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
Torelli
There were no traces of whoever (or whatever) had broken into their tents to steal the artifacts. From that point on, Pomegranite would ward all their tents to alarm if someone entered. They made it to Torelli without further issue, and found it in ruin. The great spires had tumbled and broken under the tidal wave, and a layer of silt still lingered over the countryside. More undead worked within, but again, none came out to confront them. While they planned their assault, a messenger arrived from the east bearing word from Emperor Uthemar.
The eastern force had taken the city of Liguria without encountering the necromancer controlling the undead, and had taken light casualties, but those who were wounded did not recover as they should have. As the western force had seen, the undead only attacked when one got very close and were not guided by any kind of intelligence. They had been concentrated in the Labyrinth and judging by their clothes, some were raised from the dead recently. If they had been working toward some greater task was unclear. As the necromancer was not in the east, they warned that they may be in the west. As a final note, Luana had arrived in the Elven Forest, and then continued on to Baronde. None of the other leadership of the League had been found.
The scouts returned and reported that, unlike last time, the undead were not digging a hole. Many of the undead seemed "fresh", their flesh intact and clothes only just beginning to rot. Of note, there were sounds of conflicts with some sort of animals around one noble estate on the outskirts. The Triumvirate went to investigate, luring zombies away from whatever these animals were, and found a pride of lions in a menagerie. Their cages looked to have been pried open by the undead, which the lions had then dismembered, allowing them to roam.
The other animals were still caged, and most dead after months of not being fed. Thicket noted that this was the second time they'd seen the undead react oddly to lions, and suggested they use this to their advantage somehow. Through some experimentation, they found that most undead fled in terror at the sight of the lions, while a small minority went berserk and attacked. Unfortunately, the College had brought no Magisters of Animals, and so their utility would be limited. Between Curzo, Ulrich, and Pomegranite, though, they had the strongest living Magisters of Secrets, who could augment their strategies with illusory lions.
With their new leonine strategy, the conquest of Torelli proceeded much faster than had Amici, diverting the undead into ambushes over and over. After observing their movements, however, Thicket realized that they were being commanded up from the main entrance to the Labyrinth and to specific places in the city before being set loose into their feral state. They also found Aginor de Torelli, former lord of the city, shambling around in a swarm of undead. Given his presence at the College when the tidal wave had happened, this confirmed that there were more recent undead among their ranks. It was likely that those who hadn't fled the province had all been slain and raised by the necromancer.
By the time the extermination concluded and the bodies were being burned, there were still an unknown number of many more undead remaining in the tunnels beneath the city. Rather than hunting through the dungeon and finishing them one by one, the Triumvirate decided to simply collapse all the entrances they could find, while leaving messages for the necromancer stating they were open to negotiation. This took some time, as while the main entrance was a cavernous stairwell descending down from a major square, it was common knowledge in the League that there were all kinds of other entrances bricked up in basements or wells that were trivially opened.
After several weeks of searching and collapsing every ominous hole they could find, the armies received word from the eastern forces, who had arrived at Segreta. They had largely taken the city, but the undead had all retreated into the Labyrinth on their approach. As they expected multiple gods to be lurking among the undead, and armies couldn't effectively be commanded in the confined spaces underground, they intended to wait for the western army to arrive so that they had as many champions as possible to fight on the front lines.
Segreta
The armies set out immediately, and when they were around a week away, the stormclouds filled the sky as purple and black lightning flickered overhead. Thicket felt the same burning sensation in his gut as when he'd taken a bite of the crystal sculpture in Amici. The lightning was visibly much more intense to the south, where Segreta and their allies were, so they fell into a forced march to reinforce them as soon as possible. Their wounded, who could not keep pace, were left to their own devices.
On the third day of the forced march, the lightning finally stopped. The front of their column crested a hill and they could now see the charred ruins of the city of Segreta, along with their allies' camps in the muddy wastes across the river. The camps looked to be in good condition, but when they met with the other commanders it became clear that the lightning had caused severe damage. All of the elves were sickly and exhausted, though the dwarves and humans seemed comparably hale. In terms of casualties, the one hundred humans who had perished were overshadowed by the six elves that died during the storm, which was shocking given their entire "army" only consisted of twenty soldiers.
Here, the storm had been a constant pillar of lightning strikes that lasted for days. As best they could tell, it had been focused on one particular point, but they had no idea what might be there. It had probably been the right decision to decline the attack until they could regroup with the western army, as they would no doubt have been wiped out by the storm. Mielikki asked after the terramorphers that had been sent to help rebuild, but there had been no sign of them here, nor at Liguria. During the conversation, Mielikki realized that none of the elves were wearing any of their usual jewelry, and that Edelina was oddly silent.
