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Author Topic: Tactical Assessments of Milara  (Read 1481 times)

lonnarin

Tactical Assessments of Milara
« on: July 11, 2015, 08:34:01 pm »
*Kurn sends copies of a letter to all those members involved in the final battle and previous installments*Well done and a hard fought battle!  We sent that cowardly bugger running and thwarted his godhood in one fell swoop.  We learned some very important things that day.  One, that when we put our skills and abilities together, we can move mountains and shake the foundations of one of the most powerful men to walk the world of Layonara.  Two, that he can bleed.  And three, that he fears us.  He fled and escaped despite his fine showing.  But the battle is not over.  While Milara still breathes, he will try his mad plans again.  His Pet in ashes and his Triumph stolen from him, he is weaker than before.  But he will rebuild.What now then?  I say we prepare quickly and press forward.  If he is ever to be stopped once and for all, we need to destroy him utterly and make for darned certain he finally breathes his last.  And we should do so quickly before he musters enough forces to get his revenge; and believe me, for we thwarted his plans and he fears us, we are in more danger than ever before.  Each of us is now marked by him and, unopposed, he WILL try to take us out before we take the fight to him.  Death is certain, life is not.Having stood toe to toe with the bugger and landing a good volley of blows, I'd like to share with ye all what I have learned of his strengths and his weaknesses.  Of course you know well his tactics and that of his dark elven henchmen... dispelling magic blasts quickly followed by death magics and swarms of undead using the same.  Disjunction and greater dispelling appeared to be at work in the deaths sustained on our side leading up to the battle.  Second most he appears to have a great love of the greatest evocation, Hellball.  I noticed many of ye blasted with it, while I myself managed to evade most of its effects.  This was in part to a combination of me quick feet and reflexes, evading the epicenter of the blasts to avoid the brunt of impact.  That which was not dodged was warded by the constant effect of the resistanced placed on me amulet, rings and helm... greater resistances against each element on each piece of jewelry.  What little remained of the hellballs he laid upon me were negligable.  While not all of you are as quick to dodge such a blast, I highly be recommending investing in such protections on all of yer equipment, and boilstering the effects with means to help increase ye reflexes.In melee with him, though I hit him many many times, he withstood the brunt of the damage.  He did not appear to have the skin of stone, so likely it was absorbed by some of his equipment or even perhaps supernatural abilities.  As I glimpsed him up close, I witnessed me blades many times appearing to land as sure strikes only to pass through the image with a whoosh of air, indicating that he had some magic of the displacer beast at work, which could explain some of his purplish hue.  Perhaps even a ghostly armor.  I could have sword I had me truesight spell active, but it is possible that it had faded or been dispelled in the heat of battle. For those blows which hit him solidly, I noted the following.  Despite many attempts to knock him over, he resisted them without fail, and despite his having much natural strength of his own.  Though me blade easily swatted aside his meager and flimsy arms many times as he cast spells, the strikes to his legs did not fell him over.  I can assume therefore that this ability is not through training or opposed strength, but rather some form of persistant immunity against attempts to take the feet from under him.  Some magical items such as the dragonslayer sword or turtle shield have such effects, so I suspect something he wore has a similar ability.Also to note was that many blows which should have been cheap shots or devastating in nature, such as me patented gut-twister and cross the neck gashing combo, were dealt with only the basic severity of a regular blow.  In this manner twas much like battling one of his many undead minions.  Not many magical items that I have seen can do something of this nature, so the nature of Milara himself have been weighing heavily upon me mind.  I be thinkin that he is not entirely mortal, or has at least enhanced his body and abilities into some supernatural form.  Tis possible he be of undead necromantic material, or even a Pale Master, though I did not get a close enough look at his arms to determine if one of them had been grafted bone or not.  More likely is that he either holds some magical items we do not typically have access to, or that he may have enhanced his form beyond the mortal coil of dark elves and into something of stronger ilk.  Thus I consider his nature to be not that of standard dark elven, but of an abberational quality.  His vital organs did not appear vulnerable, nor did well placed blows across the neck.  I doubt that he breathes or feels pain as most mortal men.  he also did not burn from the bite of me blades' magics.In any case, we have therefore learned tactics that will not win a battle with him.  Backstabbing, knocking him over and anything but the heaviest and surest sighted blows will deflect right off him.  He is however not that difficult to hit when compared to many heavily armored foes, and relies on his magical and supernatural resistances to sustaining damage itself.  The question then, past nullifying the effects of his offense, is how to get past his defense.  I'm thinking that any future battle with him should begin with a barrage of dispelling magics of the highest power to breach his defenses.  While the disjunction and standard dispels might be problematic fer the frontline, perhaps the greater spell breaches designed to combat mages might be most useful.  Beyond that, blade enhancements might need more power to them to break his skin more reliably.  While Daniel's is formidable, I have felt some priests and mages cast even stronger ones, such as Sala Stonehill's blade blessings.  Rather than attempt to knock him over, frontline fighters should utilize the strongest possible blows they can.  I think had Grogmegor not been busy with Milara's Pet and Triumph and put his back into it, some devastating blows indeed could have breached the skin.  And perhaps we should look outside the conventional elements, such as the thundering blast of a barbarian's strike, spells which mimic thunder or perhaps even acids.  And of course, the smite of divine wrath might make the most powerful dent in his dark hide.This is all well and good to say how to strike at him from educated preparation, but also to prepare for his hoardes and tactics.  He uses masses of undead as fodder reinforced by mages who tactfully dispell our wards and weaken us.  For the final push, divine magics and displays of faith might be best served.  Turning those bodaks to ash quickly and arching the mages with zinging shots to make them fumble their spellcasting.  Breaching mages and routing the fodder to strike at them quickly with cheap shots and quick, brutal strikes.  The fodder is nothing but a distraction with our wards intact.  And with spells such as Stygian's massive undead slayer and Foresta and Daniel's massive healing circles they be dust in the breeze.I hope this letter serves to better prepare us when we face Milara in the future.  And we WILL face him soon.  Whether we take the battle to him while he is weakened, or allow him to sit back and lick his wound, grow in power and exact his revenge.  Either we finish the job, or he will.  There is no avoiding the battle to come.-Kurn Blackwater, stabber of would-be gods P.S.- I be also sending a copy of this to our gnomish friends who have dismantled the conduit.  It is possible that his supernatural abilities stemmed from whatever rituals he performed to drain those poor sods in the cages appended to that machine.  Perhaps in understanding the nature of what he was doing, we can unravel some mysteries as to how he was empowering himself in preparation for godhood.
 

