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
The Final Blow
Pomegranite ordered his troops to fire on a crowd of undead, dispatching them just as Luana charged through the gap he'd created and into his formation. The two met on the field again, and moved toward each other cautiously. Luana made the first strike, but Pomegranite nimbly dodged out of the way before lunging forward, swinging his knives at her crown. The blades pierced the metal, and there was an ear-splitting thunderclap as it was thrown from Luana's head and exploded into fragments.
The force of the explosion knocked everyone within several hundred feet into the air and pushed the torrential rain out in a bubble. It was loud enough that, a mile away, Mielikki and Granmarg staggered, and Ulrich would later confirm that it had been audible even far to the north where the Imperials had been fighting.
Luana was holding her head in her hands, still reeling, by the time that Pomegranite had regained his feet and ordered her to surrender. She seemed disoriented and asked who the hell he was while her left hand moved toward something half-submerged in the mud. Following her motion with his eyes, Pomegranite saw only some fragments of bone or splintered wood, but shouted for her to stop what she was doing. Suddenly noticing that her arm had been moving of its own accord, Luana recoiled and leapt to her feet, kicking at whatever she had been reaching for while shouting to get that thing away from her.
Again, Pomegranite told her to surrender. Luana glanced over at her heavy executioner's axe and asked if she had been wielding it in their battle. When Pomegranite confirmed it, she replied that he had her weapon and so she had no choice. The Segretans lay down their arms, Luana was taken prisoner, and the other earthling commanders regrouped on Pomegranite's position. As he approached Granmarg had a fleeting thought to search the mud for something, but ignored it.
Aftermath
Almost immediately, they received a messenger bearing a request from Dina to meet with Luana and confirm that no excessive harm had been done to her. The triumvirate decided to do their interrogation first, but didn't manage to start before Ulrich arrived. The Changed had been driven off in the north, and he now wished to observe the questioning. Together they went the temporary "interrogation" tent. Luana was still in shock, staring off into space until Granmarg spoke and she came to with a jolt.
Through their questioning, they learned that the last thing she remembered was hunting down artifacts in the Labyrinth below Segreta to aid in defense against Tauschun if they invaded again (Granmarg: "She's trying to be sympathetic, I don't like it"). Dina and some of Luana's own companions had been the only ones present; you couldn't exactly march an army into a dungeon like that. Pomegranite mentioned Ulrich, who Luana hadn't noticed until then, which prompted her to opine that it was odd they were working with the man who had accused them of regicide.
The earthlings replied that Emperor Friedrich had died of natural causes, there were bigger issues facing the realm at the moment, and they had set aside that grudge. Naturally, she asked what these bigger issues were, and got the rundown on the Void Beast, signs of the end times, and the Demonwar (though Pomegranite tried to argue that the latter was not real, as dwarves could not be trusted). Specifically, the plan was to send a grand army into the Paths to wage war on the Void Beast, and they could use the League's help with that.
As for the matter of succession, they explained the deal they'd made with Ulrich to dissolve the title of Emperor in favor of a ruling council of three chosen from a rotating group of the nine provinces. Though specifics hadn't been hammered out, Luana noted that the Lords of the League would likely approve of this as it would give them more say. Further, unless some alliances had broken while she was out of the picture, the League would be enough to carry the vote to do this regardless of the views of the other provinces.
However, before they did that, Luana wanted confirmation of Ulrich's innocence, which would mean meeting with the dwarves' King Barrend, as, per Ulrich's own version of events, he had allegedly also been told of the old emperor's wishes just before his death. Pomegranite started to mention that the dwarves couldn't be trusted, before being forced from the tent by the others. Granmarg refused to release Luana, claiming that she was in no position to negotiate, but it was eventually arranged to have Dina go to the dwarves in her stead.
Outside, Pomegranite had walked to the site of their climactic duel and tried to find the scattered fragments of the crown by sensing for their residual magic energies. He discovered something odd: instead of the gold or diamonds the crown had seemed to be made of, all the fragments he found were made from bone held together with strips of sinew. The others left the tent and dispatched a messenger to summon Dina. She was apparently quite eager, as she appeared after only a few minutes.
Pomegranite laid out the situation to her as they understood it: Luana's most recent memories were from when she had first acquired the crown in the Labyrinth. Had Dina noticed any obvious changes from then on? She replied that it had been gradual, but Luana had started treating her friends and companions more like tools. Similarly, the reasoning she'd given for invading Tauschun hadn't been to apprehend Ulrich, but rather to make a bid for control of the Empire itself. Dina had had her doubts, though she had figured that this was merely the consequences of Luana coming to terms with being the leader of a province that faced a losing war.
Granmarg explained their suspicion that Luana had been dominated by the crown, and Dina admitted that that would make sense, mentioning that her mastery over death magic had been suspiciously natural. Much to the earthlings' surprise, despite clearly having a fondness for Luana, Dina reacted surprisingly indifferently to this news. The earthlings split up, with Granmarg leading Dina to the interrogation tent, where he would watch over their meeting to ensure they didn't get up to anything suspicious.
Pomegranite, Thicket, and Mielikki stayed behind to speak with Ulrich, who had some questions about what exactly had happened at the end of the battle. Pomegranite explained how he had destroyed the crown, which had staggered Luana and ended her control of the undead. Reports had quickly rolled in claiming that all the undead had collapsed at that same moment. Mielikki asked what Ulrich made of Luana's claims, and he replied that she seemed to be telling the truth. Pomegranite mentioned that if Dina was going to be allowed to meet with the dwarves, Ulrich had best prepare a sealed letter telling King Barrend to reveal the truth, as he has also been sworn to secrecy.
