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AD&D FORGOTTEN REALMS, BATTLE FOR THE 'CITADEL OF MANY ARROWS'.

Extracts taken from the Journal of Garion Spellsinger, Bard Lore Master.

Scenery layouts, PCs & followers miniatures on the game table....

The pictures below show the mine head layout on the tabletop ready for the game session to begin.

Pictures 1, 2, 3 & 4... This selection of pictures feature the old Dwarven Fortress that guards the mine head and our encampment.  Picture 5... This picture shows part of the encampment of Orc buildings.   Picture 6... Another view of the Dwarven Fortress and our encampment.  Picture 7... The Fighter/Thief PCs character and followers miniatures.  Picture 8... The Ranger PCs character & followers miniatures.  Picture 9... The Cleric PCs character & his Cleric follower miniatures.  Picture 10... The Dwarf PCs character & his Fighter follower miniatures.  Picture 11... The Gnome Illusionists miniatures.

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The pictures below show the Citadel layout on the tabletop ready for the game session to begin.

Pictures 1& 2... Part of the Citadel's outer walls and main gate structure and inner wall section structure.  Picture 3... Siege towers and other scenery adjacent to the outer walls. Picture 4... Terry, (Dwarf PC) .  Picture 5... Mutz (Cleric PC). Pictures 6 & 7... Siege towers.  Pictures 8 -14... The Citadel with scenery, buildings, siege towers and other equipment added, and being populated with Orc warriors ready for the game session to begin.  Picture 15... The Siege towers from a different angle.

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The pictures below show the Great Hall on the tabletop ready for the game session to begin.

Pictures 1 - 8... The Great Hall layout, complete with the Orc King on throne, his bodyguards, Mages, Clerics and the assorted other denizens of his retinue.  The Great Hall was constructed using the Master Maze system.

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Pt 4 Overview :-

After the successful ambush of the Orcs, and after all but three of the enemy are hunted down and slain, our forces regroup and redeploys at the mine head we had previously taken, which is located just to the North of the Citadel.  So far our campaign has gone pretty much according to plan.

We had left a behind contingent of some 200 Dwarves to guard the mines, also left behind were Dwarf Engineers, who had spent their time working to weaken the roof of the Orc delved sections of the mines.  The Dwarf sections of the mines needed to be left intact and undamaged as they form an integral part of the Citadel of Many Arrows complex, but the Orc sections are little more than crudely built tunnels that are prone to collapsing on the slaves who are forced to mine them, and these sections needed to be destroyed.

In the months leading up to our assault the PCs had been out in the Realms recruiting and training allies to help with the campaign.  The PCs had also planned the building of various pieces of siege equipment, wagons, fortifications and any other equipment needed for the campaign.  The Cleric PC and his follower had constructed a Temple to Torme, and was busy converting some of the locals, he was also recruiting as many other clerics as they could find to man the field hospital.  The Dwarf PC was sent to his nearby homeland in the hills to the East, to recruit the Dwarves.  The Ranger PC and his followers rode to the North to recruit the Firbolgs and Barbarians.  While the Fighter/Thief and his followers teleported South to Evereska, an Elven stronghold, to seek the aid of the Elves.  On the return trip to Silverymoon the Fighter/Thief and his followers stopped off in the city of Sundabar, which is two days ride to the east of Silverymoon, to organize the building of the siege engines, siege towers, wagons and any other equipment that was needed.

All of the siege and other equipment was transported to the mine head by the appointed time.  And was now deployed in readiness near the mine head, the Gnome illusionists having cast illusionary spells on the whole area to hide it all from prying eyes.

The Orc King, realizing that he had now lost over 13.500 Orc warriors to our army,  felt that he was now in need of reinforcements, and so sent runners to his kin in the mountains.  In answer to the Orc Kings summons all 60,000 Orc inhabitants marched towards the Citadel of Many Arrows.  20,000 Orc warriors marched directly to the Citadel, while 40,000 warriors marched toward the Mine Head and the PCs encampment, intent on wiping out our forces and retaking the mines.  Our spies tracked and watched the progress of the of the Orcs to and from the mountains, so that we would not have any surprises that we had not allowed for. 

