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grithfang
Acolyte
USA
3 Posts |
 Posted - 06 Nov 2007 : 15:06:50
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I have been asked to take over a campaign due to the previous DM moving away. I am having some difficulties as it is in the Forgotten Realm setting and I do not have much experience with it.
The basic premise is a war band of militant elves have returned to their ancestral home in the Chondalwood. Their mission statement is to drive the human interlopers away and help return the Chondalwood to is former glory.
The current situation as left to me is the elves, now five thousand strong have sacked (then abandoned) Iljak (despite their wariness and vigilance). They bypassed Shamph in their attack.
My basic difficulties are Chandath's description describes the entire area as warlike. Based upon Iljak's write-up in the FRCS there would be no way a band of elves only five thousand strong could sack it. With a population of 17,432 that are "determined not to be caught unprepared a second time", that is defending a walled city, and able to summon a militia of (rough estimate) 8,000 or so from the city alone.
There was also no consideration to the impact! It happened in a vacuum. No one knew there was an army on the march, even though there is extensive spy networks in the area. None of the city states even mobilized afterward!
How do I fix this! The campaign is very important to the players and they are attached to it. I do not want to reboot. I imagine that Arrabar would take advantage of the attack to dispose of the new puppet (Anton Yinoran was killed in the elf attack) and openly take control by placing it under the protection of Arrabar.
It is also possible that the noble houses will mobilize their armies and mercenaries to "eliminate the elven threat". Would the elves be saved because the nobles would be afraid to leave themselves open without an army?
No neighbor would feel comfortable with a Chondathian mobilization. Would they reinforce their boarder to Chondath. Trade would be threatened, and the old road is closed. How would the Thayan enclave (and by extention Thay) play into the mix.
I look forward to your thoughts and ideas.
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Dalmar Amad
Seeker
Germany
56 Posts |
Posted - 09 Nov 2007 : 02:17:34
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1: How did the elves manage to conquer Iljak? Like you already said their vigilance makes them extremly difficult to surprise. The elves are stronger when fighting in the woods defending their home.
Did they use High Magic? Some kind of magical disease? Betrayal?
What allies did the have?
2: Why did the elves attack at all?
Do they want to drive the humans away from all of Chondath? The whole Vilhon Reach?
Too many enemies for them to defeat, if you ask me. Maybe they took revenge for crimes that humans from Iljak (wrongly perceived perhaps?)inflicted on them and this anti-human attitude is just a propaganda campaign that the Shining Lord of Arrabar uses to gain more influence among the cities of the reach and start the reclaiming of the chondathan empire?
3:On which side are your players?
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Charles Phipps
Master of Realmslore
1425 Posts |
Posted - 09 Nov 2007 : 03:08:28
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Okay, just to clarify some aspects here. What you specifically want to know is...
1. What the reaction to Iljak's sacking is?
2. What sort of tactics you might have Elven NPCs recommend for your PCs to continue their militancy?
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My Blog: http://unitedfederationofcharles.blogspot.com/
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lockdar
Acolyte
Netherlands
18 Posts |
Posted - 09 Nov 2007 : 14:00:52
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And without rebooting the campaign you can still make the story yours. Maybe alot of the residents of Iljak fled before the army sacked the city? Maybe they left the city willingly because of some other threats, not just the elves?
Also, if I'm not mistaken there are high level characters there that can present some problems. You have the emerald enclave that might not directly interfere but might assist their enemies in certain ways so the balance is preserved.
Just because one city was sacked it doesn't mean that everything is lost and gone, especially because no matter how much information your pc's have, they can never know what's going on around them everywhere and all the time. Surprise them and make them work hard for their next goal. |
Save yourself a penny for the ferryman. |
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Charles Phipps
Master of Realmslore
1425 Posts |
Posted - 09 Nov 2007 : 18:33:49
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Maybe they were just taken by surprise or the Elves managed to take them down without much of a fight thanks to the Longbow. Let's face it, the Elves ARE usually better than the average human even in warlike cultures.
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My Blog: http://unitedfederationofcharles.blogspot.com/
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grithfang
Acolyte
USA
3 Posts |
Posted - 11 Nov 2007 : 02:11:26
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Short reply due to working some long hours.
The campaign is from the standpoint of the elves, so the PCs are on the side of the militant elves. They want to expand the Chondalwood and reclaim the glory of the ancient forests.
I am hoping for a subject matter expert on Chondath and the Chondalwood as I have little specific information on that area. I have read the piece on this site on the different noble families in the area. I was kinda hoping that there was a forgotten realms product that gave more specific information of the area. Filling in the broad brush stokes of the FRCS. To try and save me some work and not have something contradict me too badly later.  |
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Charles Phipps
Master of Realmslore
1425 Posts |
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Topic |
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Taking over elf centric Chondalwood campaign-long