Ulrich inquired as to whether the earthlings had seen the Knights of the Blazing Sun at all, but they had not, and so he feared they were slain. Pomegranite asked if Tauschun would be able to handle the Changed on their own, but without Tharivol to lead them or war in the east drawing most of their manpower, Ulrich was confident they would be able to smash any large bands. It was unlikely they would be able to pull them out at the root, but no amount of military assistance would change that.
Inside the tent, Dina was answering Luana's questions. Given Granmarg hovering only a few feet away, they weren't discussing any sensitive subjects. Luana asked whether Dina figured they could trust Ulrich, and she replied that they didn't have much choice in the matter. Granmarg butted in to say that it didn't matter if they trusted him, but if it turned out that he was lying, then the earthlings would oppose him as well. Dina said farewell to Luana and went to fetch Ulrich's sealed letter that she could leave for the Dwarven Undersands immediately.
The earthlings regrouped and went to go speak first with Duccio, as he was the prime elector of the League, then Aginor, to discuss politics. Despite the beating he had received on the battlefield, Duccio showed all the proper respect due a political equal to Thicket, giving a deep bow and swishing his cape performatively. Thicket inquired as to his thoughts on dwarves and demons. He claimed that, given the historical records detailing past Demonwars, demons were indeed real, and that he had no reason to distrust the dwarves.
Duccio then asked for Thicket's thoughts, and he confirmed that he believed the dwarves, despite disdaining them in general. As the earthlings were allied with the College, Duccio was also curious to hear what Thicket knew of the Void Beast and the fate of the Path of Prophecy, and he explained what little they knew; the Beast was real, and as far as was known, Prophecy was gone for good. From there, they moved to discussing the splitting of the office of Emperor into three lesser offices, which clearly piqued Duccio's interest, though he declined to make any commitments before a formal peace treaty was signed. He also sought to take the Segretan troops back into their own province before winter fell. Overall, Thicket got the impression that they could work with him in the future.
Meanwhile, Mielikki was meeting with Aginor to discuss much the same things. Like Duccio, he wanted to march back to the League in time for harvest, and was very interested in the idea of devolving the Emperor, as that would certainly require redistricting of electoral seats (and enable him to attempt to sway power away from Duccio). He was also very willing to assist against the Void Beast, not unrelated to the fact that his Path of the Void was next in line to be destroyed.
Finally, the earthlings reconvened and met with Ulrich to plan their departure. As for what to do with the remaining artifacts, Ulrich suggested taking them to the College to be destroyed, as they could all be cursed like the crown. The fragments of the crown itself were taken and destroyed by his magisters under the supervision of the earthlings to confirm that it was gone once and for all. Finally, Luana would be left in the care of Tauschun, and with all that arranged, the earthlings began the journey home.
Leaving The South
They gathered their Changed earthlings from the hole they had been left in, and as they were marched north in chains, more and more of them returned to their senses. Pomegranite and Thicket split off in Halberst to go to the College, where he planned to assess the remaining three artifacts. Upon arriving, they were somewhat surprised to learn that Grand Magister Vasili had died, and the push to open the forbidden paths had stalled after the elves visited. The College was now abuzz with the election of the next Grand Magister, which had been narrowed down to either Eva or Curzo.
Pomegranite attempted to reach out to Eva, but received only a letter in response. She was quite busy, between the development of the technique to ferry an army into the Paths and the politicking of becoming the next Grand Magister. He noticed that she seemed to have cooled on the prospect of opening the forbidden paths, though perhaps that was just a political move.
Thicket received an update on the Void Beast's progress, and, though he didn't understand much of the answers he received, was satisfied that it seemed the College would be prepared well before it reached the Path of the Void. He then departed for the Highland Forests before winter fell, leaving Pomegranite to his work alone. Over the next few months of careful testing, he successfully determined that none of the remaining artifacts had any secret mind control curses. Their magic bolstered the bearer's body in various ways, though the axe was also able to grant its wielder the ability to cast the black skeletal hand, which aged whatever it touched by decades.
As for their mundane properties, the horn was made of dragonbone, and the inlay that they'd thought was a man jumping was actually an elf. The axe's blade was orichalcum, a nigh-indestructible material that's very difficult to enchant in the first place. If they wanted to get rid of it, they'd have trouble. The scroll inside of the scrollcase was made of human skin dyed a purple so dark that the black ink on it was entirely illegible.
Meanwhile, in Bedrock, the terramorphers assigned to the shifting stone under the Mountain's Maw had finished establishing a stable tunnel to the center of the disturbance, though a 1' stone wall had been left in place. For now, Granmarg ordered that it be left undisturbed. Mielikki had no objections as he was busy creating doctrines and stratagems for working in concert with the armies of the other provinces for the upcoming battle with the Void Beast.
Thicket arrived home and, hearing that the tunnel to the source of the earthsong had been completed, immediately dispatched High Priest Friedrich Quarry to investigate. The remaining stone barrier was torn down, revealing a glowing portal, which the high priest walked through with no hesitation.
Notes:
Max damage and a failed HT roll for the crown mean it got destroyed in a single hit, which was surprising.
The city-state of Segreta is one of the top three largest cities in the Empire.
Granmarg: "I was on board with the idea of destroying the artifacts until Ulrich mentioned it, and then I started to have doubts".
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