During the preceding 24 hours our siege equipment was moved into position in full view of the Orcs in the Citadel, so that they could clearly see all of our actions and siege equipment.  A few Bombards were fired to gauge range and get the Orcs attention, our 12 siege towers were moved into position ready for the assault to begin at dawn on the next day.

However, under the cover of darkness what the Orcs did not see was all of the siege equipment moved away and repositioned behind our encampment, the Gnome Illusionists cast invisibility spells on all of the equipment, and on all of our troops to hide everything from prying eyes.   The Gnome Illusionists then cast Illusionary terrain on the area where the siege equipment had stood, replacing the real Bombards with illusions of the same equipment. 12 hastily constructed replica siege towers replaced the real towers in the positions that they had previously been standing.  Finally, an illusion of our troops ranged around the siege equipment completed the deception.  The 12 replica siege towers were placed about 200 feet apart from each other line abreast, hopefully directly on top of the fault line which had been created by the Dwarven Engineers who had been weakening the roof sections of the Orc caverns, if the Dwarves calculations were correct.   

All of the replica towers had been stacked with barrels of gunpowder, and packed to full capacity with rocks, boulders, sharpened slate and sharpened sticks to cause maximum carnage when they exploded.  A Redoubt made out of 10 Battle wagons was positioned just on the left flank, these consisted of modified wagons that had movable wall sections, giving each wagon two levels to use as firing platforms, the wall sections had arrow slits in them to allow our archers to fire out, they also had roof sections which provided the troops cover from any return fire, and then had invisibility and fire resistance spells cast on them.  Our Elven archers manned these customized wagons.  Also a thin wooden fortification about 8 feet tall, which had been previously fabricated and carted in to the camp, was now erected all the way from the left to the right flank as a barrier, this was then braced for strength, and then had illusionary terrain cast upon it by the Gnome illusionists, which rendered it invisible, our troops were positioned behind this invisible wall.  So from the Orcs perspective they could only see the illusions of the army and siege equipment with the old Dwarven fortress in the background.

The scene is set.....

Pt 4- Defend the Mine Head.

The PCs and our army have a free turn of ranged weapon attacks, as the Orcs close the distance between us...

The charging Orc horde reaches the siege equipment and Orcs swarm all over the towers, jubilant in their apparent capture of the war machines.  This was the signal for our archers to open fire with a volley of fire arrows, five hundred flaming arrows streak towards the 12 booby trapped siege towers.  12 massive explosions rock the ground as the fire arrows find their mark, each explosion erupts into a fireball hundreds of feet high, the Orcs on the towers are flung in every direction, and hundreds more are cut to pieces by the shrapnel packed into the towers.  As the smoke starts to clear, and the Orcs begin to regain some of their composure, a low rumbling can be heard spreading across the battlefield.  The Dwarf engineers had calculated correctly and as a result of their mining and the dozen massive explosions, a fissure opens up in the ground where the towers had been standing, as the roof of the Orc delved mine sections collapse, a rift some fifteen hundred feet long, fifty feet wide and 8 feet deep appears, swallowing Orcs that had survived the exploding towers.

As a result of the explosions and the mine cave in, nearly 10,000 Orc warriors are slain, this amounted to about 25% of the horde.  The Orcs are in disarray and confused, but we must press the advantage as there are still some 30,000 Orcs to deal with, and so the Dwarven Crossbowmen, the Elven, Human & Barbarian archers, along with the PCs who have ranged weapon's, who are hidden behind the invisible barriers open fire with fire several volleys at the Orcs trying to climb out of the rift, this results in another 2500 Orc casualties.  It is at this point we let the Orcs have another surprise that had been hidden from them, a flight of 12 friendly metallic Dragons.  The Dragon flight is made up of  3 Bronze, 3 Copper, 2 Gold, 3 Silver and 1 Brass Dragon, who until this point have been invisible.  The 12 dragons who have been circling high above, gracefully glide down to strafe the Orcs who are oblivious to their presence, as our archers cease firing arrows, only becoming visible once they attack with their breath weapons.  Dozens of Orcs are incinerated by the dragon breath, and many more are filled with terror at the sight of the Dragons roaring overhead, hundreds of low level Orcs try to flee the battlefield, but the DM makes a successful morale check and the Orcs do not retreat. The Dragons wheel off ready to make another pass, but it will take at least another round or two for them to be in position to be able to attack the Orcs again.  

