Darkness Rising

[LTDave]

How many corpses does Bill have?

More than he could possibly use...

Tee hee hee.

Add this to your classic quote file...

[The Colonel]

That sounds like a good Idea, the banquet I mean. http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/NoMrBondIExpectYouToDine?from=Main.ptitle8nd319as

[ETheBoyce]

Though it's likely to be denied, I have to try anyway

>Request access to prisoners to help insure ease of turning by our benevolent ruler. A good method of getting someone to do what you want is carrot and stick, T. Coil plans to be the stick. His plan would be to collect and torture/other stuff them "without your permission" so that at some point there absence can be "noticed" and then the session can be interrupted with Tod acting angry that I took initiative to do things not keeping with the King's style. Thus with me set up as "bad cop" the King can act as the "good cop" with the prospect of them being sent back to me hanging over their heads.

[MarbitChow]

Interlude

On the next turn, the Tenebrisian King dips deeply into the treasury, and remakes Sunshine Dale into something more... suitable. He builds Dis City (... he builds Dis City on Sunshine Dale...), upgrading it to a level 3 city. Two towers flank a much more stylish gate. Units in the towers are able to see eye to eye with incoming flying units. A heavy ballista has been added to each tower, as well as crenelations all along the wall.

On the morning of the first turn, Tod invites Junetta and Wandereus to a feast. During the feast, Bill drinks wine out of the skull of one of the elven archers, and Coil glares silently at the elves. William keeps asking people to 'balance this apple on your head for a second,' but no one takes him up on his request.


Castle Features

Spoiler: show

Towers : 25 Def, 70 Hits; 1/2 damage from Shockamancy, rounded down.
Gate : 20 Def, 50 Hits; 1/2 damage from Shockamancy, rounded down.
Walls : 30 Def, 100 Hits; 1/2 damage from Shockamancy, rounded down.
Heavy Ballista : Requires Heavy ability to operate. Grants a Fire attack for [Combat + 4d6]. Grants a +4 Cover Bonus. Must stand at I-18 or AC-18 to operate.
Crenelations : Grants a +4 cover bonus to everyone on the walls or tower.
Only the front 2 rows of the Wall and Tower have RLOS to the ground.

Air Defenses : Casters with Shockamancy can imbue a tower with stored defensive abilities.

5 Juice : Caster can store energy that can be added to any caster's Fire basic attack against any flying unit. Each unit of energy stored in this manner can be used to add +1d6 to a single Fire attack. A caster can use as many units of energy in each attack as they have levels. Each tower can store a max of (2 x City Level x City Level) energy in this manner. Using the stored energy requires that the caster expend 1 Juice per 2 units.

10 + (3x Spell Cost) Juice : Caster can store any Shockamancy spell they can cast in the tower. Any caster in the tower can cast a stored spell against any flying targets in the hex, even if they do not know the spell. Using the stored spell requires that the caster expend 1 Juice. Each tower can store 1 spell per City Level.

Popping Units

Spoiler: show

Each turn, 4 AP worth of units may be popped. Units must be either Warriors, Spearmen, Archers, or Fliers - no casters can be selected. 4 Warriors or Spearmen with no AP can be created each turn, or 2 archers, or a single flier. Units that are popped with a 3-AP ability, such as Leadership or Heavy, require an additional turn to pop. (Note that Level 1 cities can pop units at the rate of 1 AP/turn, and Level 2 at 2 AP/turn.) Special units, such as Balrugs and Brickabats, can only be popped at the side's capital.

In addition, the following units can be chosen:

1AP : Garrison Warrior - Base warrior + Beefy
1AP : Garrison Spearman - Base spearman + Beefy
1AP : Imp - scouting unit; cannot attack, but can turn invisible and fly
2AP : Garrison Archer - Base archer + Mighty Blow

Garrison units cannot leave the hex.

[The Colonel]

I place, six? corspes on row five and hide them. PREPARE FOR UNCROAKED SNEAK ATTACKS! I also prepare some insulting lines to shout out to the invading army. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9V7zbWNznbs

edit: Start popping archers

[ETheBoyce]

Wait, Sunshine Dale? Sunnydale? Where are all the vampires and demons!? Well I mean, I guess we're here NOW, but still!

Also I think we should be popping normal *aka 2 AP* Archers so that they can aid us in future maps as I imagine Sunnydale might be our base for the next few battles and being able to take forces with us will be useful. However, I think we should also pop some imps as Scouting WILL be useful.

Also the Crenelations, do they stack with cover from elevation? Do they give us cover against Fliers? Otherwise, they seem silly, unless there are gonna be siege towers I suppose.

[BLANDCorporatio]

On the next turn, the Tenebrisian King dips deeply into the treasury, and remakes Sunshine Dale into something more... suitable. He builds Dis City (... he builds Dis City on Sunshine Dale...)

I hear what you did there.

