Wednesday, 26 February 2025

GURPS Fantasy Warriors Session 4: The Confrontation Between Granmarg The Striking Vanguard and Baron Hugo de Villay

Characters:
Granmarg The Striking Vanguard, The Boulderstruck, Member of the Earthling Triumvirate
Pomegranite The Treefallen, The Spymaster
Mielikki The Field Marshal, Member of the Earthling Triumvirate
Thicket The Grandmaster Terramorpher, Member of the Earthling Triumvirate

The Duel
Granmarg pulled his troops back to the middle of the great bridge, but they were chased down by Hugo's formation, and as the two forces clashed, the commanders and their entourages met in combat on the field.  On Granmarg's side were Swiftbreeze, a twig-like treeman covered in leaves whose left arm was a bow, Groutite, a towering rockman who had carved Terran religious iconography into himself and wielded a greatsword, and Bramble, a rockman covered in brambles who dual-wielded vine flails that wrapped around his forearms.

Hugo was accompanied by Petronilla, his wife, who toted around a giant crossbow, Phillipe, a man in his twenties with thick eyebrows who wielded a shortbow, and Marie, a woman who wore full armour and whose only weapon was the sharpened beak-like visor of her helm.  Granmarg's forces split, with himself followed by Groutite flanking left while Bramble and Swiftbreeze headed right.  Hugo loaded some sort of special magazine into his repeating crossbow while his advisors consolidated around him.

Granmarg moved behind a wooden barricade, one of the few sources of cover on the barren bridge, only for Hugo to fire anyway.  The special armour-piercing bolt rammed straight through the wood and past into Granmarg's side.  As the two sides drew close, they all held just out of reach, daring the other to make the next move, until Swiftbreeze stepped up to Phillipe.  Each fired their bow at the other, but, seeing his opponent was quicker on the draw, Swiftbreeze pushed Phillipe's arm down, causing them both to miss.  Bramble stepped in on the side swinging wildly, but Phillipe nimbly dodged the double flails.

Friday, 14 February 2025

GURPS Fantasy Warriors Session 3: Battle of the Sunstone Bridge

Characters:
Granmarg The Striking Vanguard, The Boulderstruck, Member of the Earthling Triumvirate
Pomegranite The Treefallen, The Spymaster
Mielikki The Field Marshal, Member of the Earthling Triumvirate
Thicket The Grandmaster Terramorpher, Member of the Earthling Triumvirate

Preparations
The armies of the earthlings arrived at the old bridge spanning the Sunstone River, and saw the force from Lumene encamped on the hill on the far bank, still within their own lands.  The bridge had been built in either the first or second empire, which made it at least a milennium old, and was a massive construction of brick.  There were some smaller bridges dotted up and down the river, but none wide enough to march an army across.  The earthlings could demolish it given enough time for their terramorphers to work, but it seemed likely that Lumene would attack if they did.

Despite Granmarg urging to attack immediately, a messenger was sent forth under a green flag, signaling that the earthlings wished to negotiate, and he was welcomed into the camp of Lumene.  Several minutes later, he returned and took a knee in front of the Triumvirate to deliver their response: Queen Edelina was requesting the surrender and conversion to worship of Astraeus of the earthlings, or else she would be "forced" to attack.

That meant war.  The earthlings settled in to a camp, and the two forces began drawing up battle plans and spying on the other as best they could.  Thicket used his skills as an administrator to rapidly bring up extra troops to the front line, while Pomegranite was able to infiltrate the enemy camp and bribed some officers in charge of signaling orders.  Mielikki and Granmarg both observed the enemy defenses but gained no insights.

Wednesday, 5 February 2025

GURPS Fantasy Warriors Session 2: Escape From Kaskorata

Characters:
Granmarg The Striking Vanguard, The Boulderstruck, Member of the Earthling Triumvirate
Pomegranite The Treefallen, The Spymaster
Mielikki The Field Marshal, Member of the Earthling Triumvirate
Thicket The Grandmaster Terramorpher, Member of the Earthling Triumvirate

Breakout
Having just returned to the dining hall when Ulrich made his declaration that they would elect him Emperor or die, Mielikki took a look around to see who was still there.  They'd passed the dwarves going the other way in the hallway, obviously, and most of the other delegations had filtered either out onto the veranda overlooking the waterfall, or to the ballroom.  The only ones present were the delegation from the Imperial College, Eremon of Lumene, and the Court Magister of Wrost, Nikolai.

Granmarg rushed across the room and leapt over a table in a burst of lightning, while the rest of the triumvirate readied their improvised weapons and ran toward the stone wall that Thicket was planning to open with his earth magic.  Though they were disarmed, they had little trouble dispatching the Knights of the Blazing Sun, and Eremon and the Magisters joined in; Eremon disintegrated a pair in a pillar of fire, while Eva cut one into pieces in a net of void magic.  The Magister none of them recognized picked up a fork.

The melee with the Knights continued until Thicket made it to the wall and, after asking the stones politely, the bricks moved aside and created an opening to the hallway.  Bramble was the first one through, followed by Vasili, Eva, and then Thicket. The unknown Magister failed a spell and attempted to stab a Knight with the fork, but it barely even scratched the plate armor.  Garmnrag, Pomegranite, and Mielikki finished clearing out their side of the room, and Granmarg punched out the only Knight on his side, leaving only the one by the other Magister still standing.