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
A Meeting With the Elven Diplomat
Pomegranite arranged a private meeting with Uthemar, the chief diplomat of the elven delegation, to discuss the state of the world. Uthemar bemoaned the College's (and more specifically, Eva's) desire to unseal the Paths, and Pomegranite expressed that the earthlings agreed with him, and could hopefully postpone any such moves by putting forth a unified army that would be prepared to battle the Void Beast directly. He then brought up the matter of Tharivol and his band of the Changed that were rampaging throughout the South.
Uthemar believed that the College's assessment of surging magical energies coming from the unbalanced Paths was reasonable, and suggested that Tharivol may simply have been afflicted by the magical madness that was affecting the rest of the Changed, though he was more dangerous than most. Pomegranite asked if he knew anything of the "Mark of Clio", but the elf claimed little knowledge of human religion. As far as he could tell, it was the symbol of the goddess Clio, and perhaps for more secular groups such as the College, a symbol representing the Path of Change.
As far as people being themselves marked, a subject which Pomegranite brought up without mentioning that this had happened to Granmarg and Thicket, Uthemar assessed that it meant merely that they had been affected more by the magics leaking from the Path of Change. Uthemar then questioned whether those who had been marked during their war in the south had exhibited any sort of madness in the year since their return home, and Pomegranite confirmed that he'd not heard of any. He suspected Uthemar wasn't telling him everything, but had no way to press him and let it pass.
Uthemar inquired as to what Pomegranite and the Triumvirate thought of Luana von Kastrop's alleged use of the Forbidden Path of Death. He made clear their (official) stance that it was abhorrent, though he also wondered how she was able to use magic from a sealed Path. Uthemar had no good answer himself, citing Queen Edelina of Lumene's ability to use the Path of Life to summon her angelic bodyguards, and noted that there were some who believed that the different lifespans of the different races were related somehow to energies from the Paths of Life and Death.
It may have always been possible, given certain circumstances, to access the Forbidden Paths, and those circumstances may have become more common with the new imbalance in the Paths. Neither of them had met Luana, so neither could make judgement of her character. Was she merely using the magic as a means to an end, to be done away with once it had served its purpose, and she had deposed Ulrich? Or would she exploit it to dominate the world? On the subject of the war in Tauschun, rumour at the College was that the earthlings were planning to march south once more, this time to assist Ulrich against Luana, which Pomegranite corroborated.
With that, the meeting was concluded, and they bid each other farewell. Several days later, the elves were granted permission to travel through College lands and went on their way. Fall passed into Winter, and Grand Magister Vasili, who had been bedridden for nearly two years, finally ended the debate on the Paths, and announced that all Magisters were to work towards the unsealing of the Forbidden Paths. As this had to take precedence, they would be unable to contribute their complement of Magisters to the earthling army's war in the south.
Marching South Again
Come spring, the Triumvirate still had not heard from their messengers to Ulrich, and the elves had not returned to the College either. Operating under the assumption that there was still an army of Tauschun to aid, they began their march. Pomegranite journeyed west with his retinue to rejoin the main army, and on the way he encountered the elves, fewer in number and battered in appearance. They reported that Tharivol had been slain, and, when questioned as to if he would be rising from the dead to aid Luana, Pomegranite was told that his body had been destroyed.
The host of the Changed had been dispersed, but they were return given time. Ulrich's army was in dire straits, having fought a losing war on two fronts before retreating far to the canyons in the west. The elves had met with him there, and Uthemar assured Pomegranite that he had passed on their intent of assisting him, which Ulrich had begrudgingly accepted. From their time in the south, Uthemar also said that the Mark of Clio was still appearing on people at random, and that slaying Tharivol had not stopped its spread (not that he'd thought it would). The elves could not assist them in their war in the south, as they had heard the College was unsealing the Forbidden Paths, and they had to put a stop to it.
Pomegranite joined the rest of the army several weeks later, and they proceeded into Tauschun, doing their best to hug the impassable mountains to the west, avoiding the Changed but also most pillage. Thankfully, Thicket navigated them through areas rich in naturally edible trees and rocks, and morale stayed high. When they began to see Marks of Clio carved into walls and buildings or in the whorls of bark, they instituted a buddy system to have soldiers regularly inspect each other's bodies for signs that they were afflicted. Soon enough, a large portion of their soldiers developed the Marks, including Granmarg and Thicket again. None seemed to go mad, and after a brief debate over whether to send the Marked back north, they proceeded as before.
