FarmGirl
Work is really cutting into my gaming time.
I'll join up! I'm sexy and I want to be a pirate/bandit!
I really want to make some jarls walk the plank.
Your Bandit HQ
- Thread starter Irishman
- Start date
I'll join up! I'm sexy and I want to be a pirate/bandit!
I really want to make some jarls walk the plank.
Daelon DuLac
How do you backstab a Dragon?
True, but it's not exactly a convenient location. It would be great for Pirate's though. You may no longer be able to pull you ships right in to the grotto (although perhaps a good excavation could take care of that), but there is plenty of evidence that the beach outside is excellent for longboats. (speaking of which, why are there never any of the folks outside guarding the entrance? There's a campfire and rolls, but no people. I don't see them until I get inside. Of course I also wonder why there's so few of them in there. It takes less to kill all of them than it does for the average Falmer hive!).
shadowkitty
Mistress of Shadows
True, but it's not exactly a convenient location. It would be great for Pirate's though. You may no longer be able to pull you ships right in to the grotto (although perhaps a good excavation could take care of that), but there is plenty of evidence that the beach outside is excellent for longboats. (speaking of which, why are there never any of the folks outside guarding the entrance? There's a campfire and rolls, but no people. I don't see them until I get inside. Of course I also wonder why there's so few of them in there. It takes less to kill all of them than it does for the average Falmer hive!).
I agree.. I cleared out the grotto in one quest then had to go back there to kill the Argonian who set me up in that lighthouse quest. As the place does not respawn, the only one in there was the Argonian, so I took a leisurely swim to the main living quarters and found him all on his own..lol.
shadowkitty
Mistress of Shadows
I'll join up! I'm sexy and I want to be a pirate/bandit!
I really want to make some jarls walk the plank.
Yay! I have another crew member... hands off the male
......until knock off time..
DarkRaiden
Sir Reginald Von Bartlesby
Kitty, can I join and be a cannonball? I always wanted to be one. You know, just messing other people's s**t up without giving a damn.
shadowkitty
Mistress of Shadows
raido KASAI
Ansei Master Badass
Or maybe they could form a super-group named The Sexy Sea Sponge PiratesSounds like there could be some competition between The Sexy Pirates and The Sea Sponge
Irishman
Well-Endowed Member
Just got through Lost Valley Redoubt (Massive Forsworn camp) and think its a very defensible location. This was reiterated by the fact that I kept getting smashed by arrows and Briarheart Ice spike from high above while the dual-wielders rush you on the ground. It doesnt have many interior locations but as a fan of camping, I rekon this would make an ideal location for a large Bandit HQ. Right up the top of the camp (past Bards Leap) is Cradle Stone Tower. Its a four leveled tower that would provide the living quarters for the Bandit Chief and Co.
Skyrimosity
Well-Known Member
Or maybe they could form a super-group named The Sexy Sea Sponge PiratesSounds like there could be some competition between The Sexy Pirates and The Sea Sponge
I think they'd be more like
But anyway, I like Valtheim. I can admire the stars while I sleep, I can easily raid all passersby. There's a river to throw the bodies of victims in to. Or, alternatively, there's a narrow road which I could block with a 4-foot high wall of bodies. Then, as all who came near threw up from the sight or smell they'd be attacked by bandits with bandanas over their noses.
I'm a fan on Valtheim and Lost Valley, but I'd probably go for Nilheim. It's out of the way, but close to a road to 'intercept' passers-by and Ivarstead for the ocassional plunder, plenty of water at Lake Geir, a waterfall for disposing of undesirables, only really accessible by crossing a narrow bridge or wading across a lake. No wonder Telrav and his friends set up there. Really nice views of Eastmarch to the north, too.
shadowkitty
Mistress of Shadows
Just got through Lost Valley Redoubt (Massive Forsworn camp) and think its a very defensible location. This was reiterated by the fact that I kept getting smashed by arrows and Briarheart Ice spike from high above while the dual-wielders rush you on the ground. It doesnt have many interior locations but as a fan of camping, I rekon this would make an ideal location for a large Bandit HQ. Right up the top of the camp (past Bards Leap) is Cradle Stone Tower. Its a four leveled tower that would provide the living quarters for the Bandit Chief and Co.
I have been able to snipe this location from the mountains behind
as well as all the other Forsworn hideouts..
Kalin of High Rock
Faal Lun Vahdin
Definitely somewhere in the reach.
