GURPS Fantasy Warriors Session 31: The Orb of Flesh

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

 

Great Change

With the Imperial Messengers reinstated, communications with distant provinces were restored, and so Mielikki made a deal with Duccio de Segreti.  Through him, the earthlings would fund adventurers that delved down into the Labyrinth in exchange for any magical weapons they found.  Duccio, as a former Magister of Prophecy, was on the back foot and relatively desperate for funding, and was more than happy to operate as a cut-out to hide the true backers.  Hopefully, they'd get something they could use against Terra, Carmenta, and any other gods that returned.  Meanwhile, Pomegranite used the terramorphers who had been stationed at the Mountain's Maw to begin the excavation of a pass through the northern mountains that would allow them better access to the coast.

 

He required Thicket's help, which was granted as the Grandmaster Terramorpher had his own pet project that could use assistance: spying on the former Terran faction of the priesthood and discerning who could be brought over to their side from those who had been cowed by Terra's killing of their highi priests.  Granmarg, still in the Elven Forests, established communications with the various merchant guilds operating out of Port Mineur in Lumene to expand ocean-going trade.  The earthlings had only a very small bit of coastline and were not an ocean-going people, so they would just contract the experts instead, a very earthling way of doing things.

 

When his training was complete, Granmarg began the long march back across the continent to the Highland Forests.  One day, when he was travelling through western Halberst, he heard a faint sound of rhythmic drumming seeming to come from thin air, which quickly faded.  This was too like the opening of the demongate to be coincidence, and so he turned back to the east and headed to the College.  Once there, he quickly gained a meeting with High Magister Jasper Sunmeadow, who agreed with his assessment and sent a messenger to fetch Grand Magister Curzo.

 

GURPS Fantasy Warriors Session 30: The End of the Demonwar

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

 

Victory!

Pomegranite used his Path of Secrets to conjure an elaborate illusion in the minds of one of the larger swarms of demons which saw them attack their allies.  This gave Granmarg and Mielikki space to fall back.  As their troops had been fighting for the entire day, the triumvirate marched back a decent distance and then made camp for the night.  At Cliffside's orders, the next morning they formed up their ranks and lured the remaining demons into ambushes piece by piece.  It was a very effective strategy, resulting in the slaying of all demons that were still on the surface with not one more earthling casualty.

 

They then cleaned up the Bile by pushing it into large clumps which the College magisters burned with the Path of Fire.  All this took around a week, and still Bird had not returned, which suggested that it had run into some troubles.  Head in hands, Pomegranite realized that he had basically sent intel about the demons directly to the demons!  After all, the demons came out of a hole in the ground, and so did the dwarves (in a manner of speaking).  Granmarg agreed that only bad things came from holes in the ground such as Terra and the Wurm, while Mielikki countered that delicious rockflower was also from holes in the ground.

 

The victorious army marched back across the desert to the buried entrance of Karaz Tonkor where they were again met by a unit of dwarves.  They asked if the battle had been a success, to which Granmarg replied simply "Roaring", with a more detailed explanation to follow in a proper council with dwarven command.  As before, one of the dwarves parted the sands and revealed the great gate that led down into the Undersands.  The fortress-city was much more alive than it had been when they left, the armies of Wrost, Baronde, the Segretan League and the Elves having all arrived in the interim.

 

GURPS Fantasy Warriors Session 29: The Bull Demon

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

 

In Search of the Demon Hole

The demons continued to surge into the earthling lines, and with the bulk of their numbers assailing his position, Granmarg's formation in the north were forced into a retreat in which many earthlings were killed.  Pomegranite dispatched reinforcements and without delay Granmarg circled around the side of the main demon swarm, attempting to get close enough to the Demon Hole for his terramorphers to close it without risking another losing battle.

 

The Eel Demon continued to make a lot of noise by the Demon Hole, but didn't seem interested in attacking them anymore, while to the south, Cliffside retreated and Thicket pressed forward, attempting to prevent the demons from grouping up more.  Mielikki's troops continued running north to aid Pomegranite and Granmarg, avoiding battle as they went.  The next few demon waves were repulsed, and the earthlings pressed further in while becoming increasingly surrounded.

Cliffside sustained heavy wounds while his troops broke out of an encirclement that left them far to the rear of the battlelines, but an enormous swarm of demons were in pursuit.  Pomegranite engaged in a series of careful hit and runs on the largest horde while avoiding getting pinned down by their full numbers, successfully whittling them down, while Granmarg continued to harry the flanks while pressing toward the objective.

 

GURPS Fantasy Warriors Session 28: Combing the Desert

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

 

In Search of the Demon Hole

Having found the demons, Pomegranite dispatched Bird, his trained messenger bird, to notify the dwarves as the earthling armies took their formations.  Thicket was the first to engage, leading his troops in an ambush that slew hundreds of the demons, while Granmarg charged straight at the thickest part of the horde only for them to fade away, luring him into the open.  Pomegranite and Mielikki took advantage of their College magisters and launched furious volleys of magical projectiles into the enemy.  Between all their terramorphers, the earthlings ascertained the location of the Demon Hole, though unfortunately it was quite distant, so a quick hit and run wouldn't be possible.

