Donald:
> Let's try and work out what heroquests Tatius is trying to perform.
Nice bit of analysis! Now let me build on it.
> Firstly the building of seven ramps in a short space of time by
> the Seven of Vistur - the unexpected community deaths indicate
> that it was either experimental or something went wrong.
Or both.
Though of course this isn't "firstly". CHDP is quite explicit that the
seven meteors were first, and that may be important.
> Secondly, one where the Crater Makers bring seven meteors from
> the moon which is probably a routine heroquest for them.
Routine, but not necessarily fast or easy. Do we have any more source material on these people?
> I wonder what the other six important parts of the city were?
> there are a couple of gatehouses in addition to Tarkalor's
> gate and Broyan's palace.
> To start seven meteors were
> hurled from the moon and struck precisely. They destroyed key
> parts of the city including the Orlanth Temple. When it was
> buried a great gout of lightning burst forth, arching over
> the walls to sear many
> hundreds of troops who quietly awaited the assault.
My guess would be that those key locations weren't military targets at
all, they were magical. Key parts of the city's magical defences, or
key parts of the links to Orlanth. Not that this gives me any more idea
of where they were :(
Interesting that the Orlanth temple is *buried*, considering where it
is!
Then, after that has been done:
> The Seven of
> Vistur built seven long ramps from the ground to the wall,
> and although they thought it would be easy, several hundred
> troops whose souls served as a power source died in
> supporting the deed.
So perhaps those seven precisely placed meteors hadn't destroyed the defences as well as had been expected? Take a quick look later, and perhaps we can see why:
> They were met by rocks
> which hurled themselves from the ramparts and rolled down the
> assault ramps.
Earth defensive magic is still there. I think they aimed to destroy Orlanth's magic, and assumed that was all there was to the city defences. They were wrong. And that would provide unexpected opposition to ramp-building, I think? Dara Happanas underestimate female magic Surely not! :)
We know Broyan and co. got away - see list of survivors in OiD! Is this Benava Chan's last stand?
I now think we can see at least one reason for delay. If you want accurate aim at seven targets of magical significance, shooting from the Moon, you need accurate maps. A little weekend job for a Lunar agent or two. Find the six magically significant spots in WW, and map them. It's not like they're going to be secret, or guarded, or anything :)
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