The Orcs are led by the mighty Graul the Orc king from the mountains with his body guard of 1000 level 8 Orc warriors, who has personally led the Orc army to retake the mines.  As the Orcs passed their morale check they regain their composure and slowly begin the advance again, but wary of any other surprises that may come their way.

Round 1... PCs win initiative. The PCs with ranged weapons fire and kill a few dozen Orc warriors, the Dwarven crossbowmen fire and kill 185, the Human and Barbarian archers fire two volleys and kill 575, the Elven archers who are hidden in the battle wagons also fire two volleys and slay 275, the Firbolgs kill another 250 lobbing boulders at the enemy.  The Dwarven engineers now fire the 50 prepared Bombards into the Orc horde and kill about 100 warriors, the Bombards have a crew of three Dwarven engineers to each Bombard, so it will take a further two rounds to reload the weapons ready to be able to fire again.

The Orcs reply with bowshots to the Dwarves and they miss with every shot, the remaining Orc bowmen fire wildly but only manage to wound 10 Barbarian archers with lucky shots.  The Orc warriors cannot close the distance to melee combat this round.  A bad round for the Orcs as they have now lost about 1/3rd of their troops, but we are still very heavily outnumbered.

Round 2... PCs win initiative.  The Barbarian and Human archers again fire two volleys at the incoming Orcs, rolling three natural 20s and getting maximum damage on the dice rolls, killing 1000 of them, unfortunately the Firbolgs miss their targets completely, the Elven archers get good dice and damage rolls and kill 650 Orcs.  The Dwarven crossbowmen fire again and get good damage rolls which kill another 650 Orcs.  The Ranger PC and his Druidess follower lead all of the Human, Elven and Barbarian infantry into the fray on the left flank and in the centre and attack the oncoming enemy with swords drawn, this melee combat results in 3500 Orc casualties from the combat.  The Dwarf PC leads the Dwarven infantry into action on the right flank, the Dwarves manage to kill 900 enemy warriors.  The Fighter/Thief's Mage/Thief follower lets loose a lightning bolt spell and fries 3 Orcs.  The Fighter/Thief who is wearing Magical Winged Boots spots the Orc king and his retinue, so donning his ring of invisibility, flies into combat and to try and surprise the Orc king, and if possible dispatch him with one swift killing back stab blow doing x5 damage.  Unfortunately his plan of being able to surprise and back stab the king fails as the king makes a good alertness roll and detects the invisible flying PC, which means that the PC only attacks as normal. Considering that the Orc king has a A/C of -10, all 6 of the PCs attacks with his +4 and + 3 swords actually hit the king, doing a total of 85 points of damage, but not enough damage to kill the king.

DMs turn, the Orcs get some good die rolls this turn.  The Orc bowmen let loose a hail of arrows at the Dwarves and kill or wound 150 crossbowmen, the Barbarian archers suffer 65 casualties to the bowmen, 50 Elven Infantry go down and 65 Human infantry casualties are caused by the Orc arrows. The Orc warriors attack the Human infantry and cause 85 casualties, the Elves suffer 275 casualties, the Barbarians get the brunt of the melee combat as the DM rolls a couple of natural 20s and maximum damage causing 963 casualties to the Barbarian infantry, reducing their number to under 50%.  The Orc warriors do no damage to the Ranger PC and the Druidess follower, and the Dwarf PC suffers no injuries.  

The Orc king having discovered the previously invisible Fighter/Thief attacks the PC, the king has a THACO of -8, and the PC an A/C of -10, the Orc king hits with all of his attacks needing only to roll a 2 or more on the dice, and reduces to PCs hit Points from 138 down to 38, (OUCH), not good for the PC as there are 5 other level 8 Orcs who can also attack the PC, two of which miss completely, the third and forth Orcs reduce the PCs HPs down to 13, and the fifth Orc hits and causes 14 points of damage, with this the PC drops dead to the ground with an Orc sword stuck in him.  Meanwhile an invisible Orc Thief/Assassin had sneaked along the right flank and into the camp and located the Fighter/Thief's party of followers.  The Bard and Fighter who are guarding the Mage/Thief, who have thus far stayed back out of the combat behind the invisible barriers, on a random die roll it is the Fighter follower who is attacked as the Orc Thief manages to surprise the party and attack the follower, the back stab causes 40 points of damage from a poisoned dagger.

