//Gah! must be some sorta curse this week; accidentally deleted my long post just as I was about to submit it, so an abbreviated retyped one
The group reached the fortress without further incident, though Gojiro noted a strange raven which observed them for a bit before flying off. The fortress itself looked impressive, but the garrison and commanders left much to be desired. There weren't many of them and the officers seemed lazy and incompetent. After touring the place Gojiro found the others and relayed his observations.
1. The fortress is adequate for repelling a typical primitive barbarian enemy. There are no gates or portals on the steppe side, so the only option would seem to be an assault on the walls. This would require ladders and/or siege towers and given the scarcity of wood on the steppes, neither of these may be viable for the attacker.
2. The fort smith should be able to turn out a fair number of caltrops using melted down old worthless weapons and bits of scrap iron salvaged from less essential parts of the fortress. These can be laid in belts to hinder the approach to the main curtain walls.
3. Don't know how much oil is onhand, but an available alternative would be to mix sand/dirt with ground up iron powder and heat that up to dump on attackers via shovels or buckets. Blinds, burns, suffocates victims.
4. Bird patrols could make it easier to find and track the horde. They or other local creatures also might make us aware of any game trails that might bypass the fortress. Perhaps these could be blocked or destroyed.
5. The horde leader has displayed strategic awareness by contacting enemies of the empire and attempting to work with them. It's possible he has recruited mercenaries, such as engineers, mages and priests. Thus, he might plan on breaching the walls with magic or summoned creatures or with more advanced siege engines, ramps or mines.
6. The horde probably lives off the land and domesticated animals. If so, it would require a bit of grazing land and water to maintain itself in an area. If we an destroy or degrade such in our neighborhood, that would limit how long the horde can afford to stay in a region.
7. Not sure how many soldiers we have available. We brought six with us and only recall seeing 2-3 in addition to the 2 officers, but I'd hope there would be at least a squad of 8-12 present. In any case I think we should have at least 2 on watch along each section of the fortress, so six at a time. Depending on numbers we could have 2-3 shifts a day. Part of the off shift, garrison members would be drilled or on work details to get things ready for the assault.
8. We should implement some sort of alarm system using horns, drums, gongs, whatever.
Karvon