ShiffDrgnhrt

After writing up her own
« Reply #1 on: July 11, 2015, 10:14:01 pm »

After writing up her own report, she is handed Kurn's, skims through the yard of parchment, and then walks over to him.

"So, while I appreciate your assessment, this sounds almost like an excuse for why you didn't kill him." She smirks, holding up her hands.  "No offense, of course.  You're more than a match for me, but-" she glances around at the soldiers and the many banners, "Milara is the single most powerful wizard I've ever heard of.  We need more than swords to kill him, if that even becomes a possibility." 

 

SteveJW

*Kyle reads Kurn's message on
« Reply #2 on: July 12, 2015, 11:41:34 am »

*Kyle reads Kurn's message on the way to the Ulgrids with the journal of the star metal. He writes the following reply*

Your assessment is quite accurate. Although...in my opinion... we caught him flat-footed. I do not think he expected us then and that was fortunate for us. We also must assume Milara will be better prepared should we encounter him again. Still...we did thwart him and we should be proud of ourselves.

We can rest on these laurels for a brief time...but not for too long. Milara will indeed retreat and regroup. Time will tell how that will turn out.

 

Till we meet again,

Kyle Pandorn

 

Ravemore

Stygian casually peruses
« Reply #3 on: July 12, 2015, 09:47:16 pm »

Stygian casually peruses through Kurn’s report a couple of times, then slips it into a leather courier pouch that contains all of his own personal observations, details on the conduit, its current location, troop numbers and placements, possible political ramifications, etc. He buttons up the top, seals the opening with a blob of black wax, affixes his personal seal, and summons his familiar.

Without looking at the little red pit creature he says “Take this to the Oraculum Mortis immediately.” Having completed his duty to his master, he was sure the wraith hiding in the shadows of his study would also report his actions.

 

willhoff

*As he reads the report from
« Reply #4 on: July 13, 2015, 05:16:42 am »

*As he reads the report from Kurn he grins, proud of his fellow weapon master in arms.  He files it in the small desk of his war room before resuming his dailey sword exercises.  After, he compares notes with the Green Dragon cult and sits contemplating if we'll wait this long for another go at Milara.  Vrebel then breakes out some fine dwarven ale in tribute to the victory and the fall of Milara's minions and the success of the group.*

 

mixafix

In a remote clearing deep in
« Reply #5 on: July 13, 2015, 09:22:06 am »

In a remote clearing deep in the woods Foresta stands in the centre of the solemn circle, an ancient and runed yew staff to hand she draws in the dust while recounting Kurn's tactical assesment. "There are things here of the great fight between a collection of heroes from many divided and dedicated organisations brought together, drawn as it were by the terrible scheming of Milara, whose tactics were exposed to this group. Regardless of the useful tactical tree this taciturn Dwarf Kurn has brought us - what we must also consider is the bigger forest, the binding of forces drawn like moths to the flame, the greater the flame the greater the moths. This is the balance! the balance at play." She ascends her mighty staff for effect, regenerating like the world itself. Before adding " For the moment we are fleetingly free of peril. Let us use the time wisely."

She tilts her head for effect and looks at her audience. General Silkwood seems little interested indeed he is more concerned with a hazelnut between his claws. Big Pinna, and Uncle Auricle, a pair of white rabbits ears up, heads down are clearly lost by now. Captain Charli the cheetah actually never even pretended to be listening - but she had always been cheeky!

Foresta realises it has been a losing battle. "Well it is all there in Kurn's book if we need it again. Books eh who needs em."