Post/Author/DateTime	Post
justanotherdwarf 04-05-06, 10:05 PM	was having a talk with a gaming buddy i thought that it would be fairly easy for the dwarves to drop coin and hire mercenaries units or armies to help with the war with the Duergar my friend on the other hand thinks that you would not find any mercenaries to help with the war because its in the underdark so the risk to coin ratio is not worth it....what do you all think?
GothicDan 04-05-06, 10:06 PM	I agree with your friend. Mercenaries aren't going to go into basically an underground killing machine (as most surface dwellers know the Underdark to be) to battle a strange race of dwarves that they've never heard of or seen before, wielding "strange" magic (psionics).
Kessalin Talira 04-05-06, 10:40 PM	Nor are they going to go underground, fight blind against enemies that aren't, or risk taking torches down that will: A) consume all the oxygen, B) touch off pockets of explosive gas, C) Give away their position for MILES with a combination of scent, light, and sound.
Bloodtide_the_Red 04-06-06, 01:04 AM	Well....... Dwarf Lord Gogroge BattleBush could say the dugear have a new weapon of seige destruction and they will use it on the surface any day now. Maybe have a blurry Scry image or a scrible on a scroll. Maybe the dwarf lord could look the other way and let some short humanoid monsters destroy a tower somewhere(maybe New Olamn). Then he can send an army after the dark dwarves. Of course, this is likely to be come a Quagmire with no way out and the army will be stuck far under ground for years and years and years to come..... Bt
Auburn 04-06-06, 01:22 AM	There's plenty of adventurers who would probably bite at a deal like that. Experience and garuanteed gold? What adventurer could turn that down?
cgarsmokr 04-06-06, 02:26 AM	was having a talk with a gaming buddy i thought that it would be fairly easy for the dwarves to drop coin and hire mercenaries units or armies to help with the war with the Duergar my friend on the other hand thinks that you would not find any mercenaries to help with the war because its in the underdark so the risk to coin ratio is not worth it....what do you all think? Well, there are a few issues to consider: While it's true that the Gold dwarves have coin a plenty, the Duergar are no slouches in that department either. So one could figure that both sides could hire mercenaries to fight for them. Since most, if not all of the fighting is being done underground by creatures able to see in lightless conditions in familiar terrain, it might be more trouble than it's worth or even a detriment, to have surface worlders fight for them. I suppose you could hire underdark mercenaries to fight for you but most underdark races are pretty untrustworthy and so they could end up being a problem as well. So I guess I have to agree with your friend. :P
Tergiver 04-06-06, 09:48 AM	I think that the Army of Gold probably hires mercenaries, but usually heavy hitters rather than cannon fodder. Dwarven units are the best heavy infantry you can find - I'm sure they'd like to find cannon fodder to match duregar slave units, but the Underdark races are pretty untrustworthy. They could hire construct crafters (and handlers) to have some extra muscle. Dwarves are still not that well set up for arcane magic, so they might be interested in picking up some summoners. They might also hire monster types - such as good or neutral dragons - on a short term basis. That's win/win for a young dragon, who gets treasure and an army to hide in if things get out of hand. I agree that light sources are a serious disadvantage, and that would keep most surface adventuring companies from operating near the army itself. However, adventurers are great for scouting away from the main body, and light sources are only their usual disadvantage there. Also, I'm sure there are Underdark-focused adventuring companies composed of people with darkvision: dwarves, gnomes, and a scattering of half-orcs, gloamings, slyths, half-drow, grimlocks, etc.
Gladi 04-09-06, 10:18 AM	Bright day In Gold and Glory several dwarven companies are statted up.Though AFAIk, unless you attack a settlement, tunnel warfare would be mostly series of skirmishes disrupting routs, mining ops and food production. AFAIK Toril macro-economics support small highly professional mercenary companies. And these are not very affordable unless you get good effeciency... Though I have no boks with me right now.
ClobberinTime 04-09-06, 11:44 AM	Certainly no Human or Elven or Halfling Mercenaries would help. Gnomes, Maybe, but there just aren't alot of Gnomes in Faerun. If they were getting help it would be from some of the underdark Races, Deep Gnomes seem a good bet. Its said in Power of Faerun that they are allied with a group of Spell Weavers. The problem is that the mercenaries of the underdark are the Dueregar. They could hire a drow mercenary band, but hey they are going to turn on you eventually. By the By where the heck is Barakaduin? The former clan of Shanatar, and home caverns where the Dueregar were taken by the Ithilids from. The Army of Gold is bogged down there now.