The Foresworn make the region lawless, so there's small chance of the jarl organizing the guard against you. At the same time silver-rich mines of Markarth assure that merchants and caravans will risk the roads none the less. There's so much violence in the area that your activities would most likely be attributed to The Foresworn more often than not. You could even paint yourself up to look like then when you do your raids.
Hills and highlands have traditionally been a haven for those that want to avoid society and its laws, and The Reach offers that. In the highlands, a small group that knows the terrain can easily evade capture. In flatlands like valleys or plains such bandits would eventually be run down by men on horseback.
I would worry less about defensible locations and more about remaining mobile. You're bandits, not a standing army. You target an area just long enough for word to possibly reach a major city, then up stakes and move on to a new stretch of road. Any location you do pick would need an easy means of escape. Hopefully into the hills where mounts can't easily follow and numbers mean little.
The Foresworn make the region lawless, so there's small chance of the jarl organizing the guard against you. At the same time silver-rich mines of Markarth assure that merchants and caravans will risk the roads none the less. There's so much violence in the area that your activities would most likely be attributed to The Foresworn more often than not. You could even paint yourself up to look like then when you do your raids.
Hills and highlands have traditionally been a haven for those that want to avoid society and its laws, and The Reach offers that. In the highlands, a small group that knows the terrain can easily evade capture. In flatlands like valleys or plains such bandits would eventually be run down by men on horseback.
I would worry less about defensible locations and more about remaining mobile. You're bandits, not a standing army. You target an area just long enough for word to possibly reach a major city, then up stakes and move on to a new stretch of road. Any location you do pick would need an easy means of escape. Hopefully into the hills where mounts can't easily follow and numbers mean little.
Irishman
Well-Endowed Member
I have been able to snipe this location from the mountains behind
So sneaky and clever! I like it
I just usually wander up the path and take everything head on, it may not be so smart but whats a headstrong Orc to do?
This is a really good point with a rather large flaw IMO. Moving a group of bandits to a new location requires the new location to be cleared out which could result in casualtys and making enemies. If I was a Bandit Chief, than I would prefer to claim a good piece of land and defend it intelligently. As you stated, The Reach is massive with a high Forsworn concentration that can potentially draw attention away from your own group. Without being greedy, I think a Bandit camp could make it home for quite some time with no issues, and If guards did arrive, the layout is definitely set out to aid the defending group.
Kalin of High Rock
Faal Lun Vahdin
You may run into a rival group while looking for a new territory. It's wide wilderness, where you can go days without seeing another living soul..but it is a danger. Being a bandit is dangerous work. There are risks involved, and you will lose people.
So you may run afoul of a rival group. But you will definitely run into an organized force if you grow too large and stay in one spot for too long. No jarl, no matter how beset by Foresworn, will allow you to have your way in his hold forever. His silver isn't worth spit if none of it makes it out of the city to market.
Facing a siege in your castle will cost you your lives if you lose and will gain you nothing but your lives if you win. High risk. Low reward.
Then there's the traders, merchants, travelers. When word spreads that some Bandit Lord is held up in a ruined fortress and is cutting the throats and purses of every traveler that gets too close they're going to start taking alternate routs. They're going to start hiring heavy guards. False shipments. Mercenaries... The next thing you know business has dried up and the Dragonborn is kicking in your outhouse door while you're trying to go number two.
Staying put is just not a sustainable business model. Any successful bandit group would have to be highly mobile. Work a stretch of road for a time. Fence the goods. Split the take. Move on. Bandits shouldn't play at being kings. Sitting in a castle counting their coin is a "pride before the fall" situation just waiting to happen.
So you may run afoul of a rival group. But you will definitely run into an organized force if you grow too large and stay in one spot for too long. No jarl, no matter how beset by Foresworn, will allow you to have your way in his hold forever. His silver isn't worth spit if none of it makes it out of the city to market.
Facing a siege in your castle will cost you your lives if you lose and will gain you nothing but your lives if you win. High risk. Low reward.
Then there's the traders, merchants, travelers. When word spreads that some Bandit Lord is held up in a ruined fortress and is cutting the throats and purses of every traveler that gets too close they're going to start taking alternate routs. They're going to start hiring heavy guards. False shipments. Mercenaries... The next thing you know business has dried up and the Dragonborn is kicking in your outhouse door while you're trying to go number two.
Staying put is just not a sustainable business model. Any successful bandit group would have to be highly mobile. Work a stretch of road for a time. Fence the goods. Split the take. Move on. Bandits shouldn't play at being kings. Sitting in a castle counting their coin is a "pride before the fall" situation just waiting to happen.
