*There have only been scouting parties so far but a larger attack is imminent... The townspeople have asked the party for help to defend from the rising amount of bandits. 
Each hero is assigned a squad of villagers to mentor and lead. They have ten days to get the city ready. There is a lot to do, and not enough time to do it all. They can set traps, construct walls, train townspeople to become soldiers, and more.

Player Preparation and Info

Introductory Info

• Enemies will fight in units of 10-20, sharing HP, actions, etc. as units.
• Players will command their own smaller units of NPC's. They can direct them to do certain actions depending on the type of unit the players have chosen. Options include but are not limited to:
  • Melee attack
  • ranged attacks
  • trebs and cannons
  • healing
  • distraction/subterfuge
  • aerial
  • etc
• 'Lair actions' may occur during battle, where things happen on the field that you may not expect.
• Your preparations can fail, break, etc. Expect to spend some time either repairing them or dealing with the way the fallout happens.
• Anders has done some investigation and estimated that the bandits will have at least 5 units to attack. These units in the Scarlet Horns are usually around 10-15 members and can include mounted combatants, ranged and melee specialists, and even aerial units. You will need to make sure you are prepared or your town and it's people will suffer.

Roles

You will have 10 days to prepare.
This seige can last anywhere from one day to weeks, depending on how well we prepare and fight.
You have the following NPC's to help with things around the town:

• Jost Winterbrand will direct squads to do certain jobs and organize the guard.
• Anders will help gather all the intel he can on the bandits, as he is a former bandit.
• Byrne & Olga will create weapons and train townspeople.
• Fahrza Sinclair and Jenras Steelbane will help with physical labor- digging ditches, building walls, etc.
  • Fahrza - +5 STR. Result: 11 ft per day, total of 110 ft of walls.
  • Jenras - +3 STR. Result: 22 ft per day, total of 220 ft of ditches.
• Visala will be brewing healing potions and etc., trying to prepare healing.
• Pyrha will be running the message to other settlements and trying to get backup.
• Wyllis will be in charge of emergency evacuation if needed, and supply management.

Jobs you can take on:

• Helping any of the above NPC's with their jobs - this will give a boon to that part of prep.
• Building a wooden or stone wall around the town. You need 200ft of wall to completely enclose the town. Roll a d20+STR per person to see how many feet you add per day. (Fahrza's score will be added also.)
  • Fahrza - +5 STR. Result: 11 ft per day, total of 110 ft.
• Digging a ditch around the town. This will make the ditch area difficult terrain and give people in the trench DSV on attacks. Incoming attacks will have ADV. Same as building wall - 200ft, d20+STR per day.
  • Jenras - +3 STR. Result: 22 ft per day, total of 220 ft. DONE!! ✅
• Building guard towers - this will allow someone to watch from above and give information via sending stone during battle. Will help with overall organization and give ADV in some cases. Needs at least one dedicated party member to organize building and help with construction.
• Training townspeople - there will be three different tiers of training. Each tier will take two days per NPC, each person training can do one level. Byrne and Olga will be providing weapons, two guards will be helping train as well. (You will have at least two Phalanx and two Archers to help.)
  • The levels you bring the townspeople to will affect the strength of each of your units.
  • If there is a specific thing you'd like your unit to be good at, you would need to train them up as well.
  • Training:
    • Villager → Soldier → Phalanx
    • Villager → Archer
• Brewing healing potions - helping Visala brew more potions will provide periodic healing to your forces. If one person dedicates time to helping, you will have a good amount of potions for the attack.
  • There was no dedicated effort toward potion brewing, so you will not have a high amount of healing for the battle.

Combat

• Players command a unit of around 5-10 NPC's.

  • Unit stats based on type and level, amounts based on rolls.
  • Unit attacks based on unit type - players can pick type.
  • Players will need to use an action to command their units, so make sure they are worth it.

• Metagaming will be allowed to an extent - the PC's will be commanding their own forces. This means that you will be able to take a moment between clashes and use sending stones to communicate! Please try to limit this communication to things you may be able to actually say between rounds :)

• You will each command a unit. Roll 1d10+CHA to estimate the size of your unit. Final sizes will be decided between now and the session.

• This unit will be told what to do by you, taking your action. You can forgo commanding your unit if you would like to use an action of your own, but that can result in your unit taking damage or the opponent being given ADV, depending on your position and status.

• Your unit will have a group HP level that I will be tracking and you will be aware of. If your unit runs out of HP, you are counted in that pool.

