equal measure. Nearly everybody owes a terrible personal debt to the man in the town.
The barge is being held in the Waram, a large sea-cave harbor that is blocked by a giant metal-chain. Several personal vessels (and reputed corsairs) share the space with the barge.
The palace is walled off and separate from the rest of the city, located just east of the main bazaar and on the summit of the eastern Teat of Manat. It is known that the satrap has two barracks of zombified (but barely sentient) guardsmen, who are rumored to be lead by both living and sentient undead officers, toward the front gate. Total numbers are unknown but likely in the 100-200 range for the whole complex.
Questions obviously can be be put to him too.
ReplyDeleteWhat's the chain like (materials, lock mechanism, etc.)?
ReplyDeleteSteel and 6 inches thick suspended between two boon towers just inside the cave lip.
ReplyDeletewhat kind of clearance is there under the chain? (between it and the seafloor)
ReplyDeleteHe doesn't know cole long not having dared to enter the cave when casing it in a skiff. He does report that one can hear a chorus of echoing moans inside the grotto from a 100 yards out.
ReplyDeletewhat is the range of wizard eye?
ReplyDelete240 feet I believe. It's scary/sad that I can say that off the top of my head.
ReplyDeleteAnthony Picaro doesn't Water Spike act like a cutting beam at close range? If we can get you up there in a skiff, you could go ahead and break the chain. Then it's "just" a matter of a boarding action.
ReplyDeleteit cuts very slowly
ReplyDeleteHow slowly are we talking about here? Going out there at night and cutting the chain, we ought to be OK time-wise...unless the time duration to cut through the chain would be longer than hours.
ReplyDeletei forget but 6 inches of metal, that's gonna take a long time and i doubt it's quiet
ReplyDeleteFair. What's the alternative - raid the wheel for the chain and lower it from there? I just worry that will get us into more of a frontal assault.
ReplyDeleteI just don't want to get to the barge and find out we're stuck; it would be embarrassing.
ReplyDeletethats pretty much the best idea i had, sad to say. i was crossing my fingers we might be able to get the sub under the chain and raid the chain houses from the inside
ReplyDeleteIf we can get the sub underneath (or get a skiff alongside), Lazzaro can pop up with a Silence 15' spell on him and cut through the chain.
ReplyDeleteIf that really won't work, then yeah I guess it's hit the chain house, then hit the barge. That's going to get us stuck in pretty badly. If we scout with a WizEye we might be able to find some way to cut off reinforcements but that'll only last for so long, I'm sure.
well he couldn't cast the spell with silence 15' radius on him could he?
ReplyDeletealthough if we cast silence on somebody else the noise (i am not sure how much noise it is, actually, i just imagine a horrible industrial SKREEEEE), would only be a round or less
ReplyDeleteI was thinking that if it's dropped on him after the spell's up but before he starts cutting with it, we should be OK.
ReplyDeleteEdit: Yeah, what you just said :)
it should be on someone else becuase the last thing we want is a silenced magic-user if shit goes south
ReplyDeleteSilence can be cast on an object which he can then ditch, or even throw tactically. Also, here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hSeZ68FR3mO37KUFoOiGEWTa8IeExnEltr3xFGXHt28/edit
ReplyDeleteTherefore, maximum thickness of metal affected would be 3 inches for a 6th level caster.
ReplyDeleteI think this is worth burning two spell slots on waterspike. Anthony Picaro 's call though.
ReplyDeleteThe circumference of a 6" cylinder is almost 19 inches. At 6th level, cutting a 3 inch thickness of metal, it cuts at a rate of .75 inch per round, or a total of 5.25 inches per casting. Thus, if one were allowed to cut around the circumference to bypass the 3 inch limit, it would take 4 castings of the spell and just over 25 rounds of time to get through the entire 6 inch thickness.
ReplyDeleteMichael Moscrip I will defer to your mathhammer, sir. :)
ReplyDeleteAssuming the chain is mundane steel, it would be far more economical to prepare a spike or rod to fit between the links which could then be Enlarged to snap them.
ReplyDeleteMathhammer Fantasy Roleplay, aka Rolemaster.
ReplyDeleteAnthony Picaro That would definitely be far more economical. I just forgot you had enlarge, because I am sleep-depped and/or don't have your spellbook memmed. :)
ReplyDeleteif we want to try enlarge maybe we should test its bursting force under controlled conditions at the FS or on the sub or something
ReplyDeleteWhat would casting reduce on one of the chain's links do?
ReplyDeleteSure. The same basic tactic was used to destroy the bonds of Veles, though admittedly that was technically the bursting force of Reduce being dispelled.
ReplyDeleteJust to be clear, the plan is to burst the chain on the way in or on the way out?
ReplyDeleteHumza Kazmi That is an excellent question. Also depends on whether the link is a thing by itself that can be targeted by the spell or whether it is, conceptually, inseparable from the chain as a whole.
ReplyDeleteAnthony Picaro I'd like to bust it on the way in, because I really don't want to have something go wrong on the way out.
ReplyDeleteIf there's a compelling reason to wait I am willing to reconsider, though.
hm, what are the comparative gauges of the chain vs. the veles chains?
ReplyDeleteThe Veles chains were somewhat fine, this is a big giant linked chain just above the waterline.
ReplyDeleteConsiderable space in between the links in this one.
ReplyDeleteI'm thinking there is a pretty high likelihood of someone noticing the chain isn't there anymore after it drops.
ReplyDeleteMy preference is still to kill the satrap first and escape in what chaos results from that.
