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.

GURPS Fantasy Warriors Session 40: Mindartis Doltoran, God of Magic and the Void

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

 

Friendly Fire

The enormous glowing orb above Mindartis vanished as he waved one hand and a wide black circle appeared on the ground, surrounding Mielikki and Felosial the elf.  They scrambled out of the way, with Felosial rushing past barricades to Mindartis himself, who was supported by an orcish magister.  Mielikki broke to the left to deal with an old man holding a walking stick.  The prismatic god struck out with one hand at Felosial, dodged both that strike and a bolt of lightning loosed from his other hand.  Mindartis continued his assault with a kick to the neck, but Felosial parried with her bow.

 

On the far side of the street, Mielikki knocked the elderly magister to the ground with one swing of the headsman's axe, and a swing of the man's stick only bounced off of the earthling's hardened stone armour.  Grand Magister Curzo and Barbena the dwarf judiciously avoided the circle and ran to the right, closing with a pale human woman in a poofy dress who bore a painted parasol displaying an echidna.  Felosial, so busy fending off Mindartis' endless wave of attacks, failed to notice when the orc cast a magic missile, and the bolt of magic bludgeoned her right side.  She turned to retaliate, but the orc retreated out of reach.

 

The circle filled in, the ground inside turning black as night, before it expanded up into a sphere and collapsed inward, taking with it everything inside and leaving a perfectly round crater several feet deep.  Another circle appeared under Felosial's feet, and she sidestepped to avoid it, but took a blow to the collarbone and was left reeling.  Barbena won the scuffle on the right, submerging the parasol-wielding magister in sand, and moved to flank Mindartis.  Likewise, Mielikki finished off the old man on the left, and Felosial even managed to take the orc out with an arrow to the throat, though she was then knocked to the cobblestones by a blow from the god.

 

GURPS Fantasy Warriors Session 39: The Siege of the Imperial College

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

 

Preparations

For their assault on the College, the army would split in three, with the large vanguard elements flanking the city while the main thrust pushed through the north wall.  Mielikki made a point of running into Pomegranite to inquire about what he had learned from the elves, and the spymaster told him the elven names of the rest of the gods as well as that demons were a creation of Carmenta.  As he had discussed with Granmarg, he left out the fact that the earthlings had been created as a slave race by the dwarves.

 

As they drew near the College's high walls of white stone, Curzo pointed out a particular tower beyond, topped with a polished brass dome, which had been the life's work of High Magster of the Sun Jasper Sunmeadow.  It was a weapon, and would fire scorching beams of sun magic at them until it was disabled.  Empress Edelina might have been able to make use of it, but she was on the west flank. When they were establishing their camp outside of the range of the College's defenses, Pomegranite's chosen scouts reported sightings of a transparent floating elf whose form shifted between the colours of the rainbow.  The commanders assembled and after some discussion it was accepted that, regardless of who (or what) this was, they were acting as an ally to the usurper Baelynna who would share her fate.

 

In secret, the members of the inner circle met, and Uthemar reckoned that this was Medaius, or in elven, Mindartis Doltoran, god of Magic and the Void.  This made things more dangerous; if they failed to kill either him or Baelynna on the field, it meant that their plan to corner her would now likely result in them having to fight two gods simultaneously.  Though they didn't know exactly how strong gods were supposed to be, they did know that they could be slain.

 

GURPS Fantasy Warriors Session 38: A Terrible Secret

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

 

To Halberst!

Edelina wanted the people they'd just imprisoned in a hole in the ground to be treated before they marched south, as most of them were likely her subjects.  The other Emperors didn't think they could afford to delay the march on Halberst, so a compromise was reached where the less-capable Blood Magisters were left behind while the rest continued on with the armies.  This meant that while the imprisoned would suffer more injury due to brain boiling, the armies wouldn't suffer too much.  Mielikki questioned one of the first batch to be cured but learned nothing; everyone who Baelynna had compelled looked to be peasant farmers.

 

On the march, the commanders stayed in clusters near a Magister of Secrets, to maintain the mental wards against the Path of Thought.  The earthlings were covered by Pomegranite, and Tauschun by Ulrich, while the others had to find someone within their armies.  The elves were capable of great magic on their own but lacked the specialization of the College, and so they needed special assistance, which they received from Grand Magister Curzo.

 

In order to avoid ambushes, they deployed a large vanguard.  With outriders along the flanks, this left the majority of the army safe inside a protective bubble.  Rather than scouting in force, they continued to use small detachments which Pomegranite oversaw.  He caught onto a number of conflicting reports, which meant some of them had likely fallen under Baelynna's sway.  They were left in position but noted so that her tendrils could be cut out when battle began without giving anything away.

