RE: Umbroli

From: Jane Williams <janewilliams20_at_...>
Date: Sat, 28 May 2005 09:18:58 +0100


> In my own view, hardly ubiquitous, but there are enough of
> them around to
> make a real difference. Like everyone else though, high
> mortality rate. Umbroli too are defendng the Last Storm.

OK.  

> And for me, keeping a line open between the Gate and the city
> is a crucial mission.
>
> When it's a standard sentry change, why not just walk down the steps?

Ah... We have real differences here, then.

> In my own conception, Tarkalor's Gate has been attacked
> endlessly, in a
> myriad different ways. The lower levels are little more than
> scrap and ruin,
> the linking roads and bridges are destroyed, the very earth
> is poisonous and
> foul. The upper levels are defended, and .....

So what do you mean by upper and lower levels?

In my mind, we have a Gate, surrounded by a gatehouse complex - towers, courtyard behind with buildings, a second gate behind that. More or less square, but with additions, if you see what I mean. (I'm getting inspiration from various castles I've visited). Behind that, a "road" goes up to the city proper. But the Gate, capital G, is at the front of all this.

> I imagine the Gate gets taken (and retaken) half a dozen
> times over the two years of the seige.

Yes, this is where I'm coming from. This bit of fiction Donald and I are working on has the place taken by the Lunars using sorcery and fireballs near the start (we're in 1620, we think.) It's re-taken (we're not sure how, this was off-screen). Then people decide the defences need magically strengthening to prevent that happening again. And we have a HQ going on right on top of the Gate, on the wall above the actual iron-bound doors, at the front of the gatehouse complex, while the Lunars attack to try to stop it. Mainly trolls, and slingers, at least to start with. The defending troops do a sortie at one point to drive the slingers out of range.

I know the HQing group and some of the mundane defenders walked down from city to gate, because I've listened to their conversation as they did so. Including all the bits about "no, you stop here in the shelters, it's too dangerous to get any closer." (Advice which got ignored.)

Donald, what do you reckon? Worth releasing your description of how the Gate originally fell to the group? I think that had just about stabilised, hadn't it? The start of my section, the approach and before they hit the HQ proper. And perhaps the bit from Monri's VP, the external view and the sortie. It's just the middle of the story is still unfinished and fluid.

> But we still don't seem to have a common conception of the actual
> approaches, do we?

Definitely not. And I think we need one.

> The Mitch/Sam drawings (who is the actual artist of the
> new version Sam? You said someone from your group.) are brilliant,
> evocative, powerful, but as Mitch noted, they were done on
> day one and
> aren't related except in the broadest sweeps to things like
> the WW map we've since been using.

Yes - they're bit like your writing. So evocative that we want to accept them as true even if we can't :(

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