On the march, their rangers spotted some scouts from the Segretan League, and Thicket detached a small formation with orders to march east, as though heading straight for Kaskorata, before peeling back and rejoining the main column. Hopefully, this would confuse the Segretans and buy them time. They encountered a few sparse groups of the Changed as they marched, and all were dispatched with ease. In their third such skirmish, in the burned husk of a mountain village, Pomegranite had the idea to take some prisoner and question them. This was done with ease, and their prisoners included one man who had an ape-like arm.
They claimed to be bringing great change to the land in order to gain Clio's favour before the end times arrived, and that the ape arm he had received proved that he had her blessing. They seemed utterly convinced that Clio was returning soon. All of the prisoners quickly became frustrated with the ongoing questioning of what to them was obvious; even to an earthling, it should be clear that going to the promised land would be better than being slain as an unbeliever when Clio returned.
They claimed there was no sort of figurehead or leader of the movement, this was simply people acting on their (accurate, in their eyes) beliefs. After being told that the centre of their worship, though none had actually been there, was the great temple to Clio on the southernmost isthmus, Pomegranite concluded the interrogations and ordered the prisoners put to death and their bodies burned so that Luana could not raise their corpses to fight for her.
Reunion
Far to the west of Tauschun, right up against the inhospitable mountains that divided them from the Wasteland, the earthling column arrived at what remained of Ulrich's army. They were certainly worse for wear and looked to have suffered heavy casualties, but were still in good order, and Ulrich rode out along with his council to meet with the Triumvirate. The mercenary Dietrich was gone, and replacing him and Tharivol were two Knights of the Blazing Sun they'd met previously, Siegfried and Reinhardt.
Ulrich was to the point, and asked what terms the earthlings were seeking in order to provide their aid. The Triumvirate put forth their demands: first, after dealing with Luana, Ulrich would assist them in dealing with the other two existential threats, namely the Void Beast and the pending Demon War. Second, the earthlings would receive further lands (granted via further land swaps with the College). Third, he would back the election of the earthling Cliffside to the role of Emperor.
When they stated their third point, Ulrich became visibly annoyed, and bluntly asked why they wanted an earthling on the throne. In particular, why wouldn't one of the Triumvirate be elected, as they were the ones actually in charge. Pomegranite pondered "why indeed" while winking at the other earthlings (a reminder that he was just as qualified as Cliffside), while Mielikki argued that the short-lived races were incapable of providing the stability that the realm found itself in need of. To that, Ulrich replied that surely one of the actually immortal races would be superior if all they wanted was stability, which infuriated Pomegranite.
Over the ensuing argument, Granmarg brought up the idea of dissolving the office of Emperor and replacing it with a council of multiple representatives, much like the Triumvirate, and Ulrich was willing to concede that that could work. Pomegranite grumbled that this while this would further earthling interests, it would do the same for the dwarves, but everyone ignored him and moved on. They did some vote counting, with Ulrich pointing out that even if he stepped down as a candidate that Edelina of Lumene was actually the second most likely candidate to receive a majority, at which point Pomegranite suggested that Granmarg had been onto something. Perhaps instead of a council, though, they could simply have three Emperors.
Ulrich had to stop and think for a moment. The most likely situation would be one Emperor each from the humans, non-human short-lived races, and long-lived or immortal races. Pomegranite suggested that the dwarves weren't interested so really that last group should only be the earthlings and maybe the elves. They could keep the current structure of elections, with each candidate being voted on using the current system. After much more bargaining, Ulrich conceded and agreed to some sort of reform, with the details to be worked out once Luana, at least, had been dealt with. Wrost would likely be amenable to a devolution of power, and this could serve to bring them back into the fold without war.
