Characters:
Granmarg The Striking Vanguard, The Boulderstruck, Member of the Earthling Triumvirate
Pomegranite The Treefallen, The Spymaster
Pomegranite The Treefallen, The Spymaster
Mielikki The Field Marshal, Member of the Earthling Triumvirate
Thicket The Grandmaster Terramorpher, Member of the Earthling Triumvirate
Wurm Slayers
The wurm whirled around and spat another gobbet of magma at Pomegranite and Granmarg. Pomegranite dove to the ground, but rolled, and quickly scrambled to his feet. He lunged at the wurm, but it reared back out of the way. This left it wide open for Granmarg, who had nimbly dodged under the molten rock and landed a haymaker that shattered several of the beast's sword-like teeth. Roaring, it then charged past them, trampling Thicket as it went, and began to dig into the cliff wall to flee.
Thicket and Mielikki regained their feet, but were still staggered, while Pomegranite and Granmarg gave chase. The wurm was faster than them in the open, but slowed by the dirt, they managed to catch it as Thicket impaled its left leg with a spike of earth that shot out of the ground. Granmarg finished off its other leg, and cornered, the wurm turned and lunged at him. He brushed its blow aside with the back of his arm, and then landed a one-two punch that shattered the stone around its eyes, leaving it blind. Now defenceless and writhing in agony, the wurm was finished off by a thrust of Pomegranite's paired knives (Granmarg: "Kill steal").
Curious as to where the wurm had come from, Mielikki suggested they detour north on the way back to Bedrock to find Igneus, a noble he knew of who had a fascination with strange beasts. The others agreed, and dispatched a messenger to inform him of their desire for him to come to its body and learn what he could. The Triumvirate kept a slower pace due to their injuries that would see them arrive on Igneus' estate in a week's time. The manor house in ill-repair, and an elderly servant came to lead them in to the study where his master was waiting.
Igneus was a large, hunched rockman, made of shiny black stone, and after a perfunctory greeting, complained that the wurm's carcass was too far away, and that he didn't like to travel, especially in winter. Seeing a dragon's tooth and gryphon's beak on plinths decorating the walls, Mielikki offered him the body of the wurm to do with as he pleased if he performed this favour for them. Clearly conflicted, and muttering something about wurm teeth looking great over the fireplace, Igneus stood there making a grinding noise for a minute or so before relenting. He would fulfill their request.
News From Wrost
When the Triumvirate returned to Bedrock, Pomegranite was informed of an interesting development: a small group of orcs from Wrost had been seen at a variety of meetings of rebel peasants, speaking of the successful overthrow of the Grand Duke and the rest of the high nobles in their home province. They had come from the southwest, and looked to be travelling toward Bedrock, spreading discontent as they went. He brought this to the attention of the Triumvirate, and suggested bringing them in and interrogating them "with extreme prejudice". As always, he also managed to blame this on the dwarves.
The others agreed, and Pomegranite had his agents pick the orcs up while they were travelling between two villages to the south, which went off without a hitch. They were brought to the dungeon in Bedrock, along with a trio of earthlings who had been travelling with them, and kept in separate cells. Worried the others might object, he went ahead with interrogations without informing the Triumvirate. Going off of what his agents had reported, one of the orc women, Veronika, was the leader, so she was first to be questioned.
Pomegranite had her brought to an interrogation room and began things rather politely, asking the business of herself and the rest of her company. Though Veronika claimed that they were merely fleeing the unrest of her homeland, he saw it for the act it was, and pointedly asked that she tell the truth. Realizing her gambit had failed, she dropped the facade, and explained that there had been a revolution in Wrost, that the nobles were dead, and that they were seeking to form a new government that would serve the common good.
Veronika further claimed that they had come to the Highland Forests to learn of the meritocracy they had instated and evaluate its merit. More groups had been sent to the College, and they would have investigated the dwarves and elves, but neither were allowing outsiders into their territory. Whether this was true or not, Pomegranite still suspected that she was still intentionally spreading dissent in an attempt to rally the commoners against them. He had also figured out another thing: as she hadn't mentioned anything to do with Socerne or Frilothurn, it seemed likely that the veterans who had received land there were remaining loyal. With this knowledge, he then called a council session with the rest of the Triumvirate.
Mielikki immediately suggested they invade Wrost while they were at their weakest, but Thicket brought up that this would require the cooperation of the College. Given that alliance was based on electing Cliffside to the Imperial throne, something they were no longer interested in doing, they would likely not be interested. In theory they could still get a four-province majority (provided the elves and dwarves stayed out of things) by swaying two of Baronde, Wrost, and the Segretan League to their side, and all three were on shaky ground. However, invading that many nations would get them (rightfully) accused of aggression, and would likely result in an alliance opposing them. Peace would be the more productive option.