 

Then the horde crashed down upon them.  The Triumvirate easily held their own, but Cliffside was driven back and forced into a retreat.  Granmarg's charge continued on, his forces ignoring ranged fire thanks to their hardened stone shells, and he quickly engaged the Centipede Archer Demon in a duel.  His foe loosed a living arrow directly into Granmarg's mouth, but he overcame the pain, chewing and swallowing the wriggling demon.  Then, like a bolt of lightning, Granmarg was suddenly upon his foe, landing a series of blows too fast to see.  The demon's head swole and then exploded in a fountain of gore, and the rest of his troops made short work of the remaining lesser demons, driving them back.

 

On the other end of the battlefield, the Bees Demon attempted to lure Cliffside's beleaguered forces into an ambush, only to be caught off guard by a sudden charge from Thicket that soon found their armies in pitched battle.  The swarm of bees with human faces flew in, bellowing a horrid wail as they closed.  Thicket threw dozens of stone spikes at them, but soon they were upon him and struck as one their stingers in perfect unison, the weight of the blow knocking him from his feet.  He was only down for a moment, though, and sprang back up at the same time as hurtling a boulder at the swarm of bees, which crushed them all.

GURPS Fantasy Warriors Session 27: Fortress-City of the Dwarves

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

 

Cleaning Up

The earthlings drove off the last of the demons, and though Pomegranite fought with the Eyes Demon, he was turned to stone by its eye beams and it managed to flee with the rest of the stragglers before he recovered.  Good news came from their flanks as well, with the armies from Tauschun and Lumene also emerging victorious.  Empress Edelina ordered Ulrich's forces to deal with the Bile and to watch for further incursions while her army and the earthlings were freed to march back to their initial destination in the Dwarven Undersands.

 

Pomegranite asked if anyone else had seen the demon dwarf commander, which was obvious evidence of dwarven perfidy, but only Granmarg had, and he reasoned that it was just one of the shapeshifters they'd heard about.  Furious that nobody would recognize that the dwarves were behind this, Pomegranite stormed off.

Granmarg went to ask The Young Heron where his sword came from, and was shocked when he replied that it was the first sword ever forged.  It was cursed, and would corrupt almost any who tried to wield it into mindless murder, as had happened to Tharivol.  Granmarg asked if he could find an equally potent weapon, but was brushed off and told that the weapon did not matter, only the wielder.  This was confusing to Granmarg, as just prior to this battle, the Young Heron had said that if he fell, Granmarg was to take his sword and use it to slay Terra.

 

GURPS Fantasy Warriors Session 26: Breaking the Demons

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

 

Atop the Brenther Foothills

The Legs Demon rolled over Mielikki, repeatedly trampling him with its many legs.  It was all he could do to hold the greater demon at bay as batted his tree trunk club aside like a toy.  Still, he managed to buy enough time for his troops to drive off the rest of the demons at a high price in earthling lives.  Since he wasn't winning the duel, Mielikki attempted to win the Legs Demon over with rhetoric.  Asserting entirely not in bad faith that they could live in peace, but it rolled away, ignoring him.  While the main swarm retreated, several demons attacked from range.  Tumours full of toxic gases, razor-sharp bone spikes, and tiny demons that crawled inside the mouth and nose were flung into Mielikki's ranks, killing dozens more of his soldiers.

 
Meanwhile, in the north, Pomegranite led his troops through an abandoned mine tunnel he had learned about at the College, arriving on the hilltop that was now controlled by the earthlings corrupted by the Eyes Demon's influence.  With no sense of remorse, he mercilessly slaughtered these "traitors", then had his magisters bombard the rest of the demon swarms downhill.  Thicket meanwhile lured the Eyes Demon's swarm into an ambush, where hundreds of demons were cut down while the commanders met in a Wizard Duel.

 

Thicket launched earth spikes from all around the Eyes Demon, while it attempted to use a variety of deadly eye beams to fry his brain and turn him to stone.  The duel broke off due to a retreat by the demons, and Thicket emerged unscathed while the Demon had suffered only some minor wounds.  The horde surged forward across the whole of the battlefield, but were mostly successfully driven back.  Mielikki and Pomegranite slew hundreds of demons each, but on the southern flank, nearly a thousand demons slipped around to target the earthling rear lines.

 

GURPS Fantasy Warriors Session 25: Battle of the Brenther Hills

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

 

The Battle Begins

On the morning of the decisive battle, reports came to the Triumvirate of more earthlings with their brains scooped out being found at the edges of their army's camps.  Pomegranite and many of the magisters emerged from a planning session that had lasted all night with an idea for how to stop the lesser demons that spread Bile to allow the advance of the main army.  As the troops ate their breakfast, Thicket gave an inspiring speech, reminding the soldiers that they were fighting not just for the Highland Forests, but for the Empire and all life.

 

The Young Heron approached Granmarg and asked him to take up his sword if he fell in battle.  The earthling agreed to do so, though he was barely trained in the sword, preferring his fists.  His tone changed when the Young Heron stated that it could kill demons with a look that Granmarg understood instantly: Terra.  His warnings that it was cursed, and that Granmarg must be careful not to let its bloodlust consume him, went unheeded.  You use a sword to kill demons, and bloodlust for that was fine!

 

The earthling armies took up their formations on the hills as the demon army began their advance from the west, with one column charging out ahead in the center and seizing an elevated position the earthlings had left deliberately vacant.  Pomegranite had his magisters and archers rain invisible arrows on their position, slaying many, while Mielikki cautiously advanced up the south flank along with his reserves.  One demon, a pulsating ball of legs of all sizes and materials (which would be known as the "Legs Demon"), rolled up a sheer cliff and brought its horde up surprisingly close to Mielikki's.