By comparison, the other issues proceeded with no objection. Ulrich agreed to help with all other existential threats, though Luana took precedent, noting also that his agents had already tried and failed to seize her artifacts. Granmarg approved; this meant they'd have to kill her. When pressed on their requests for more land, the earthlings admitted their needs were not urgent and dropped it for now in exchange for some immediate payments in gold. When asked about the Marks, Ulrich informed them that many regional interpretations of the Faith were antiquated, and favoured Clio despite Astraeus' supremacy in official dogma.
The Mark was traditionally carved into doors or town walls to ward off evil spirits, and it appearing on someone was a sign of the end times and Clio's return. Still, that didn't explain the sheer number of the Changed; the old ways weren't that strong, even in the most rural parts of Tauschun. Ulrich's guess was that the energies coming from the instability in the Paths was responsible, warping the minds of the Changed as well as their bodies. Ulrich then asked to have a word in private with just the Triumvirate, and waved the rest of his council and guards away. The earthlings did the same.
Confession
Once they were alone, Ulrich apologized for framing them for the murder of Emperor Friedrich. His dying words had been for the strongest of the mortals to succeed him as Emperor, as a strong leader was necessary to deal with the coming Demon War. The best way to determine this in his eyes was to cause a succession war. Ulrich had thought at the time that this was foolish, but Friedrich was his closest friend, and he agreed to carry out his plan despite his misgivings. The Emperor had died of his illness shortly after the dwarves went to see him.
Muttering something about this all being very convenient for the dwarves, Pomegranite came to a stop as he realized something. He asked if, by Emperor Friedrich's definition, Luana wouldn't now be the strongest candidate. Ulrich chuckled sadly and said that seeing his greatest friend's daughter turn into a wielder of Death was more evidence that this had all been a mistake. Lastly, during his visit with the Dwarves, immediately before his death, the Emperor had also passed on this request to their King Barrend. Further, he had asked them to stay out of the succession, as he did not think the immortal races could be trusted to lead mortals.
Pomegranite remarked to the other earthlings that it seemed as if Emperor Friedrich had been, in his own way, attempting to emulate the earthling Games, which was a sign of wisdom. Unfortunately, he just hadn't been wise enough to carry them out properly. He then asked Ulrich whether he viewed himself to be the strongest candidate. After staring off to the east for a while, Ulrich turned back and admitted that he wasn't. He had expected that Dragomir, the Grand Duke of Wrost, would emerge victorious. He had been a capable leader who had cemented his rule and all but ascended to kingship. But now he was dead. With the other likely successors out of the picture? Perhaps Ulrich was the most capable now.
The earthlings had other questions. Would it be a good idea to take Luana's artifact back to the College to be destroyed, when they seemed power-hungry and determined to open the Forbidden Paths? Who was to say they wouldn't use it themselves? Ulrich assured them that he should still have enough magisters in his ranks to destroy it. How had Tharivol come into his service in the first place, and why had he left? He had offered his service willingly, without requesting any payment. Over time, his bloodlust seemed to grow, and eventually he was unwilling to wait even a few months for war to reach him and started his own instead. Their private meeting done, they returned to their armies and made their preparations. At dawn, they marched east.
Notes:
Pomegranite and Uthemar bonded over both living in forests. He was also quite agreeable, in contrast to constant dwarven stonewalling. Elves cool, dwarves drool would appear to be PC sentiment.
The PCs have now also begun referring to the Void Beast as the Sextapede.
Over the course of this session and the previous one, The PCs have gone from referring to Luana as the "Lich Queen" to the "Lich Empress" to the "Goddess of the Damned". Good for her, moving up in the world.
On the subject of Tharivol: "To shreds, you say"
Pomegranite briefly suggested they could use Luana's artifact to raise an army of the dead to fight the Void Beast. Perhaps.
The main way to destroy artifacts is to use the Path of the Sun to melt them. Presumably Forging and Destruction would also work, though the PCs don't exactly have access to those. One perhaps unexpected additional choice is the Path of the Moon, which is all about revealing hidden things, including physical and magical weaknesses. Luana is the only known NPC to practice the Path of the Moon.
Another potential likely Emperor had been Duccio de Segreti, Lord-Mayor of the Segretan League, who had become the per-eminent Lord of the League after his political marriage had merged two of the three great families. However, he had been a practitioner of the Path of Prophecy, and with that gone, he was now much diminished, and fell in line behind Luana.
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