• Types of units that will determine traits: Mounted, Aerial, Ranged, Melee, Siege Equipment, Other
  Commander - Size - Type

  • Rased - 10 - Ranged
  • Liz - 7 - Melee
  • Orinea - 5 - Melee
  • Abby - 10 - Siege
  • Cronley - 6 - Aerial

• Some NPC's will be able to help with their own units. These NPC's may have special strategies or skills to help too!

Prep Results

• Each prep area has a skill roll and a luck roll! The luck roll is a straight roll, no help, no die, no knowing the result of the check yet. :)
  • Current Prep Areas:
    • Rased - building bombs.
      • Treating them as canons? He doesn't do war combat - sneaky and skirmisher. Distracting and using that as cover, etc. Could be related to potions and etc.!
      • Roll a d20+WIS to make this happen. (Survival) - 12
      • Luck roll - 5
      • Other - eating popcorn in front of Therus, trying to find out secrets, egress points, etc. Making sure there are no vulnerabilities.
    • Elizabeth Ursus - start w/making weapons, perhaps spending a couple days on that, then move to wall building. She'd also pray with people, tell stories of her god (whose domains are war & water, so lots of uplifting battle tales), and generally try to boost morale. I also will say she immediately sent out mail to her hometown asking for any support they may be able to give to this budding town.
      • Building walls - roll a d20+STR. There is already 110ft built! - 17+21 = 50ft of wall undone
      • Luck roll - 8
      • Time split - spending more time building spikes than anything. (7 days)
        • spikes - how many? (dm note: figure that shit out asap)
        • 2 on wall
        • 1 on weapons
      • Boosting morale is her big thing! Getting to know people, making it clear that she's here to help and is strangers with no one.
    • Orinea Egumathala - building the wall/guard towers and/or digging ditches!
      • Budget the days- pick one to do or divide your time! Recommend dedicating to building the towers more than anything else.
      • Roll a d20+STR to find your success level - 9
      • Luck roll - 16
      • Towers - built and helping with soup! Wyllis is happy. :)
      • Using different protection runes to "keep the vibes good"
    • Abby - Jost has seen potential in them, called them in to help set up and especially counts them as an asset for after, in case this goes badly. They/them
      • "long brunette hair, brown eyes, feminine and gorgeous" "lets get ready for war boys!!!" :DD
      • Cleric - Tarrell unlocked them by giving more information about Healing Without Gods.
      • Jost is asking for help with assigning people to things. if he has a dedicated assistant that he called in, he can effectively cover all the areas that are needed and make sure that any gaps in time or setup are filled.
      • Roll d20+CHA for a check on this - 23
      • Luck roll - 18
      • Placing people and making sure things are organized. Very excited about the upcoming war and bloodshed.
    • Lord Cronley - he him
      • Arriving to help from Liz's call to her hometown to the north.
      • Very selfish, rogue, tries to convince everyone he's royalty but he's not. he's a rat. lanky man in his 60's and he's gross.
      • Check (1d20+CHA) - 17
      • Luck roll - 20
      • Helping with supply management and "totally not stealing"

NPC Task results:

• Jost Winterbrand will direct squads to do certain jobs and organize the guard.
  • Result: the town is very well organized and the units are prepared well due to the assistance of Abby and other organizers.
• Anders will help gather all the intel he can on the bandits, as he is a former bandit.
  • Information has been found and can be seen in the #Introductory Info.
• Byrne & Olga will create weapons and train townspeople.
  • The townspeople are well equipped. All people have weapons, over half of the town has received direct combat training.
• Fahrza Sinclair and Jenras Steelbane will help with physical labor- digging ditches, building walls, etc.
  • Fahrza - +5 STR. Result: 11 ft per day, total of 110 ft of walls.
  • Jenras - +3 STR. Result: 22 ft per day, total of 220 ft of ditches.
• Visala will be brewing healing potions and etc., trying to prepare healing.
  • Little to no help received with brewing. There will be very limited healing supplies avalible.
• Pyrha will be running the message to other settlements and trying to get backup.
  • Successfully gathered some backup from Goldhallow, the beastclans, and a small coastal village to the north.
• Wyllis will be in charge of emergency evacuation if needed, and supply management.
  • Food supply is great, thanks to the help of Orinea. Those unable to fight in the siege will be housed in the Inn with Wyllis, who is also unable to fight. There is a solid plan for evacuation if needed.

Tasks between now and session

• Players:
  • Ask any questions you may need to.
  • Study stat blocks once you receive them.
• DM:
  • Get statblocks to players of their units
  • More prep