Not a good round for the Orcs who are now down by about 50% of their troops, having lost nearly 20,000 warriors thus far, but they still have an overpowering advantage in numbers.   Our side cannot afford to lose many troops and casualties are starting to mount this round.  That and the fact that the Orc king has just slain the Fighter/Thief PC.

However all is not as it first seems, there is indeed what appears to be a dead Fighter/Thief at the Orc kings feet, but the PC was wearing a magic amulet, the Amulet of Dramatic Death, which has the effect of generating a very powerful illusion of the wearer dead in front of the successful attacker if his Hit Points are reduced to 0, the amulet is programmed to respond to attacks by one weapon type only, in this case a Longsword, fortunately for the PC the weapon that did the fatal blow was a +2 Longsword.  The illusion is so powerful that it can only be detected by a high level detection spell from a magic user, the Amulet renders the wearer invisible and negates the effect of the damage of the last attack, enabling the wearer to make good his escape, and as the PC was wearing magical flying boots at the time, the PC flew over the battlefield and made his way to the Field Hospital where the Cleric PC and his staff were busy with our casualties.

Round 3... PCs win initiative.  The Ranger PC seeing his comrade and friend slain by the Orc king and his bodyguard, rushes in to attack the king with his two swords, having 4 attacks with each weapon, and avenge his friends death, all of his strikes hit the target and the Orc king and several of his bodyguard are slain.  Many nearby lower level Orcs who witnessed the Orc kings demise falter in their advance at the sight of their leader being slain, and start to withdraw, but the level 8 body guards battle on.  The Druidess is now surrounded and will probably not now survive this round of combat, so she uses a spell and instantaneously transforms herself into an Eagle to escape her attackers, she makes her way to the field hospital to assist in helping the mounting numbers of wounded troops.  The Dwarf PC and his infantry continue to battle on, killing 300 warriors, the Dwarven crossbowmen target Orc bowmen and kill 275 of them.  The Human, Elven and Barbarian archers inflict another 1100 casualties to the Orc bowmen, the Firbolgs hit this time and kill about 75 Orcs tossing their boulders.  The Human, Elven, Dwarven and remaining Barbarian infantry slay a massive 3750 Orc warriors,  with some natural 20s being rolled and some maximum damage rolls.  

The flight of Dragons fly back into combat this round and enter the fray again, they gracefully sweep in from the rear targeting the Orc bowmen, and let loose a lethal blast of their breath weapons killing 75 bowmen, the remaining 185 level 1 bowmen panic at the sight of the 12 majestic beasts and flee the battle field in blind panic, the level three bowmen only just make their fear check and are at -1 on all attack rolls for the rest of the battle, the level 5 and level 7 Orc warriors and bowmen pass the fear check and are not affected at all.  The two Gnome Illusionists cast Demi Shadow Magic, one to create the illusion of an Ice Storm which slays 32 Orc bowmen, the other illusionist casts Cloud Kill which again kills another 32 Orc bowmen.  The Rangers Mage follower casts a Fireball Spell into the Orc mass toasting a dozen of them, the Firbolg and Ranger follower attack any Orcs that come too near the Mage keeping her from harm.  The Dwarf PCs follower comes to the aid of the Fighter/Thief's followers and attacks the Orc Thief, but does not cause any damage.  The Fighter follower not taking too kindly to being stabbed in the back swings around and lashes at the Orc with his +3 longsword and hits twice, the Orc did not like that one little bit, the Mage/Thief attacks and given that her THACO  is not that good, surprisingly hits the Orc thief with her sword, reducing his HPs even more, The Bard Lore Master leaps in with his dagger and rolls his three dice to hit and gets 2 natural 20s and a 19, and managed to roll maximum damage on all three attacks, finally killing the Orc thief.  The Fighter/Thief  has his wounds tended and healed by Clerics using heal Spells, so that he is ready for combat again.

