Subject: MYSTARA-L Digest - 13 Nov 2005 to 14 Nov 2005 (#2005-211) From: MYSTARA-L automatic digest system Date: 15/11/2005, 19:00 To: MYSTARA-L@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM Reply-to: Mystara RPG Discussion There are 5 messages totalling 436 lines in this issue. Topics of the day: 1. CM1 post WotI (2) 2. Air fleets in Mystara 3. Air fleets in Mystara (v2) (2) ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.pandius.com To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 14 Nov 2005 12:26:45 -0600 From: James Mishler Subject: Re: CM1 post WotI "The Heldannic Knight will expand mostly by moving their border north, taking over Landfall. They'll try to conquer Oceansend, unless the Thyatians arrive there first -- they probably won't push Thyatis to a war, since they don't have the resources to fight it, and Vanya herself has no reason to pit her followers against each other." Actually, I'd say that the Heldannic Knights would object in a big way to further Thyatian influence in Norwold. Remember, they left Hattias originally to get out from under the Thyatian yoke, and now the Thyatians are coming in and further establishing their empire in the Heldannic back yard? The HK would definitely protest to that, especially as Thyatis has more than enough to chew on, what with conquering all of the IoD not held by Thothia, plus the Alatians, and the big fat calf of Bellissaria. I could see the HK demanding a division of the world, kinda like the Pope dividing the New World, only in this case, on a north-south basis. Spheres of Influence and all that. As for Vanya, why wouldn't she want her followers to fight it out? She'd figure only the worthy who proved themselves in battle could win, and thus conquer the other.. that's her philosophy, after all. Maybe a Denegoth-HK alliance combined could keep out Thyatis. Conquer Wendar first, for slaves, then buikld up the full war machine and take over Oceansend in addition to Landfall. Ericall would either have to appeal to free Alphatian forces for defense, turn to Thyatis, or ally with the Denegoth-HK alliance. And then, of course, there are the dragons, who might not like all the trouble everyone is stirring up in "their" lands. Let sleeping dragons lie, as the old saying goes... James ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.pandius.com To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 14 Nov 2005 22:30:19 +0100 From: Giampaolo Agosta Subject: Re: CM1 post WotI James Mishler ha scritto: > > Actually, I'd say that the Heldannic Knights would object in a big way to further Thyatian influence in Norwold. Remember, they left Hattias originally to get out from under the Thyatian yoke, and now the Thyatians are coming in and further establishing their empire in the Heldannic back yard? Of course they won't like Thyatian intervention in Norwold, but consider that they're already stretched pretty thin controlling their holdings, while Thyatis can easily field enough forces to counter them. The HK's worst problem is their limited manpower, and their lack of a loyal home ground. > The HK would definitely protest to that, especially as Thyatis has more than enough to chew on, what with conquering all of the IoD not held by Thothia, plus the Alatians, and the big fat calf of Bellissaria. I could see the HK demanding a division of the world, kinda like the Pope dividing the New World, only in this case, on a north-south basis. Spheres of Influence and all that. I doubt Thyatis would go all the way to Bellissaria -- while conquering the IoD or Norwold is certainly within the means of Thyatis, Bellissaria is the strongest Alphatian territory left, and is likely to have significant defence forces that wouldn't simply surrender, since they're on their home turf. Moreover, Thothia will also be a barrier against Thyatian expansion to the east. As to a north-south division, remember that the HK are also trying to push further into Davania (from Vanya's rest), so the territorial interests of the two empires are intertwined, and no clear division is possible. BTW, staying on good terms with Thyatis is quite critical to the HK's ability to reach Vanya's Rest, which in turn is critical to their Luftflotte. Since the Thyatis have much stronger sea and sky forces, as well as a stronger presence in Davania, they could probably cut the knights off and take Vanya's Rest -- the Simbasta almost did it, according to Bruce Heard's work on the HK, I don't think the Thyatians would be less effective. > As for Vanya, why wouldn't she want her followers to fight it out? She'd figure only the worthy who proved themselves in battle could win, and thus conquer the other.. that's her philosophy, after all. Because she needs them if she really wants to challenge the Hierarchs. > Maybe a Denegoth-HK alliance combined could keep out Thyatis. Conquer Wendar first, for slaves, then buikld up the full war machine and take over Oceansend in addition to Landfall. Ericall would either have to appeal to free Alphatian forces for defense, turn to Thyatis, or ally with the Denegoth-HK alliance. That's