GURPS Fantasy Warriors Session 48: The Influence of Death

Characters:

Pomegranite The Treefallen, The Spymaster

Mielikki The Field Marshal, Member of the Earthling Triumvirate

Thicket The Grandmaster Terramorpher, Member of the Earthling Triumvirate

NPC: Granmarg The Striking Vanguard, The Boulderstruck, Member of the Earthling Triumvirate 

 

On The March

While Emperors Curzo and Edelina met to discuss overarching strategy, Thicket and Mielikki got to work sorting out refugees from the League who knew the terrain and press-ganged them into their army's scouts.  The Emperors then held a briefing to present their plans.  They would split their forces, with Baronde continuing to blockade the League's northern border, while the dwarves and earthlings would march east to reinforce the elves, and the armies of Lumene and the College would go west to aid Ulrich in Tauschun.  Wrost would be delayed due to their continued suppression of the uprisings in Baronde, and when they caught up they could reinforce the blockade along the northern border.

 

This would allow Emperor Uthemar to take command of his portion of the Empire in the east.  Further, it would concentrate their greatest armies in one point such that they could then sweep along the coast, starting with the city of Liguria before proceeding on to Segreta and then Torelli.  Pomegranite and Mielikki suggested they instead travel west with the dwarves.  The elves could hold their own and that way they could enact a pincer maneuver.  Secretly, they also wanted to keep the dwarves from speaking with the elves, as the latter would no doubt insist on killing the gods, while the earthlings (or at least Mielikki) were coming to think they might need to ally with Mindartis to stop the Void Beast.  Given Somnus and Mindartis shared the same surname, it was reasonable to assume he would get involved.

 

Curzo was willing to listen to them, as they were the only ones present who had fought the undead during their last appearance under Luana when she had been possessed.  As such, he asked their opinion on whether it was even possible to divide their attention in such a way.  Mielikki informed the assembled leaders that the undead needed to be controlled to be effective, and last time they had all ceased to animate upon the destruction of Luana's crown.  This suggested that they could split their attention, as the necromancer could only be in one place at any given time.

 

GURPS Fantasy Warriors Session 47: The Traitors' Due

Characters:

Pomegranite The Treefallen, The Spymaster

Mielikki The Field Marshal, Member of the Earthling Triumvirate

Thicket The Grandmaster Terramorpher, Member of the Earthling Triumvirate

NPC: Granmarg The Striking Vanguard, The Boulderstruck, Member of the Earthling Triumvirate 

 

Escape

Shudderblight stood in Thicket's way while Friedrich and Drirtollor ran away into the night.  Thicket used his signature earth spike spell to impale his former advisor, who in turn blew a poison cloud at the soldier accompanying Thicket, who collapsed, foaming at the mouth.  Shudderblight did his best to defend himself, but was no match for Thicket, and soon collapsed from his wounds.  Still, he had done his job.  The High Priest had escaped.

 

Back in the war room, Mielikki and Granmarg discussed what to do with the surviving rebels.  Seeing as the offer of exile in exchange for surrender was declined, they now had to follow through with something more severe.  They quickly settled on execution.  Pomegranite finally finished with fighting off the barracks of soldiers he'd wandered into and returned around the same time as Thicket, who was carrying Shudderblight.  They, too, agreed with execution of the traitors, and so Mielikki hefted his headsman's axe.  The beheadings that followed would see them each lose one of their closest advisors, as well as the Marshal, the ranking priest of Sappington, and Chancellor Primrose's nephew. 

 
When it came to pursuing Friedrich Quarry, Thicket had a few ideas of where he could go next.  Either to Edelina in Lumene, claiming sanctuary in a remote monastery, or the other major earthling city, Granitehearth.  Of those, Lumene was the most likely in his mind, but they would be traveling in winter, and neither Friedrich nor Drirtollor were used to such rough travel.  With any luck, they might just die somewhere on the journey.  For now, though, the Triumvirate would have to return to Bedrock with the army, as it was only through his own mastery of logistics and Mielikki's capacity for command that they had been able to launch this winter campaign at all.  Pomegranite sent Bird ahead to inform his spy network of Friedrich's likely path.

GURPS Fantasy Warriors Session 46: The War Room Massacre

Characters:

Pomegranite The Treefallen, The Spymaster

Mielikki The Field Marshal, Member of the Earthling Triumvirate

Thicket The Grandmaster Terramorpher, Member of the Earthling Triumvirate

NPC: Granmarg The Striking Vanguard, The Boulderstruck, Member of the Earthling Triumvirate 

 

Tea Party

Pomegranite followed Sigillaria into the personal chambers of Chancellor Primrose.  They walked around a moonlit courtyard that was underneath a thin layer of snow to a sitting room lit by flickering candlelight.  The Chancellor was waiting, and had a cup of root tea in her hands.  With some surprise, she greeted the Treefallen by his proper title, and remarked that she was apparently so uninformed that she'd not even learned that the city had fallen.

 

He corrected her: the city hadn't fallen, and he was here in the hopes that such indiscriminate violence could be avoided.  Further, he hoped they could work together to rid Sappington of the ne'er-do-wells that had taken up residence recently.  Primrose responded by asking how long exactly Pomegranite had been a priest.  He was initially confused, as he expected someone who knew his face to also know his secular College background, then realized what she was getting at.  Sentencing High Priest Friedrich Quarry to death for his actions was going beyond their remit, and clearly in her eyes, the responsibility of determining the natures of gods and demons belonged with the temples.

 

In turn, Pomegranite pointed out that the city was surrounded, and she was, for the moment, implicated with the High Priest's rebels.  Primrose took a sip of her tea.  The two then had a polite conversation over tea.  While doubling down on the claim that the gods were demons, Pomegranite learned that Primrose was clearly sympathetic to Friedrich, and had given him sanctuary because she herself believed in syncretizing the earthling and Imperial faiths.  She also clearly resented the Triumvirate for leaving herself (and presumably, other provincial leaders) out of the rather important decisions they were making.