DMs turn, the now much reduced force of Orc bowmen rashly fire at any target visible, and manage to cause 100 casualties to the Human archers, 67 casualties to the Firbolgs,  and 250 casualties to the Dwarves.  The Orc warriors engaged in melee combat inflict 380 casualties to the Human infantry, 400 casualties to the Dwarven infantry, 750 casualties to the Elven infantry, and a further 95 casualties to the much depleted Barbarians.  The level 8 body guards attack the Ranger PC and reduce his HPs slightly, the Dwarf PC is hit and takes minor damage.  At the end of the round the Orcs need to make a morale check, unfortunately for us, passing it easily.  

Round 4... DM wins initiative over PCs but loses the imitative roll for the other troops, so our troops go first.  All of the Dwarven crossbowmen and infantry close to attack the Orc bowmen killing 145, the Bombards have been reloaded and can fire again this round, all 50 fire, but three Bombards missfire, (they rolled a 1), the explosion destroys the Bombard and kills the three crew manning it, but the 47 successful Bombards blow 56 Orc bowmen into tiny pieces.  The Firbolgs and Human, Elven and Barbarian archers fire at the Orc bowmen,  the Firbolgs and Elves completely miss their targets, the Human and Barbarian archers kill another 250.  The Human and Barbarian infantry slay 700 warriors, the Elven infantry continue to attack the Orc warriors and kill a further 600. The Gnome illusionists now work in unison and cast an Advanced Illusion of a 2000 strong cavalry charge by Armoured Knights on the left flank, many of the level 5 and level 7 Orc warriors break from combat and turn to face this new threat.

DMs turn, the surviving bowmen target the Elven infantry and cause 220 casualties, and further reduce the Barbarians by another 235, the Human infantry take 238 casualties, the warriors and body guards still battle with the Ranger and Dwarf PCs causing minor damage to both PCs.

PCs turn, the Ranger PC hacks away at the kings body guard slaying four more, the Dwarf PC kills 3 more warriors, the Mage follower casts another Fireball Spell into the Orc bowmen toasting another dozen or so, the Firbolg, Mage and Ranger followers kill about 12 warriors between them, the Druidess assists the Clerics to heal the mounting number of wounded troops.  The Fighter/Thief and his followers kill another 6 level 7 Orcs with ranged weapons, the Mage/Thief follower casts a Fireball spell into the much reduced mass of Orc warriors incinerating about 18 of them.

All of this is now too much for the Orcs, the king is slain, thousands of their comrades lay dead on the battlefield and 2000 Armoured Knights are bearing down on them, so they decide to make a tactical withdrawal back to the Citadel.  The Dragons have time to make two more passes on the retreating Orcs, before they come under fire from the Citadels battlements.  Our archers manage to shoot several volleys into the mass of the enemy as they move away to try to gain protection from the Citadel.  Our forces manage to kill a further 6000 Orcs as the retreat becomes a rout.

The Orcs lost 35,800 troops in the engagement at the mine head, only 4,200 of them actually making the safety of the Citadel, there are now some 49,200 Orcs in the Citadel of Many Arrows, which means that just over 50% of the total number of Orcs in this part of the Realms have been now eliminated. 

Our losses in this battle were 2414 troops Killed in Action, the Dwarves and Barbarians taking the brunt of the casualties,  However our losses would have been much greater if not for the field hospital and all of the Clerics that manned it, tending to the wounds and healing troops that would otherwise have been killed.  Our army strength now stands at 12,044 troops plus the PCs and their followers, so we are still vastly outnumbered.

We need another plan....

Pictures 1, 2 & 3... The Orcs, (Comedy Orc leading the charge), head for the mine head, and swarm around the siege towers.  Picture 4... The Orcs advance on the mine head.  Picture 5...  The Orcs advance on the mine head from their viewpoint.  Picture 6... The Dragons view of the Orc horde.  Pictures 7 & 8...  The Dragons attack and make a sweeping pass on the Orcs.  Pictures 9, 10 & 11...  Our troops move into attack position, the archers fire into the mass of Orcs, the Dwarves move in on the right flank.  Picture 12 ... Our infantry engage the enemy, while the archers fire into the Orc bowmen.  Picture 13 ... The Fighter/Thief attempts to back stab Graul the Orc King.