GURPS Fantasy Warriors Session 37: The Conspiracy Revealed

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

 
Two Names

Now sitting in front of her, Mielikki realized that Edelina might have had a hand in Eremon's death given how it secured her rule.  He went down the line of succession in his head: first two of her cousins, Duke Henri de Solei and Duchess Juliette de Capan, while third in line was Luana.  The rest of the audience was uneventful; Edelina was somewhat placated by Mielikki's assurances that every army in the Empire assembling in her province was not a threat, but they were unable to press her on whatever secret knowledge she was concealing.

 

Pomegranite had his agents look into the others who were present for Astraeus' return and got some leads.  Prince-Consort Louis had recently taken up the Dwarven Game, a wargame which had become popular in Lumene that Mielikki was familiar with, and was by all accounts quite good.  Baron Philippe, Hugo's son, seemed genuinely touched by the earthlings' condolences for his father's death despite their war several years back.  Henri and Juliette were both still in the capitol as well, though Juliette was close to the church and Henri was a drunkard and a gambler.

 

Meanwhile, Granmarg and Thicket overheard a rumour that mysterious white lights had started appearing in Courcillon at night.  They were said to appear in mirrors or windows, and with no obvious source.  Mielikki arranged for a chance meeting with the Prince-Consort and arranged a game for that evening while the others went to hunt the white flame.  Louis was glad to know that the game was popular in the Highland Forests as well, and expressed his regrets over their province's relations, noting that it was all politics and nothing personal.  Hopefully, their people could meet in more friendly terms such as this going forward!

 

GURPS Fantasy Warriors Session 36: Running in Circles

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

 

Threats Old and New

While the Triumvirate were preparing for the journey to Wrost to find Curzo, they heard news from Lumene.  In the dead of winter, demons had attacked Baron Hugo's manse outside Mont Villay, and he and his daughter had been slain.  Empress Edelina had called the armies of Tauschun and the Segretan League to aid in tracking down the demons, but had declined to call on the provinces of the Empire that did not fall under her authority.  The earthlings continued with their plan and left the Highland Forests with only their personal retinues.

 

Once they were in Lumene, they heard more dire news: when the sun god Astraeus had returned, Edelina, her brother Eremon, and many other nobles had been there to meet him, when demons had attacked.  Many were slain, including Eremon, while Edelina had been gravely wounded.  At this point, Mielikki realized that the Segretan army would naturally march through Halberst, where they would likely fall under the dominion of Queen Baelynna.  To counter this, Pomegranite dispatched his bird, Bird, to Ulrich with an ensorcelled letter that only he would be able to read, asking for him to attempt to convince the Segretan leadership to march around and through Baronde instead.

 

The rest of their journey through the borderlands of Lumene was uneventful, and they proceeded down a series of gentle slopes into the marshes and swamplands of the Grand Duchy of Wrost.  Confusingly, the grand duchy was named after the capitol, so their journey to Wrost wasn't over yet.  On their way, they heard no news of Consus, which was likely due to him being god of secrets, but many had fled the city when the mazes had appeared.  Indeed, on arriving in the orcish city, they found that it was still struggling with the aftermath, and that many thoroughfares now suddenly ended in a ten foot blue stone wall.

GURPS Fantasy Warriors Session 35: Expanding the Inner Circle

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

 

Preventative Measures

Now knowing one method to nullify Baelynna's complusion, the Triumvirate proceeded back to Segreta in secret before rejoining their retinues and trekking through the snow to the capitol of Tauschun, Kaskorata, to speak with Ulrich.  Mielikki arranged an audience with the child King Peter to keep up the pretense of conducting trade negotiations, and they made a deal for human food in exchange for earthling farm labour, then went to Ulrich's office to "finalize" the deal.

 

They asked him what he knew of Halberst, and he was aware that messengers they had dispatched were not returning, but little more.  Pomegranite relayed that Baelynna, the goddess of bloodlust and thought had taken over the College using the Path of Thought, and that Emperor Curzo was missing.  Ulrich nodded for him to continue, and he said that they were now seeking protection from this mental domination.  For that, they needed a Magister of the Path of Blood, but they couldn't go to the College and figured Ulrich might know one.

 

He confirmed that he knew a friendly magister in the city, but suggested an alternative to boiling their brains: would it not be possible to use the Path of Secrets to hide away one's consciousness, such that they compulsion being placed upon them was ineffective?  With a flash of insight, Pomegranite suddenly realized that not only would it be possible, but that he already knew almost exactly how it could be done.  (Secretly, he'd already suspected this, but had hesitated to bring it up because it might make him seem more suspicious.)