A conclusion was swiftly reached to free the orcs, and their earthling conspirators, to avoid a diplomatic incident with a nation that might end up being friendly. Before that, though, Pomegranite was sent to ask more questions on the political situation in Wrost. Through the rest of the group, he learned some major things. For one, Veronika was more-or-less the current spymaster for Wrost, and she was a former noble who had forsaken her titles to join the common folk in the revolution.
The old captain of the Grand Duke's guard, Bogumir, had also joined the rebels early on, resulting in a quick decapitatory strike when he turned. Without the central figure of the Grand Duke, the other high nobility had been slow to react, and failed to unify until it was far too late. This was not helped by many of the magister-nobility being called away to the College to deal with the crisis of the Path of Prophecy. The last year, to hear these orcs tell it, had mostly been mopping up the remaining resistance.
The rest of Wrost's new ruling council was made up of Dimitri, a diplomat who was frantically trying to establish peaceable relations with their neighbours, and the hero Rada, greatest champion of the people, who had multiple times turned down requests for him to take on leadership out of fear of recreating a dictatorial government. Mielikki had hoped they'd be able to do something to frame the council as imitating the old nobility, and that did not seem like it was going to be possible. Further, this group of orcs had spoken and met with peasantry all over Halberst on their way here, and many of them were displeased with magister rule. A particular sore point was the College's ambivalence towards the gods.
With the rebels freed and the orcs sent on their way, Pomegranite returned to the Triuvmirate, and immediately put forth the idea of going to war with... the dwarves. Granmarg backed him, but Mielikki's caution won over Thicket, and, as Pomegranite was not a member of the Triumvirate and therefore did not get a vote, it was shot down. For the first time in several years, there would be peace. Without the need to raise an army and march out of the province, the Triumvirate were able to put their efforts into peacetime projects.
Wurm News
Soon into spring, they heard back from Igneus. The wurm they'd killed was a Greater Wurm, the lesser variety not having the magma vomit. From his investigation, it had come from the east, specifically from somewhere near Bedrock. He did not think it was responsible for the earthquake that had destroyed the Mountain's Maw, as there were no notes in historical record that he could find of similar events, and there had been no quakes anywhere else on its journey. Lastly, if they encountered more in the future, the inside of the mouth seemed to be its only weakpoint, as it was the only part not covered in a thick layer of stone.
Thicket, wanting a more faithful version of the College, did his best to design an education system for the common folk, though it would remain largey unstaffed until after the next round of the Games in 3 years. Mielikki had objections that a more educated populace might be harder to control, but this resulted in Granmarg accusing him of harbouring anti-earthling sentiments, and Thicket moved forward. Granmarg then went on to order that the Temples of Terra devote more resources to training terramorphers. Mielikki issued a request to Duke Muller to begin training additional falconers, and to capture and train every hawk they could.
Meanwhile, Pomegranite ventured back to the Imperial College to research situation surrounding the coming end times, especially matters related to weather or earthquakes. He was also going to look for similar events that might have happened in the past, still holding out hope that perhaps the end was not nigh. As he was planning his trip, they heard from their informants in the temple that High Priest Friedrich Quarry was planning his own journey to Lumene to meet with Edelina and Eremon. It seemed that he was attempting to find ways to better merge the earthling and Imperial faiths.
The Triumvirate allowed him to go, though neither Mielikki nor Thicket were happy about it. Several weeks later, Pomegranite was in the libraries of the Imperial College, using his privilege as a Magister to conduct his research. He had a pile of books stacked up before him, and just as he was reading a variant text from Wrost which foretold that the sun would flicker and then extinguish, the sky went dark. He looked outside, and witnessed the moon perfectly eclipsing the sun.
Notes:
Pomegranite's goon squad initially crit-failed their roll to abduct the orcs, but he used Luck to crit succeed instead. The crit also means that it was done in such a way that the reform/rebel movements will continue to be entirely unaware that they've been infiltrated.
An aside on the earthling carceral system. Depending on where someone committed a crime, whether on a noble's land or the commons, they are tried by either the noble in question or a magistrate, who is appointed via the Games. There is no infrastructure (or interest) in long-term imprisonment, and so people tend to be in jails for a short time before suffering some horrific punishment, such as death, dismemberment, or branding. The earthlings escorting the orcs were set free after threats were made to their families, as it was thought that taking more severe punishment against their own people while letting the orcs go free would look bad.
Granmarg was arguing that they should go to war with someone (perhaps Wrost, perhaps the dwarves) because they're undefeated. Wait, didn't the last two wars end in a draw? Yes, but that's not a loss. Undefeated!
Mielikki crit failed his roll to tame hawks. RIP birds.
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