As the elves were so affected by the Path of Death, Uthemar requested that they fall back. If it was deemed necessary, Theren could stay and fight, but it would be placing him in grave danger. The earthlings for their part informed the others that there had been some kind of intelligence commanding the undead at Torelli, and it had probably beaten them here. They were interrupted when a soldier rushed into the command tent and exclaimed that a single undead had approached the camp and asked to speak with their leaders.
Unwilling Diplomacy
They walked out to meet him, and found a well-dressed man who must have only recently died and been raised, who had clearly put some effort into his appearance. Skipping introductions, he immediately asked who had left the message at the other city. When Mielikki nodded, the man frowned, glanced at the elves, and then asked what deal they were proposing. Mielikki claimed they would need time to converse among themselves first, though perhaps as a sign of good faith the "Death Field" that was killing them could stop.
The man claimed that those energies were entirely defensive, and he would not remove them with multiple armies at his front door. He kept looking at the elves, and started to grin. As he clearly didn't fear being attacked this moment, it seemed likely that whoever was talking was not actually there, which would make this man a mere puppet. Some overtures were made to see if he would be amenable to staying in the Labyrinth, but the man claimed he would need the surface of "everything within his influence" as well. He would very generously allow people to live uninterrupted outside. It was unclear what that meant; he didn't know what the provincial borders were, but from the way he spoke, it seemed likely the territory he was referring to would be quite large.
Uthemar, with some venom in his voice, declared that they would have to hold further counsel to determine what they were willing to accept, and the undead smiled and agreed to wait. Smiling at the elf, he stated that they could stay in their camp as long as they wanted, as he had all the time in the world. For now, he would stand in a field nearby, in plain view, to show he wasn't up to anything untoward. As soon as he was out of earshot, Edelina spoke up, stating that they couldn't just give up an entire province, and for once, the earthlings agreed with her.
Mielikki continued to press for at least some negotiations, but the elves and dwarves were flatly opposed to the idea. Ulrich pointed out that, given the populace of the League seemed to be either refugees or undead, they wouldn't even really be handing a province over. Even if they defeated the necromancer, it could take centuries for the population to recover. In exchange, they would be risking some of their greatest champions, including Theren. Further, it was rich for the elves to talk about the necessity for attacking when they would be fleeing.
Even so, a majority were in favor of slaying this necromancer, and so on the morrow they would begin their assault. After dark, the inner circle convened to discuss things. Its distaste for lions was potentially useful, but the elves didn't know any more than that. The theft of Luana's artifacts from the middle of their camp suggested that whoever did it could fly, which meant Mindartis was likely involved. It was maybe a bit odd for him to not have revealed himself given their prior discussion, but he could just as well be playing it safe.
At first light, the undead puppet was crushed by a hurled border, and the allied armies assembled on the field. More undead began to swarm out of the Labyrinth and into the ruins. While the necromancer remained hidden, a wraith appeared and began blasting passages out of the ruined city with magic. Mielikki went around inspiring the troops along with, of all people, Edelina, while Granmarg got their terramorphers to enchant their bodies and weapons with thick layers of stone. Thicket designated a strict hierarchy of subcommanders; their army was so large and their foe so numerous that they needed to allow for more autonomy on the battlefield. While the horde of undead continuing to grow, they continued on with last-minute preparations.
Notes:
During the forced march, there was some debate over whether to detach an escort for their wounded in order to help them survive, partially to keep them alive, partially to deny more undead to Somnus. At one point, Pomegranite's player suggested they just execute and burn all the wounded. This was turned down for obvious reasons.
Pomegranite thought of looking at the elves' food supplies to see if they'd been poisoned in some way, but elves (and dwarves, for what it's worth) do not eat or drink.
The necromancer puppetting the undead man clearly knew the elves were dying and was almost certainly actively causing it. He reveled in their suffering.
After spending several months with the elves, the argument between Barrend and Morkral over whether or not to negotiate with the gods has been settled: they must all die.
We realized during the meeting of the inner circle that the only person here excluded from the meeting would be Edelina.
Negotiating with the necromancer was possible due to a crit success by Mielikki when he wrote his message in Torelli, but there was no real support. The elves, dwarves, and Edelina all opposed it entirely. That left Curzo and Ulrich, but that would be one emperor against two. The other two players were also not interested in peace. Hopefully it works out for them!
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