Characters: Escape
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
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.
By the time they arrived in Bedrock, reports from Pomegranite's agents in the southeast stated that Friedrich had been seen traveling. In response, he decided to set a trap, by having the spies spread rumors of a group of rebels based out of a monastery who were looking to aid the High Priest, but that the Triumvirate had heard of them and was going to crack down. Hopefully, this would draw him in to aid his fictional co-conspirators. Pomegranite, Thicket, and Granmarg set off for this monastery immediately, while Mielikki would stay behind and oversee the convocation of priests they had ordered.
Between the heavy rains of spring and the grueling pace Granmarg kept, Thicket became exhausted and caught a deathly case of Winter Blight. His rocky "skin" developed deep cracks, his eyes turned a worrisome opaque blue, and he began to cough up water. As such, he was forced to turn back, while Granmarg and Pomegranite continued on. On arrival in the nearby village that would become their base, they learned from the spies that the High Priest had indeed taken the bait, and had last been seen entering the monastery along with Drirtollor.
Now they had him all on his own, but if Friedrich claimed sanctuary, their lives would be much more difficult. They would either have to trick him into leaving of his own accord, or convince the ranking priest to evict him. Seizing him by force would be yet another case of overstepping their authority, and would no doubt cause another massive political scandal with the temples, perhaps even kicking off the civil war they had been working so hard to avoid.
Pomegranite decided to sit tight and wait for the High Priest to leave of his own accord, posing as a traveling nobleman who was waiting for an old friend and staying at the home of a peasant family who he paid handsomely. One night, his agents arrived and informed him that two earthlings were seen leaving the monastery and heading away from the village. They had no lantern or torch, which implied it could be Friedrich making his escape. The agents captured the pair, while Pomegranite and Granmarg stayed in reserve. They surrendered immediately, but unfortunately this was because they were just novices.
As befitted the spymaster, Pomegranite interrogated them separately, but there was no need. Both were absolutely terrified and gave up what they knew immediately. They had gone to the forest on a dare, as it was supposedly haunted. They had seen that the High Priest was in the monastery, and when Pomegranite suggested that he was a replacement who had killed the actual High Priest they told him to talk to the abbot who could help. For now, Pomegranite threatened the novices into silence and sent them back on their way.
Convocation
Back in Bedrock, the convocation of priests was underway. A consensus was swiftly reached to delay the appointing of a new High Priest until the next round of The Games. That was still years away, so Quarry's tasks would be taken up by others. The same was true for the former High Priest of Sappington who had just been executed. The ranking priests of Granitehearth and Bedrock were in attendance, and while the former was a conservative Terran, the latter had been a close aide to Friedrich Quarry.
The main subject of debate now was on what doctrine on the demons/gods should be adopted, and how best to align what had actually happened, the Triumvirates views, and Friedrich Quarry's views with existing scripture. As openly interfering in that debate would be viewed as more overreach, Mielikki instead did his best to convince the other priests to give most of the responsibilities of the former High Priest of Sappington to another Terran. His labours bore fruit, and the junior priest that was selected had a fairly radical view, where whatever the Triumvirate did was, due to their position at the command of earthling society, Terra's will.
Thicket, meanwhile, was still on the road and recovering from Winter Blight in an inn, when he was found by an Imperial Messenger en route to Bedrock. The Messenger presented him with a letter to the Triumvirate from Luana, which explained that an army of the dead had risen from the Labyrinth in the Segretan League and seized the major cities. Though her rural holding had yet to be attacked, she had fled. He ordered the Messenger to continue onto Bedrock and to not stop for any reason.
Sanctuary
Pomegranite continued to observe the monastery, while spreading a rumour that he, Granmarg, and the rest of the Triumvirate were all busy with the convocation of priests in Bedrock. It seemed Quarry or Drirtollor were onto their tricks, as neither took the bait this time. Hoping to break the stalemate, he then created an illusory disguise, climbed one of the monastery's exterior walls, then snuck to the Abbott's office without being seen. The elderly earthling inside looked up and asked who this newcomer was, as he didn't have any meetings for that day.
He declared himself to be an agent of the Triumvirate, and the Abbott immediately realized that this was regarding the High Priest's claim of sanctuary. Pomegranite had a hard time getting a read on the Abbott's views on the religious schism, and so attempted to convince him that the High Priest had been consorting with demons. The Abbott was unconvinced, and stated that the High Priest would continue to receive sanctuary. For now, they would have to remain content that Friedrich was stuck at the monastery.
Two More
Granmarg and Pomegranite returned to Bedrock and were informed by the others that Somnus, Lord of Dreams and the Dead, had likely conquered the Segretan League. The army was already being raised, and they marched for the College as soon as possible, where they would hopefully find reinforcements. They arrived at about the same time as Lumene's forces under Empress Edelina, and they discovered that Curzo had already taken Halberst's armies to the southern border without waiting for reinforcements.
Due to concerns over having killed her god, the Triumvirate decided to deflect any offers of an audience with the Empress and just marched south alongside her armies at a comfortable distance. Thankfully, no issues arose for once, and they arrived at the College's sprawling camp in the south. The dwarves were already present, as were the halflings of Baronde, though the latter were at depleted strength due to the famines in the province. The elves were absent, but presumably, they were not guarding their border with the League to the southeast.
Given Somnus, aka Sonveliss Doltoran, was related in some way to Mindartis, who Mielikki thought they might need to defeat the Void Beast, they were unsure of how to proceed. King Barrend of the dwarves had been somewhat on board with the idea of cooperating with him, but if Felosial had been anything to go by, the elves were less flexible. Given that the truth about the gods was still being kept secret, they also couldn't tell any of the other leaders what was going on. Ulrich, who might back them, would by now be taking up position far away along the League's western border.
During a secret meeting with the dwarves, Crown Prince Morkral suggested that the tidal wave might have been a Harbinger for a different god: Eros, Lord of Strife and the Sea. That made sense given what they knew, as Somnus' Harbinger was supposed to be the dead rising from their graves, but they had never found any claims about tidal waves in the apocryphal propehcies. They also learned that Barrend and Morkral had set aside their argument but had not resolved it, and would defer to Uthemar when it came to whether to work with Mindartis.
From Curzo, they learned that there was a massive trail of refugees fleeing in all directions, while the undead were all converging on the major cities of the League. The politics of the League had always been fraught, and it seemed they had failed to mount any kind of response. Neither of the two Great Lords of the League had been seen.
Notes:
Friedrich has the mandate of heaven, he just keeps escaping. He made it past the surrounding army as well with a near-crit success.
Thicket crit-failed a health check to keep up a grueling pace, and so he now has a permanent cough.
Alternate plan to deal with the monastery: disguise Granmarg as a dwarf and send him in to kill everyone.
There was some concern that they would march south past Edelina's soldiers, and then that her army would swing north to attack the Highland Forests behind them. Hence the marching side-by-side.
"I wouldn't worry about your horrible disease or Granmarg's blackened charred wound from Astraeus. They will never get worse."
Mielikki's player joked that Sonveliss and Mindartis would have the most fanfics shipping them. Two characters who have never been on-screen at the same time? It's more likely than you think!
On a similar note, how would the characters rank in a popularity poll? He thinks Cliffside would be in first, because of the sheer comedy of his entire life being the meme phrase "Do Nothing, Win". I think Friedrich Quarry and Ulrich would also be high. Theren would beat the rocks earthlings ride around on, which would rank in 5th despite not existing.
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