ReplyDeletei see a way higher likelihood of us running away with our tails between our legs with "satrap first"
ReplyDeletei really give no fucks one way or another what happens to the satrap, he probably has treasure but the feral shore is full of treasure too, the only reason i want to leave the FS to begin with is to get the barge back
ReplyDeleteWell, I'm of nearly the opposite opinion, but hopefully there is enough to be gained in the endeavor regardless.
ReplyDeleteAnother question to the basic plan:
ReplyDeleteAre we thinking to enter the town itself and look around first, or begin everything with a surprise hit at the cave mouth?
i see little to gain in the town other than maybe talking to spies. but barring invisibility and disguise we're gonna be super conspicuous
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't be averse to entering the town and checking out the sights beforehand, getting our tourist on, but I was thinking that our op would start with a surprise hit at the cave mouth.
ReplyDeletecole long Manzy's from the Scarlet Sultanate, at least.
ReplyDeletei did not know that
ReplyDeleteWell I don't see any reason to do any touristing, I was more referring to the fact that there are informant-resources inside the town itself that may not be of any use in a port-side smash & grab.
ReplyDeletefrankly i lean to port-side smash & grab
ReplyDeletethe palace seems like dangerous mission creep
ReplyDeleteWell I'd call the palace itself a different mission entirely (though there's also the possibility that that separation is inconsequential due to particularities of layout), it just happens to be one I'm much more interested in.
ReplyDeletei know, but again, the only reason i'm in the sultanate this week was to get the barge myself instead of letting ba chim farm it out to flailsnails
ReplyDeleteI wasn't attempting to debate that, merely stating that I thought it was more helpful to think of the two as separate goals rather than one being "creep" on the other (allowing for separate evaluation, etc.), qualified by my own biases.
ReplyDeletei see them as hard to separate and with fairly high potential of invalidating one another mid-run
ReplyDeletecole long Be fair, I only started farming it out to FLAILSNAILS after Robert Parker 's suggestion. :P
ReplyDeleteI think taking out the Necromancer is potentially fun, but let's do that at some future point. Also, maybe we can steal his secrets (again, later) for rapidly expanding our workforce.
ReplyDeleteRelated to "industrial zombification" is this book by Curt Selby, aka Doris Piserchia, the best overlooked new wave writer of the '70s:
http://www.amazon.com/I-Zombie-Curt-Selby/dp/0879977639/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1393377123&sr=8-1&keywords=curt+selby
Seriously, she is so good.
I think a little intelligence gathering from our contacts in town may be of some value, especially since I speak the native tongue and look the part. I'm not entirely certain that information they provide will be of immediate use to us, but may come in handy when we inevitably butt heads with the necromancer again.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I really like Michael Moscrip's idea of turning everyone at the zombie barracks, but I don't see a clear method of extraction.
If we (or just Manzafrain) can get into town without issue, then I agree that information gathering in the town seems a good idea. My main concern at the moment is that this is shaping up to be a heist, and I don't feel like we have anywhere near enough information to go about planning one.
ReplyDeleteIt occurs to me that I don't even know how the barge is propelled - what's the situation there?
ReplyDeleteit has a psychic helmet interface
ReplyDeleteSo if we can reach the control room, then it will (to the best of our knowledge, anyway) propel itself without us having to find & whip slaves or put up sails?
ReplyDeleteYup; however, those who know Eld will need to fill the various helm-positions required, and figuring out the controls may take a few minutes. This means we're going to have to be very quiet.
ReplyDeleteI'm thinking that a small team sneaks onboard (with an invisible point man) while we've got at least one or two major hitters hidden outside to act as both sentry and assassin for curious onlookers.
If the beam cannons are up and running (and we can figure the fuckers out) we should be able to cut our way out fairly easily, though. My visions made them seem incredibly badass.
ReplyDeletetaurus can be one, he can't speak eld so he's not that useful on the barge anyway. BC should be the other one since he's a fucking wereshark
ReplyDeleteHumza Kazmi Remind me (plx), is the issue with Ba Chim's sharking out that it is difficult for him to change back? This seems a place where Shark Chim would be a real advantage but not being able to change back would make that crazy inflexible.
ReplyDeleteYeah, this is definitely a good time for wereshark mode. It takes some time to change and to change back, but now's the time to go for it.
ReplyDeleteI'm happy to be an exterior hitter, but given that I'm the closest we've got to an Eld physiologically there may be some advantage to me being on board, in case we need to bamboozle some more with-it control systems. Whatever works, though, and it'll be fun to shank some dudes regardless.
Robert Parker Humza Kazmi Do either of you remember how many helm positions need filling?
ReplyDeletehmm, good point Humza Kazmi
ReplyDeleteNo... Three or four, I want to say. Not all positions have to be filled, but if we have less we may be hampered in our use of it.
ReplyDeleteAlso, can we get a grand total of Eld-users? Me, Humza Kazmi... Evan Elkins? Anthony Picaro? Michael Moscrip?
ReplyDeleteSo Manzafrain, Lazzaro, Tazrun is 3.
ReplyDeleteBa Chim would be 4.
There's also Lady Isris, depending on who Michael brings (though Fr. Jack is I think more useful generally due to our party balance).
And TERMEX, who is a maybe.
Okay, going to see if I have the old maps.
ReplyDeletejack didn't train in eld?
ReplyDeletei guess it is of the devil
ReplyDeleteNo luck on the maps; they must be in NOLA.
ReplyDelete