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Picture 14... The Rangers followers move in to attack.  Picture 15... The Dwarven infantry and Dwarf PC battle the Orcs. Picture 16... The Ranger and his Druidess follower move in to attack.  Picture 17... The Fighter/Thief is apparently slain by Graul and his bodyguard.  Picture 18... The Orc Thief sneaks into the camp and backstabs Dain.  Picture 19... The Ranger battles with Graul finally killing him.  Picture 20... The Fighter/Thief's followers, the Bard, Mage/Thief, Fighter and the Dwarf PCs follower attack and slay the Orc assassin.        

Pt 5- Assault on the Citadel.

The surviving routed Orcs had fled the battlefield and sought the safety of the Citadel, the job of clearing the battlefield could now begin, the Orc bodies were piled into huge pyres and burnt, our fallen comrades were gathered up and given a decent burial, and the survivors had their wounds tended and healed.  A defensive perimeter was established around our encampment and within sight of the main gate of the Citadel by our troops, to hold the Orcs should they attempt to counter attack, the Dragons over flew the area keeping a watchful eye on the Citadel and the Orcs within.  An Orc counter attack while possible, would probably be unlikely at this time, given their losses so far, the Orc king was no doubt licking his wounds and making plans for revenge.

However we do not have the time f or the Orcs to gather their wits, we need to act quickly as we are still heavily outnumbered and still have much to do.

The Ranger and his followers are organizing our troop deployment, defenses and siege equipment, and is also formulating a new plan of attack with the Gnome illusionists.  The Clerics at the field hospital tend to the needs of the remaining wounded troops and officiate at the burial of the fallen.  Meanwhile the Fighter/Thief has a plan to use the dragons to cause havoc within the Citadels walls, so along with the Cleric who needs to go to Silverymoon to purchase some magical item's for himself and the Dwarf Fighter/Thief PC,  set off to Sundabar on dragon back taking all twelve of the dragons to get the plan underway.  The wounded troops are given the job of sharpening as many small sticks and pieces of slate as they are able to locate.

The city of Sundabar is about 1 hour away from the Citadel by dragon, and it is about dusk by the time the dragons arrive at the outskirts of city.  The dragons are left outside the city so as not to panic the locals, while the Cleric and Fighter/Thief PCs seek out the leatherworking guild and warehouses of the manufacturers/importers of lamp oil.  We have need of strong harnesses made from leather for the dragons and we require 96 25 gallon barrels of lamp oil, plus a further 24 empty barrels.  Four barrels will be attached to each dragon, turning them into bombers each capable of dropping 100 gallons of oil onto their targets.  The guilds agree to work through the night to accommodate our needs to make the harnesses and gather the lamp oil and barrels, but at a price, after all the locals do have a living to make.  We agree a price for the work and supplies, plus a handsome bonus if all of the work is completed by mid afternoon of the following day.   11 of the dragons will remain here to have their harnesses fitted, while the Cleric and Fighter/Thief fly onto Silverymoon on the large Gold dragon, whose measurements have all ready been taken for the leather harness.

The Fighter/Thief and the Cleric fly onto Silverymoon and spend the night at the Clerics temple, next morning after breakfast an audience is sought with Alustriel who is a 24th level Mage and the ruler of Silverymoon and its environs, to inform her of our progress with the campaign.  The Cleric seeks out a vendor of magical items at one of Silverymoon's magical emporiums, looking to purchase 2 sets of Gauntlets of Ogre Strength which had been placed on order some months before we started the campaign.  Our affairs in Silverymoon in order we head back to Sundabar to find the leather workers all but finished in their work, they just need to fit the harness to the big Gold dragon.  Half of the barrels of lamp oil and the empty barrels have been dispatched to our camp by wagon train, the remainder of the barrels will be fitted to the dragons to be flown back to camp.  

Our battle plan is almost ready to be put into action, but we intend to wait until about 3am the next morning before commencing the attack.  The dragons are rested, now fitted with their deadly payload and ready for action, the Gnomes have cast invisibility on all of the dragons.  The Ranger has also asked the illusionists to conjure up an illusion of the Human, Elven, Barbarian and Dwarven troops.  A spell is to be cast to make the real siege towers move forward on command, with the illusionary troops manning them.  The Bombards are moved into firing position and the PCs and followers with ranged weapons are to secrete themselves ready to fire at Orcs on the battlements to add reality to the illusion.  The wagon train with the remainder of our supplies should arrive by midnight.  The razor sharp slate shards and sticks are packed with gunpowder into to the 24 empty barrels.