the most likely option for the HK. Denagoth may not be the most reliable ally, but the HK expansion will be backed by a policy of regional supremacy -- influencing Vestland and Wendar first. An alliance with Denagoth will be in order only if the HK choose to invade Wendar. Ericall may indeed have to choose between Thyatis and the HK. Not an easy choice. Bye, GP ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.pandius.com To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 13 Nov 2005 18:08:22 +0100 From: Havard Faanes Subject: Re: Air fleets in Mystara --- Alex Benson wrote: > As far as the dragon kingdoms, I like that idea. One > thing I would add is an area of nuetral ground, someplace that all dragons > hold in reverence. There is an old legend about real world elephants and a place > where they go to die. Perhaps dragons could have a sacred place where aged > dragons go to die. I would suggest somewhere up in the mountains, maybe even on > Skothar. Or perhaps it bears a portals leading to the Draconic Immortals' > pocket planes. It becomes a place of judgement, with worthy dragons moving on to > the plane of their aligned draconic immortal. It could be a way to include the > Blackmoor Era Dragonlord into the mix, he serving as judge. I did some work > on the Blackmoor Dragonlord and his rise to Immortal status and role within the > Immortals. I might have a copy stuck away somewhere on a Cd or floppy. If not > I could whip up a quick overview. I would love to see that! The idea of a Dragon Graveyard is fascinating. I think it might be a good idea to make the Graveyard itself a separate Pocket Plane, but one with portals to several places on Mystara, making many believe that it is found somewhere on that world. This place would attract adventurers as well, dreaming of hoards of treasure left behind by the dying dragons. The Dragon Graveyard would have portals to the Draconic Cluster as well, as you suggest. I like the idea of involving the Original Dragonlord here, though I always believed that he never learned to view dragons as anything other than enemies, as opposed to Thelvyn. Still, your storyline has very interesting potential! In my Blackmoor Timeline, I suggested the following: <<3480-3420BC First Beastman Crusade. Dragons learn the dangers of Blackmoor guns. (Mystaros). Personal Note: This is probably the time of the first Dragonlord. >> (from: http://www.geocities.com/havardfaa/timeline.html) Looking forward to seeing what you have come up with! :) Håvard ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.pandius.com To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 14 Nov 2005 23:32:10 -0500 From: Joe Mason Subject: Re: Air fleets in Mystara (v2) Giampaolo Agosta wrote: > Hi all, > > here is a revised version of the air forces. > There are still some missing items -- I'd need information on M2's > flying castle, for example. Extreme spoilers for M2: The flying castle is an "Alphatian marvel" which "belongs to Eriadna the Wise, current empress of Alphatia. Her son, who joined Baron Norlan [of Qeodhar]'s forces, managed to get the castle to support the raid on Norwald." The following was cut-n-pasted from the PDF version, which is why it's in three columns. Excuse me for any formatting errors (it should be in the right columns, although very wide, if you have your mail client using fixed-width font such as Courier). The first page of the section set in the castle is: > who approach the castle. > Area 1. The Battlements - > The second patrol contains 12 pegataurs > This chapter is played concurrently with and a sergeant, flying at 100 yards from the > Level A > Chapter Four. castle (see Appendix). They attack any > The flying castle has been wreaking havoc approaching creatures with their longbows Sixteen pegataurs, armed with the same > behind King Ericall’s lines since the begin- and spells. weapons as the pegataur aerial patrol, are > ning of the war. I f the PCs have not decided Each pegataur is armed with a longbow always on guard here. One will always have > to neutralize the flying castle, they receive a (master proficiency), mace + 1 , a two- an active detect invisible spell. The pegataurs > message from the king ordering them to do handed sword, and 15 arrows + f . Each will fire only their own weapons. The battle- > so. pegataur has the following spells: ment artillery can be fired only by human > The deck plans of the fortress appear on artillerists. No humans are posted on this > M a p IV in the pull out section of this booklet. Level I: magic missile (x3). level but 90 can be summoned from area 7 > The castle contains an open air area on the Level 11: detect invisible (x2). (Level B). This takes five rounds. > top (Level A) and five inner floors (Levels B Level 111: haste*, fireball (50%) or lightning The central portion of Level A is 10 feet > through F). The castle is roughly a 140-foot- bolt (50%). lower than the battlements. In the center are > cubical structure, with battlements and four heavy catapults (marked H) pointing > machicolations on the top, and arrow slits on The