What, one line in King of Sartar doesn't suit your needs?
>However I'd love for someone with more experience at large scale battles,
and especially the Bat, to give me an idea of what took place. I can make
up a lot of it from RQA: Fall of Whitewall (set in 1621), however I haven't
a clue how the Bat would be applied - alone or with ground support? ...
The Bat is a one-man (monster) army corps, besides its own inherent magic, there is a band of priests on its back directing it (between 5 and 50 priests and initiates) The write-up for the bat is in the old Cults of Terror book.
The bat has the ability to drive defenders mad in a 4Km area, so only the truely brave or desperate will face it. Your PCs may be caught by the mad keening of the bat if they are too close to the city walls!
You'll have the cream of the Volsaxi army bottled up by a holding force of Lunars (The rest continue south to besiege Karse) under Jorkandros Blinder, a Yuthuppan general. The Lunars probably don't have much in the way of Magical units in support, they're needed further down south. So there aren't a lot of ground troops in the besieging army, but they do have THE BAT, which is all they need, right?
It doesn't work that way. Jorkandros seems to have blown the battle badly enough to be replaced. Greg has talked of a scenario (this was back before HW) where the PCs teleport/fly onto the back of the Bat and fight the priests. This could be what happened (remove the handlers and the bat flies amok). As observers, your players wouldn't see a lot, though it might be something like this:
Jorkandros orders the ground troops to bottle up Whitewall by camping in front of the gates; the plan is to destroy the defenders as they leave the city when the bat drives them mad. Then he orders the Bat into the city. Since the Bat is its own Glowspot, he may not have waited until a night of the full moon. He probably does not even have the city fully encircled, trusting to the Bat to take care of the problem.
The PCs are on a hill overlooking the city and the Lunar camps. They've been warned by their Lunar contact not to enter the city, since they are necessary Lunar operatives in the Orlanthi camp. They can see that the city is not fully besieged, and they know that there are nowhere near enough troops to face King Broyan's best troops. If this is to be a traditional siege, the Lunars have miscalculated badly.
The Bat at first looks like a low hill, but as the PCs watch, the "hill" slowly flaps its wings, rising into the clear night air. As soon as it takes off, clouds boil across the sky, and thunder and lightning blast down on the Bat. It fights against cyclonic winds, battling the elements to reach the city walls. Fist-sized hail smashes down on its back, forcing the Bat handlers to protect themselves., At a critical juncture, a group of heroes teleport onto the back of the Bat. Others ride the winds circling closer and closer, calling down lightning and hail. The Bat staggers under the attacks, but comes closer and closer to the city. As the Orlanthi Heroes cut down the last of the Bat priests, it goes wild! Seeking to escape the Storm, it flies off (perhaps with a few hapless Bat Initiates clinging for dear life). It crosses over the viewing PCs, and they can see ragged wounds in the beast's wings (assuming they can withstand the Chaotic keening of the beast, and it doesn't gobble them up on its way...). The heros on the back teleport, fly or fall off. As the Lunar army gets its glowspot stripped off by the Bat's retreat, the Volsaxi attempt to escape but are thrown back into the city at no small cost. The siege continues for two years, until the assault in 1621.
Depending on how well the PCs can see magic, they could see nothing but the Bat illuminated by the nearly constant Lightning, or they can see the numerous Sylphs swirling about; the flare of magical energy as it gets sucked into the bat. Spirits are swallowed by the bat, and it looks like the Bat may win through until the heroes appear on its back and start cutting down the handlers.
Roderick
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