The time for the attack is upon us, the wind is slight and blowing from the South, light rain has been falling for the last couple of hours, however these conditions actually favor our plan for once.  The Fighter/Thief mounts the large Gold dragon to lead the attack, equipped with a 'Sparker' a device that will quickly make a spark to light an emergency Molotov Cocktail to ignite the lamp oil, just in case we miss the target.  The dragons alight, gain altitude quickly and circle just to the North of the Citadel so that our scent will not be detected by the Orcs.  Three camp fires are targeted inside the Citadel walls, the dragons will attack in three flights of four, each flight dumping 400 gallons of lamp oil onto their designated target camp fire.   As the dragons make a medium level pass over the target area, thousands of Orc warriors can be seen camped around the camp fires.  The dragons make one final pass to line up their approach path and gracefully glide down, the first flight descends to about 20 ft from ground level and lines up with its target camp fire, as the dragons reach the release point, they bite down on the leather strap in their mouth, biting through the harness which releases the barrels, and they roll from the dragons back, two on each side, directly onto the area of the camp fire.  A  wall of flame erupts as a barrel breaks open on the edge of the camp fire, the two other flights of dragons line up their attack run on their target camp fires with similar results, within moments this whole section of the Citadel is alight as twelve hundred gallons of lamp oil burns furiously.  Burning Orcs are running everywhere, about three hundred Orcs are killed outright, but thousands are caught in the area of the inferno, most suffer only minor burns, while the others are more seriously injured. The light rain had which had been falling for a few hours now dispersed the lamp oil even better than we had hoped for, and had covered a far greater area than we had expected.  The attack run over, the 12 dragons fly back to the camp to be reloaded with another 4 barrels apiece, but this will take a little while so the rest of our plan is put into action.

 As the fire lights up the night sky, this is the signal for the deception to begin in earnest, the spell is cast to move the siege towers and the illusionary troops forward, they now advance slowly.  The alarm is raised in the Citadel and Orcs can be seen starting to man the battlements.  The Ranger and any followers with ranged weapons take up secreted positions to shoot at any Orcs that present themselves as targets.  The Dwarven engineers ready the 47 Bombards to fire on command, their target area being the inner courtyard that we had just bombed and set alight, 47 explosions rip through the inner courtyard, a couple of the bombards manage to hit a group of Orc warriors killing a dozen of them and flinging their bodies into other Orcs trying to get out of the way.  Meanwhile, the Cleric summons up an Efreet, a Fire Elemental from the flames in the inner courtyard, who roams the area attacking any Orc unfortunate enough to get in its way.

The Orc warriors and bowmen are flooding onto the ramparts to stave off the attack, the bowmen shoot at the troops on the slowly advancing siege towers, the bodies of our troops can be seen to be falling off of the towers, at this point the Ranger and any PCs and followers with ranged weapons open fire, shooting Orcs from the battlements, adding weight to our illusion.  The Orcs have readied their Ballista's and now fire them pretty much indiscriminately in our direction, 20 Ballista's open fire, but only 4 manage to find a target, one of the siege towers suffers a direct hit and is turned into splintered fragments, three other siege towers are hit but do not suffer major damage, and so keep on moving up to the walls.  Some 300 illusionary troops are seen to be killed, and the Orcs are jubilant at their apparent success.  So much so that the commander of the Orc troops in one of the towers is visible and the Ranger quickly puts an arrow through his throat, somewhat dampening the Orc morale, and plunging the troops manning the battlements into leaderless confusion once more.

