Monday 22 April 2019

Taking the Sun Temple

Spwack asked a great question in the comments.

"Has Counobel learnt anything about dradkin tactics from the first assault? Perhaps that might influence the final push to the last fortress."


That's an excellent question! Here's what Counobel knows about Dradkin tactics:

1. Dradkin don't seem to like daylight; raids on Grinvolt farms were always at night, and no scouts have been encountered in the day (though they may have been hiding).

2. The approach to the Sun Temple itself was unimpeded. The entrance faces west, and the entry chamber lights up spectacularly at sunset. Gathana believes the Dradkin both revere and fear the blinding sun and the surface world in general.

3. The upper level of the Sun Temple seems to be primarily a place of worship. Despite the raids they had launched on the surface from this complex, there were almost no warrior-caste Dradkin present at the time of the attack.

4. The idea that there is a fortress below came from the few surviving/captured Dradkin. As described, the purpose of the fortress was to prevent attack from below, not from the surface. (The Dradkin view the complex as a sort of mountaintop monastery, a 'high altitude' place from their perspective.)

5. The first Grinvolt casualties fell in the round chamber. They were ignored in the first moments of the assault, but when they were checked later, they had no visible wounds, but their skin was crusted with salt. Common belief is they were stricken by a curse, but the warriors don't like to talk about it.

6. The area that is now a barracks was occupied by half-starved Dradkin, who put up little resistance. The area was either a prison, monastic cells for penitents, or some combination of the two. Wall engravings imply that surviving on scarce food is a moral virtue among Dradkin.

7. "Dust Town" (apparently a mine) was fully equipped with tools for digging through the loose, gravelly coprolith, but it seems to have been inactive at the time of the attack.

8. The Dradkin put up a good fight in the Night Temple, owing to the twisty entrance. The score of Dradkin there were armed only with knives and long sticks, (and no armor over their leather garments), but they used the choke point effectively, barricading it with a stone pew.

After a five-minute stalemate of violent shoving and stabbing, the Dradkin allowed a small number of Grinvolt axewives to slip into the chamber, only to topple a second stone pew in front of the entrance. The exhausted axewives were killed before the rest of the attackers could dislodge the barricade.

Once that happened, the Dradkin line broke and they were cut down both there, and in what are now Gathana's workrooms.

9. The most difficult fight was in the segmented hallway leading to stairs downward, against a group of eleven Dradkin, apparently heavy infantry trained in close-ranked fighting.

The Dradkin infantry had what later became known as tomb shields: heavy tower shields with a low step for the user to obtain a small height advantage. The Dradkin blocked the corridor with a fan of tomb shields, trying to buy time for a small number of reinforcements to arrive from below.

Grinvolt had little experience with close-ranked siege fighting, being more used to intra-clan warfare involving longboat raids: loose-formation fights and ambushes with spear, axe, and sling. They were unprepared for the wall of tomb shields, and retreated when the Dradkin second rank opened up with heavy crossbows.

In an apparent tactical mistake, the Dradkin pursued, abandoning their shields. Counobel believes the Dradkin did this because they didn't realize there were so many enemies present in the complex, and thought they had routed a small group of raiders.

The Dradkin infantry made it to the central chamber, but immediately found themselves flanked by axewives coming south from the Night Temple (where the fighting was now done). They made a stand there, and killed 6 axewives before they were themselves killed.

10. Dradkin infantry wear scale-like armor made from chips of bone and metal, sewn onto a three-layered leather vest. (Dradkin seem to use no woven cloth.) The armor is tied on from the back with leather ties, and several of the Dradkin' vests were not tied in their haste to ascend the long stair and retake the Sun Temple.

They were armed with short, spear-like weapons, only a pace and a half long: a wide, stabbing blade affixed to long, bone handle.

11. Tomb shields are as tall as a man, but only a pace in width, and notched to interlock with other shields on either side. They are made of layers of tough fungus, matted together with pitch or resin. Axes cut into them easily, but are likely to get stuck.

Gathana said that the runes on the exterior of the shields were cursed, and would entomb the souls of any who died in front of them (hence the name). She transcribed the runes, then ordered them all burned outside.

3 comments:

  1. Does Gathana have any knowledge of runes or other magics which could project a large amount of light in order to blind and surprise the Dradkin?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Let's assume that she knows OF such magic, and could prepare it in time for the assault, but it will take most of her energy until then. Worth it? Eight days remain!

      Delete
  2. Does Gathana have any knowledge of runes or other magics which could project a large amount of light in order to blind and surprise the Dradkin?

    ReplyDelete