GURPS Fantasy Warriors Session 8: War With The Usurper

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 Battle of Gebirg's Pass

In the hills north of Kaskorata, the joint army of the earthlings and Imperial College looked down from their camps on the far larger "Imperial Army" below.  The Magisters of the College were directed to prepare bombardment magics, which would be of great effect in the narrow passes they'd soon be fighting in.  The earthling efforts to spy on the Usurper's Army proved largely fruitless, which was to be expected; Ulrich had been the old spymaster after all.

At dawn, the forces marched toward into the passes, and battle was met.  The geography resulted in the Commanders being split off from each other, with Granmarg and Thicket taking one pass, and Mielikki and Pomegranite the other.  Other than fully routing the foe in the field, the deciding factor of the battle would be if an army could break through to the enemy camp.  From there, they would be able to march around and pincer the foe from behind, which would surely result in a massacre.

 

The night before, Thicket had ordered a contingent of earthlings to prepare a path underground by which they could perform a flanking maneuver, but for now he held his ground.  Granmarg ordered a charge, but the steep slopes and rough terrain led to his own troops falling and almost being trampled, keeping them stuck in place.  In the other pass, the Magisters in Mielikki's formation launched boulders over a cliff, crushing the soldiers commanded by the mysterious elf and forcing them into a rout. Seeing this, Dietrich's mercenaries balked at an order to charge into the earthling lines where more Magisters stood ready.

GURPS Fantasy Warriors Session 7: Alliance With The Imperial College

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 Earthling Games

In the midst of the chaos of preparing for The Games ahead of schedule, one of the messengers that had been sent abroad had finally returned, with news all the way from the Elven Forests far to the east.  He'd been held up at the woodline and not let further in, and had surmised that the elves were locked in heated debate over the political situation in the Empire, which would take months or years to resolve.  He left after only a few days, intending to make it back to the Highland Forests before winter fell.

The triumvirate had little time to dwell on this, though, as Cliffsedge, the overseer of The Games, was announcing new competitions on an hourly basis, and they had to be ready to compete for their posts at any time.  Thicket and Granmarg were confident in Terra and their abilities, respectively, but both Mielikki and Pomegranite sought to tip the scales in their favour.  Mielikki "coincidentally" ran into Cliffsedge at one point and offered up a suitable plot of land his family owned for the competition to be field marshal, which usually featured mock battles.  Pomegranite simply broke into Cliffsedge's office and read his documents to try to glean the nature of the spymaster's game.  His analysis suggested that it would involve pickpocketing.

The first competition of the Triumvirate was that of the Champion, and so Granmarg competed in a grappling tournament.  The bouts were decided by the first person to be either thrown to the ground or pushed out of the ring, and despite raw strength not being his style, Granmarg won his title handily.  Pomegranite had been practicing his sleight of hand, which ended up all being for naught when the competition was actually to break into a fort and steal a document.  When it was clear that another was going to emerge victorious, he falsely accused his rival of being a traitor.  The claims and false evidence were enough to secure Pomegranite his post again, though at the cost of much of the loyalty of his underlings who now realized they could be removed at a moment's notice.