By this time the dragons are now ready to make another pass on the Citadel, as the Orc Ballista's have been revealed, the Fighter/Thief now instructs the dragons to attack line abreast, dropping their payload on the battlements and towers and then to use their breath weapon to target a ballista each as they pass over the walls.  11 dragons fly the short distance to the Citadel, releasing the payload of 4 barrels apiece onto the towers and battlements, the Fighter/Thief riding the large Gold dragon flies just behind the other dragons and uses the Sparker to light the prepared Molotov Cocktail, the Gold dragon releases his load of 100 gallons of lamp oil, the Fighter/Thief lobs the Molotov Cocktail the short distance onto the top of the battlements, and is rewarded with the sight of about 500 feet of battlement and towers suddenly engulfed in flame, as the 1200 gallons of oil is ignited.  Hundreds of Orcs are caught in this new inferno, burning Orc bodies can be seen falling from the towers and ramparts.  The dragons now target the ballista's and their crews, as each dragon makes a pass on one of the war machines. The Copper dragons use their Acid Breath to good effect, as do the Gold dragons and their Fire Breath, completely destroying six of the ballista's.  The Silver dragons Cone of Cold Breath, the Bronze dragons Lightning Strike and the Brass dragons Blistering Desert Heat Breath only slightly damage the other six ballista's but kill many of the weapon's crew.

Orc bowmen shoot wildly at the dragons, but only one bowman manages to hit one of the small dragons, which only causes 2 pts of damage to the beast.  The dragons fly back to the camp, where the PCs and their followers are now waiting, the Cleric has a Rod of Security which will enable all of the PCs and the followers to be carried in safety within the Rod.  All of the PCs and followers, except the Fighter/Thief enter the Rod of Security, the Fighter/Thief  mounts the Gold dragon which will transport them to the South side of the Citadel.  The dragon sets off on its short journey just as the siege towers reach the walls, and massed illusionary troops begin the assault.  The bombards continue to fire at will, more for effect than the actual damage that they are going to cause, and the dragons make frequent strafing runs.  The real army is positioned ready to repulse any Orcs that attempt to leave the Citadel to make a counter attack.

We do not have much time, as the Orcs will soon realise that the assault is not totally real, and begin to wonder what to do next, hopefully our attack has disrupted the Orc command structure enough, cutting off new troops in the inner courtyards from helping their beleaguered comrades, and has left them in utter confusion for the time being.  Our attack managed to kill just over 1000 Orcs and destroyed several of their ballista's and crew's, however there are still some 48,000 Orcs within the walls.

The Gold dragon flies off the to the South East for a mile or two, to make sure that the Orcs cannot see our true route, and then doubles back to within half a mile of the Southern walls of the Citadel, where we land undetected by the Orc sentries on the walls.  The Ranger leaves the Rod of Security and together with the Fighter/Thief make their way towards the Citadels walls, using their stealth and hide and sneak abilities to try to gain entry into the Citadel.....

Pictures 1 - 17... The first assault of the Citadel of Many Arrows, (albeit an illusionary assault by the Human, Elven, Barbarian and Dwarven troops). 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 

9 10 11 12 13 14 15 

16 17

Pt 6- Assault on the Citadel, Sneak attack.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 

8 9 10

Picture 1... 

A few more pictures... 

1 2 3 4 5

Picture 1... This picture shows the Orcs (its all gone pear shape), battle standard at the end of the Mine Head game session.  Picture 2... A picture that we just had to have, the DMs reaction to learning just how much XP we have just gained for the mine head part of the game.  The phrase 'why do I bother' just managed to escape the DMs lips at this point!!!!!!  We had thought that he might be a little happier with not having to fiddle about with so many Orcs and the paper work and workings out that went with them, ungrateful bugger!!!!  Picture 3... The Mind Flayer got a bit more than he bargained for with the Rangers bow shot.  Picture 4... The DM  playing all nice with his 'its all gone pear shape' banner again.  Picture 5... The DM with happy smiling face, he was taking the Orc forces getting thrashed very well at this point, or the cider was starting to kick in!!!!!

Note....

The more observant and/or critical of you out there will no doubt notice that the actual number of models used on the tabletop in this game differs somewhat to the number of troops listed in the game descriptions. The number of actual models used is meant only to be representative of the total numbers used in the adventure.  Obviously we do not have, nor are we likely to have, the number of actual models needed in this adventure, lack of tabletop space alone prevents this, not to mention cost!!!!  

The troop numbers in the description are relatively accurate, based on the actual Forgotten Realms Adventure and Forgotten Realms Guide Books that were used as part of this game.  So please refrain from the urge to e-mail me to point out that there are not the correct number of models on the game table.