On the morning of the first turn, Tod invites Junetta and Wandereus to a feast. During the feast, Bill drinks wine out of the skull of one of the elven archers, and Coil glares silently at the elves. William keeps asking people to 'balance this apple on your head for a second,' but no one takes him up on his request.

Come on, what's the worry? We've got two Healers and a Croakamancer on hand if something goes wrong.

At the banquet, Will Showend Tell also argues about the usefulness of popping archer units. As could be seen from the Elven Archers, which, while not quite as strong as reputation has it, certainly no match for Will, are respectable opposition.

[MarbitChow]

Also the Crenelations, do they stack with cover from elevation? Do they give us cover against Fliers? Otherwise, they seem silly, unless there are gonna be siege towers I suppose.

Crenelation Cover bonus does stack with the Elevation. Units on the walls or in the towers get a total +8 combined Cover and Elevation bonus against units on the ground.
Crenelation Cover bonus gives cover against fliers in the Towers only.

[Swodaems]

1AP : Imp - scouting unit; cannot attack, but can turn invisible and fly

I'm interested in finding out what advantage having a few of these could give us. Finding out what we're up against before we're actually in a fight could be useful. Seeing them coming far enough out could allow us to prepare a few surpises for them along their way.

(Another question, about the garrison units. Would it be possible to promote one of them to field after they get an AP from leveling?)

[The Colonel]

Does damage carry over each turn? The imps can scout and I can have uncroaked waiting for them. POP UP behind the healer GANK ER! POP UP behind the leader GANK ER!

[MarbitChow]

Does damage carry over each turn?

All damage is fully healed at the start of each side's turn.

I'm interested in finding out what advantage having a few of these could give us. Finding out what we're up against before we're actually in a fight could be useful. Seeing them coming far enough out could allow us to prepare a few surpises for them along their way.

The more imps you have, the more information about the surroundings I'll give you, and the more warning you'll get about an impending attack, including the option of attempting to meet them in the field if you have enough.

(Another question, about the garrison units. Would it be possible to promote one of them to field after they get an AP from leveling?)

The King may choose to do so. Leveling garrison units depends on the outcome of the Experience post-mortem, which you should all contribute your opinions to by clicking here.

[Exate]

I'm inclined to pop at least two full turns of imps before anything else. Knowing what's going on around us is extremely valuable.

Past that, I'm inclined to go with garrison archers. We can stick them on the second row of the wall, while putting brickabats and our existing units with Guard and Bodyguard in the third row to reduce the damage they take while minimizing risk. Back them up with Minor Wards cast in advance by the healamancer and healing as the battle goes on, and we could maintain some fairly withering firepower for quite a while. As long as we've got a decent amount of time to pop them, it could work out very well.

On a different topic, Yuri will spend his turns relentlessly training. The training XP bonus is trivial, but worth it anyway since he's got nothing better to do.

[HerbieRai]

Cupid and his winged companion will go back to the walls for now rather than sitting outside the keep.

[The Colonel]

WHO WANTS TO REENACT THE FRENCH TAUNTING SCENE?

[MarbitChow]

Cupid and his winged companion will go back to the walls for now rather than sitting outside the keep.

Quick FYI: The image posted above was meant to be a 'victory photograph', and not an actual representation of a unit's current location. You'll have the opportunity to position yourself anywhere you wish prior to a defensive siege.

[The Colonel]

So yay or nay to Fix the Dead?

[ETheBoyce]

T. Coil will continue to seek access to the prisoners; presuming he is denied access he will then attempt to either spell up the towers or make scrolls, since he can't use his juice for anything else.

[WaterMonkey314]

Triage is somewhat miffed at (presumably) not getting any tips from Junetta... and keeps trying.

On a more serious rules note, does Minor Ward work with the Brickabat Swarms' Screen ability (that is, if I have a ward up on a Brickabat and it absorbs a Fire attack, does the damage go to the ward?)

[MarbitChow]

On a more serious rules note, does Minor Ward work with the Brickabat Swarms' Screen ability (that is, if I have a ward up on a Brickabat and it absorbs a Fire attack, does the damage go to the ward?)

No, Brickabats cannot be the target of any healamancy spells at all. They cannot be warded or healed in any way.

[Swodaems]

T. Coil will continue to seek access to the prisoners; presuming he is denied access he will then attempt to either spell up the towers or make scrolls, since he can't use his juice for anything else.

Triage is somewhat miffed at (presumably) not getting any tips from Junetta... and keeps trying.

On a more serious rules note, does Minor Ward work with the Brickabat Swarms' Screen ability (that is, if I have a ward up on a Brickabat and it absorbs a Fire attack, does the damage go to the ward?)

I've decided that I'm not going to prevent either of you from talking to them.

Thru the door. If they're not already in cells with viewing windows, we'll move them to some cells that have them. Your conversations to be observed by a guard at all times and there will be no casting allowed from either side of the bars.