GURPS Fantasy Warriors Session 41: Driven Into A Corner

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

 

Earth Duel

Thicket couldn't keep up with the human cavalry, and by the time he arrived at the front lines the College's barricades had already been broken through in all but one spot where a pile of horses and bodies filled the street.  On closer inspection, they had been impaled on earthen spikes.  He spotted the magister who had taken command after Eva's death, and strained to remember who she was.  Her name was Fronicka, a human, who bore a brooch of Minerva, suggesting she was a magister of the Path of Earth.  To demonstrate what a real terramorpher could do, he began with his signature technique of flinging stone spikes from her blind spot.

 

Fronicka spun and managed to catch the spikes, then took a step forward and flung them back at him.  Thicket stood still, shocked, as all three spikes slammed into his torso.  In a stroke of luck, they were deflected by his stone armour.  The two then both began to churn the earth beneath each other, and though Fronicka stumbled and fell, Thicket's next spike only grazed her.  With her soldiers flagging, she was forced to withdraw, and the Imperial forces gave chase as their foes routed.

To the east, Mielikki's army exchanged barrages with Mindartis, the former using massed archers while the latter again detonated a single massive orb of magic.  Baelynna advanced and seized control of their rear guard with her compulsion, while Granmarg's troops advanced under bombardment from the magisters formerly commanded by Jasper.  The two forces collided, and Granmarg hunted down their new commander, a magister of the Path of Blood named Madalena.  She barely managed to avoid his first few strikes, then summoned a hammer from the blood of the bodies around them.

Madalena's swing fell short by a good margin, and Granmarg responded with a feint followed by two blows to the sternum that left her sprawled on the ground, unconscious.  Another magister stepped forward to assume command, a Void Magister named Perrette.  She put up a better fight than her predecessor, but was still swiftly defeated.  The surviving troops routed back to the College itself.  Mielikki's army kept up the barrage, and it paid off as the last of Mindartis' soldiers fell.  The magical onslaught ceased as the god, now on his own, lazily fell back to find more servants

 
While Baelynna rampaged around the backlines, the Imperial forces sprung their trap.  A dozen or so magisters of the Path of Blood emerged from hiding places in a village outside the city and began casting the brain boiling spell to remove the compulsion on as many of her soldiers as possible.  The disruption would see her army paralyzed in an empty field for the rest of the battle, though it would end up costing the magisters their lives.

 

2 Duel 2 Earth

Thicket's dogged pursuit of Fronicka continued, and the two ended up facing off a second time.  A misstep left him pinned against a barricade, but an earth spike in her side left Fronicka off-balance.  Once more, they caused earthquakes, and again, Fronicka fell to the ground.  Thicket launched another spike, but as had happened in their prior fight, she caught it and threw it back at him.  The two continued, evenly matched, and with Thicket winded after a lucky blow, Fronicka was able to slip away and continue the retreat.

 

Thicket dutifully followed, directly into a trap.  As his army bunched up on a narrow street, the cobblestones beneath them exploded, and buildings on all sides collapsed as magisters pelted them with spells.  Mindartis returned as well, with a massive army of undead at his heels, and despite being pelted by spells, arrows, and hurled boulders from Mielikki's and Thicket's armies, he held his position.  Granmarg continued his charge into Fronicka's formation and did what Thicket could not, defeating her in a a flurry of strikes from his lightning-wreathed fists.  In doing this, though, he came within Mindartis' range, and his army was annihilated by a barrage of snake-like bolts of twisting void energy.

 

Pomegranite appeared to the rear of the College formation, having been dispatched with a flanking force alongside Hans Hessen some time earlier, and took this opportunity to ambush the beleaguered defenders under Fronicka.  After her defeat at the hands of Granmarg, the earth magister barely able to stay standing, her hand bloody from gripping so tightly to the metal arrowhead that was her spell focus.  It was over quickly, and at last she and her army fell.

 

God Slaying

Baelynna fell back to the College, while Mindartis made to flee, and so the Imperial commanders split their forces in two.  This meant they would be fighting each god eight on one, which they hoped would be enough.  Theren headed the team going after Baelynna, while Granmarg led the other.  When they arrived, Baelynna was waiting in her "throne room".  She towered over them, and her twelve arms each held a sword.

 

Baelynna noticed Pomegranite and started rambling that the elves did have a conspiracy, and they'd see in the end, or maybe not.  She chided them for avoiding her, which had been rather rude.  It was confusing behaviour, but that was beside the point, as they weren't here to talk.  Pomegranite felt the pressure of her influence on his mind as she tried to compel him, but their wards held, and Baelynna reacted in surprise, then clapped her hands and congratulated them on discovering a new spell.

 

Theren led the charge across the throne room, with the others not far behind.  Baelynna limbered up her many arms with unnatural movements as they now noticed she had at least one extra joint.  She raised one arm and gestured vaguely at a few of them before finally deciding on a target and pointing at Halimath.  Blood burst from his skin and floated over to her.  As they drew closer she raised two of her hands and made a squeezing motion, which caused Theren's blood to erupt out of his eyes and nose, his bird mask flying off and landing in a crimson puddle.

 

 

Notes:

The earth v earth duels were surprisingly even, largely thanks to luck.  Fronicka got two critical successes against Thicket, which was how she caught the projectiles.  At first I was going to make him just fall prone (as is usual for melee) but I forgot that critically defended ranged attacks get no benefit.

 

Perrette actually crit while defending against a Feint and was able to survive one turn with Granmarg.  Contrast with Madalena who failed the roll and had a -14 to her defences.

 

I have been informed that I, personally, flooded the Labyrinth to prevent any more magic items from being added to the game.  Come on guys, it was an act of god!  Nothing I could do as GM. 

 

Pomegranite's ambush was done entirely so that he could level up his combat and strategy skills, since they'd already won the battle at that point.

 

Baelynna Squad is Theren, Thicket, Curzo, Halimath, Pomegranite, Barbena, Aginor, and Ulrich.

 

Mindartis Squad is Granmarg, Mielikki, Felosial, Morkral, Felix, Rada, Barrend, and Hans Hessen.