@TheEdVerse Dear Ed,
If I (hypothetically speaking of course) were to besiege Waterdeep, where would I want to hit it from? North Gate, to make a base of the Field Ward, River Gate, to get to the Castle quicker, or would it be possible to scale Cliffwatch? Any hidden defenses?— Nessus Resident (@Azounerella) December 31, 2021
1)
Getting into Field Ward would be smart, yes (once embedded, hard to extricate/eradicate w/o harming many citizens). But you can’t really besiege unless you can cut off air access, Underdark access (from Skullport) and sea access, or the city can be endlessly…
#Realmslore 2)
…resupplied/reinforced.
You can see glimpses of an attack from the sea on Waterdeep in the Threat From The Sea fiction and the opening of the novel Elaine Cunningham and I wrote, CITY OF SPLENDORS.
As for defenses, the city has…its wards, its griffon cavalry..#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) January 1, 2022
3)
…(based in Mount Waterdeep), ballistae on the wall towers, the Walking Statues, and the city wall parts that can be magically “brought in” from their extradimensional storage to interlock and entirely ring the city, including walling across the inside of the…
#Realmslore 4)
…existing city gates. The Watchful Order and the Blackstaff have some additional magical defenses (communications and "fast teleport" networks for moving troops, ammo, barriers, and weapons around), some of which date from Ahghairon's time.#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) January 1, 2022
5)
And if you’re attacking right now, you have to deal with Laeral and Elminster as residents, and their mastery of the Weave and the aid of Azuth and Mystra and the other Chosen they can call on, plus Halaster and the magics he can call on, down in Undermountain.
#Realmslore 6)
I'm not saying that besieging Waterdeep is doomed to failure and a death sentence for anyone foolish enough to persist at it…but then again, I AM saying that besieging Waterdeep is doomed to failure and a death sentence for anyone foolish enough to persist at it.#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) January 1, 2022
7)
If you MUST assault the Castle, the best way to do it is commando style, using swift, small "hit teams" who assemble in the city over time, then attack from within when weather is bad and you've goaded idiot nobles or guilds into providing an unwitting diversion.#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) January 1, 2022
We happen to be in the “fortunate” position that Laeral and Elminster are temporarily stuck in Hell, and Manshoon has the Blackstaff (campaigns get wild, we apologise…), but I love the note about the extra walls and the point about Skullport. Thank you for your eternal wisdom! Heh. There are (monstrous) mercenaries for hire down in Skullport, and at least once in the past, someone at the Castle has brought a section of the additional walls literally down on the heads of "foes of the city" (splat).
So I foresee interesting times…— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) January 1, 2022