pegataur sergeant is armed with a long- outward in four opposite directions, and one > the sides. Level F has a 30-foot-thick floor to bow (grand master proficiency), mace +2, a light catapult (marked L) in each of the four > absorb the shock during landings and a draw- two-handed sword, and 15 arrows + f . H e corners. Eight ballistas mounted on swivels > bridge entrance common to all conventional can cast the following spells: (marked B) have been bolted to the stone > castles (see area 16). Throughout the fortress, floor on the battlements. A cauldron of oil > the ceilings are 10 feet high and the floors Level I: magic missile (x4). (marked 0) constantly boils in each corner of > between levels are 15 feet thick. The stones Level 11: detect invisible (x2), mirror image. the battlement. These cauldrons are magical > on the exterior of the castle are a pale blue Level 111: haste’, dispel magic. receptacles, each capable of producing 200 > color. Level IV: storm, wall of fire. gallons of boiling oil every three hours. When > Unless otherwise noted, torch-sized wands > all four cauldrons are poured, the oil gushes > with continuallight spells (cast at 25th level) At least one member of this patrol will have a out through the machicolation and causes > illuminate the castle. Each wand is fitted with detect invisible spell running. The pegataurs 4d10 points of damage to any creature under > a closable lead cap to douse the light and open can call on the air elementals for aid if a fight the castle or attacking its walls. > wands are subject to dispel magic. turns against them. Also the guards stationed There are 20 heavy and 20 light missiles on > on the battlements are on constant lookout hand for each of the catapults, but these are > Castle’s Flying Abilities (see area 1, Level A). intended for use only in sieges. Each ballista > Only the most careful approach will not be has a supply of six bolts + 2 and 32 normal > The castle may fly at a maximum speed of > detected by the guards. The use of magic, missiles. > 50 feet per round as long as it is under control > such as several round trips on a travel spell or Eleven manscorpions will come from the > (see area 11). The castle’s maximum move- > the casting of a teleport any object or dimen- guard post (area 2, Level B) when the artil- > ment in a 24-hour day is 96 miles (four hexes > sion door from a well hidden place may be lerists (see above) are summoned. All rein- > on M a p V). It can make one 90 degree turn > necessary. A wild and impressive diversion forcements enter area 1 through a large > per game turn. This turn is made at the mid- > on the opposite side of the castle has a chance trapdoor marked F on the map. The stairs > dle of the castle’s move. The controller deter- > of success (10% if the party is visible, 20% if under the trapdoor lead to area 2. > mines the speed and direction of flight, and > they are invisible, 80% if the PCs look like In the middle of the inner court is a small > can freely rotate the castle. > inoffensive birds, etc.) pedestal. It is a receiving device for the tele- > Combat Tactics I f the PCs are capable they may fly up to porters in areas 10 (Level B) and 13 (Level > the castle or they may approach it when it has F). > To reduce the chances of being sighted the landed near avillage. The mujina (see Chap- > Area 2. Guardpost - Level B > castle will generally fly above the clouds. ter Three) will leave the village to return to > Maximizing its surprise, the castle will usu- the castle (possibly with the party’s ransom). > Eleven manscorpions, including one > ally cause disruption in the supply lines of The party then has a chance to sneak in as > cleric, are on guard here. They will go to area > enemy troops before making an attack. Able described above, or attack the castle in mass. > 1 to help the pegataurs when an alarm is > to clear large areas quickly with artillery from I f the PCs’ approach is discovered, the two > sounded. I f a fight goes against them, they > the sky, the castle is generally used to cover a air patrols (see above) will be sent to attack. > will attempt to retreat to area 10 (Level D). > conventional attacking force. Defenders in a The guards and artillery on the battlements > The stairs to the north spiral up to area 1 > fortress lose their War Machine advantages. will give as much support as possible. > (Level A); the stairs to the south down to > The castle is an active military base. Two I f the PCs successfully enter the castle > areas 8 (Level C) and 10 (Level D). > patrols are always in flight around the castle without being noticed, the defenders will gen- > Each manscorpion is armed with apoleaxe > on the lookout for trouble. The first patrol erally stay in position and wait for the attack- > + f (expert proficiency), a heavy crossbow, > consists of two giant air elementals that orbit ers to come to them. > and 10 bolts + 3 . The clerical manscorpion is > the castle 24 hours a day at a distance of 300 > armed with a poleaxe + 2 (master profi- > yards. They are aggressive, and unless > ciency) and has the following spells: > warned off by the second patrol, attack all Total inhabitants of the castle as listed in this chapter: 2 giant air elementals 60 pegataur troops 4 pegataur sergeants 28 manscorpion troops 5 manscorpion clerics 14 human kitchen slaves 90 human artillerists 1 lich (castle's commander) 6 spectres (lich's personal guard) 1 nightwalker (castle's pilot) The castle is currently being used by forces (Baron Norlan and a group of Alphatian nobles who are acting unofficially) that are corrupted by Alphaks. The nightwalker is explicitly a pawn of Alphaks, and pretty clearly not the "regular" pilot, but it's not clear if the lich is the regular commander or not. (He does teleport back to Alphatia if badly hurt, so he's definitely a native.) The castle is controlled from a hidden throne (which sounds an awful lot like a Spelljammer helm in description, actually, though I'm sure it's coincidence) which must be inhabited at all times by a being with combined Int and Wis of at least 32. If it's not, it begins drifting towards the ground for 5 turns and then false like a rock. Oho: apparently the "magical operation of the castle produces large quantities of negative energy" causing level drain, and powerful creatures from the Sphere of Death are immune. This suggests the castle's always got a lich or something like that in control. It seems very strange that Eriadna would own an object with such ties to Entropy. I'd suggest making it a personal possession of her son - ISTR he was a more unsavoury character - or else a captured artifact which she's holding personally for study and safekeeping, and not a regular part of the army. (Perhaps that throne really IS a Spelljammer helm, and just needs to be unlocked.) Other flying forces mentioned in this module: - Alphaks stirs up a clan of fire and mountain giants in Norwald who have two large red dragons (non-spellcasting) and a giant wyvern. Well, not exactly a clan - it appears to be the private army of a 34th level cleric who's gained their trust; they may have been a clan that he befriended/took over or he may have assembled them from smaller groups. - Baron Norlan's mercenaries include 1500 spellcasting pegataurs (of 5000 troops total), which suggests that maybe the pegataurs are native to Qeodhar or nearby and not Alphatia and that the Prince just brought the castle and he supplied the crew. (He has several army lists, of which one is "Baron Norlan's Mercenaries" and another is "the Alphatian Nobles' warfleet", so it's hard to tell how strong the Alphatian ties of the mercenaries are. However, the actual Alphatian Interventionary Force which arrives if the renegades need to be rescued by the Empire has no flyers with it.) - Thyatis sends no flyers at all, which doesn't fit too well with later writings - maybe they weren't expecting the pegataurs, and thought they were only facing the troops of Qeodhar and Norwald. Joe ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.pandius.com To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 14 Nov 2005 23:44:52 -0500 From: Joe Mason Subject: Re: Air fleets in Mystara (v2) Giampaolo Agosta wrote: > Hagiarchy of Hule > While the Hulean army relies mostly on giants and juggernauts to achieve > supremacy in land battles, the Legions of Doom do include 10 Doomflyers > each, with some 60 crewmembers each. > Doomflyers are useful as personnel carriers and mobile archery > platforms, but carry no heavy weapons. > There is no estimate of the number of Legions of Doom (and therefore > Doomflyers) available -- only one is used in the invasion of Sind, but > more are likely to be available for use on the other borders (I'd say a > total of five at least). > It is also possible that the Master keeps some larger shyship for > ceremonial purposes. > After the invasion of Sind, Hule may capture the Barge of Sayr Ulan. In X4, the Master also has wyvern riders and flying monsters. No total size for his army is given, but random encounters with patrols include: - 20 gnolls, 5 harpies, magic-user leader - 30 goblins, 10 bugbears, 2 trolls, fighter leader (no flyers here) - fire giant, 5 harpies, trained chimera If you assume that a large proportion of flying monsters will be used as patrols due to their mobility and range, and make a guess at the total army size, you could estimate the total number of harpies with the army. In addition, there's a fixed encounter with a magic-user riding a wyvern sent specifically to kill the players (so he might be a unique character, not just one of many wyvern-riding troops, although a think wyvern-riders would be highly appropriate for the Master's army), and encounters with groups of 1-4 gargoyles near area's where the Master's army is encamped or has already devastated, though it's not clear whether they're troops or just scavenging pests. Joe ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.pandius.com To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ------------------------------ End of MYSTARA-L Digest - 13 Nov 2005 to 14 Nov 2005 (#2005-211) ****************************************************************