| Mightypion |
Changes:
-Chaotic is OK as long as GM approved, in my case it is so yay me!
-GM will do a lot of homebrew
-I will write all adventure journals under influence of Booze to get in character.
Session 0:
Cast of characters:
Dylan Ap Dryffed:
Human Chaotic Evil Caernian Abyssal Steelblood Bloodrager.
A raider/mercenary by trade, Worships our Lord in Iron and our Lady in Shadows.
Wishes to expunge his sin of "attempted murder" (on top of piracy, murder, slave taking, blasphemy, desecration, slave selling, Heresy and some other things) by properly murdering Sir Balin the pompous prick for real.
After all, merely attempting murder does not please SHE who is in shadows, and to properly atone for it the murder has to be done for real!
Has, while raiding an isolated Mithran island monastery, managed to get 9 different capital crimes commited by himself.
Comically attached to his comically oversized Orcish butchering Axe "Ferocious Overcompensation". Very upbeat personality apart from the whole murderous not-welsh viking raider who worships a Demon Lord and a deity of war and rage thing!.
Dylans opinion: This is me and I am clearly the main character!
Evelyn Silvershield:
Human Antipaladin of Abadar (formerly a Knight of the Alerion) wants to murder Sir Balin the pompous prick because he is responsible for her imprisonment, the death of her husband, a hostile work enviroment on account of him being a clingy creep and some other things.
Is in for attempted murder and attempt to duel for to the death.
Dylans opinion: didnt know old money sack had antipaladins, must be the feared "Pay your bills idiots" batallion. Need to check if its ok if I kill the prick, or maybe I just cut him in two and then we each murder a half?
Worm:
NE Halfing Bard. Is a very nice person who calls everyone mylord, quite into Belial worship, probably will be the utility skill monkey. Apparently managed to replace the holy books in one of Mithras cathedral with pornographic prose. Dylan has already asked him for some copies.
Dylans opinion: Apparently worhships the funniest devil, and knows some funny songs. Also calls everyone boss, think well get on fine!
Victor Caulston:
LE Arcanist, worships Asmodeus, does not talk very much. Got caught summoning a devil and/or was ratted out by his family.
Dylans opinion: Said he can make Dylan bigger once we retrieve his precious component pouch from whichever sun sucker has it! Hmmm, Big Dylan with Ferocious overcompensation= Dead Mitrans! Good Wyrdwolf!
Nox Lawfull Evil Mesmerist:
Very charismatic. Unknown otherwise.
Dylans opinion:
Hmm, possibly romantic competition?
Vexus the Mysterios Gunslinging Inquisitor of Ctixyron.
Capabilities unknown, very attached to his weaponry.
Dylans opinion:
Yaay! People who care about their weapons unite!
Also, there is a sleeping elfen lady in the other cell, who had her ankles slashed by the sun suckers! Evy said something about her being a smith, should definitly get her out if we escape, smiths are really valuable!
Now, all I have to do is to get angry enough to break my chains without the guards noticing. My previous cunning plan of trying to improve the chains using my absolutly non existing craft skills has been rebuffed by the vile reactionary forces of observable reality or something! Suckers!
| Mightypion |
Well, not much happened.
Due to exposition, plot dumps, mutual character descriptions etc. things were relatively quite until a mysterious woman appeared, who had clearly enchanted the guards and must certainly be a charmign succubus send to save me bwhahaha our Lady in Shadows provides!
But why is she moving away with Evelyn? Maybe eve is the romantic rival, not the romantic target!
Apparently, its a test and we have to break out. Well, she handed a veil to evelyn which got worm a masterwork set of thief tools, just as he was removing his shackles, that vexus guy decided to remove a window from it.
He now had a window in his hand. While still being shackled. And in another cell then worm who was no longer shackled. The guard was aware that somehow, somehow in that cell hat a window in his hand, and came in to investigate.
I tried to distract him (I was so close to him I could not break free without him knowing), while worm tried freeing Victor, and Evelyn was apparently more hulky then me and just casually snapped her manacles.
Oh yeah, I kind of epically failed to repeat this feat and am still shackled. Victor summoned a devilish dog and a snake and probably took out the guard. Cool thing, the window dropped on the floor, was very very magical and turned into a door, and apparently we can move through this into the armory hahaha.
I plan to use the rope from the veil and use worm to well, fish, for new supplies haha. Still need to murder that guard, get out of our manacles, grab the elven smith, yoink the guards plate armor and stuff.
| Phntm888 |
Human Antipaladin of Abadar (formerly a Knight of the Alerion) wants to murder Sir Balin the pompous prick because he is responsible for her imprisonment, the death of her husband, a hostile work enviroment on account of him being a clingy creep and some other things.
Is in for attempted murder and attempt to duel for to the death.
Given some of the events that occur in this AP, I'm not sure an Antipaladin of Abadar is going to be a good fit. She's going to have to do a few things that Abadar is probably going to frown upon.
| Mightypion |
Given some of the events that occur in this AP, I'm not sure an Antipaladin of Abadar is going to be a good fit. She's going to have to do a few things that Abadar is probably going to frown upon.
The player indicated OOC that she will probably end up Asmodean.
We have 2-3 devil worshippers, 1 Abadarian, 1 Daemon worshipper and me who worships Gorum and Nocticula.
I dont think that my char will have much moral hesitations/things Nocticula would frown upon (Gorum maybe), navigating infernal requests of conversion (he is a very martial Ladys guy, of the queens of night, Eiseth is probably the best fit, aspect and goal wise as well in terms of murdering heaven, overcoming limitations and dispensing humorous vengeance) will probably be interesting though.
Like, I am not ruling it out, he could also see Nocticula as his Get out of Infernal jail card, and Nocticula is a pretty dangerous deity to convert away from so its not exactly riskfree.
| Phntm888 |
It's really the only possible outcome for an Abadarian, so that's a good thing. As for Gorum and Nocticula, there will be plenty to satisfy the Lord in Iron. I don't see Nocticula having an issue with events either.
The Daemon worshipper is going to be interesting, as well. There's some interesting stuff for them in here. I'm not familiar with Ctixyron, though.
| Mightypion |
Session 2. Spoiler, Gorum and Nocticula will approve.
As we left off, the sole guard, collapsed relatively messily and was taken prisoner. He was made to understand the severity of his situation, and quickly gave the guards in the next room the "All clear" signal.
The villains used the occassion to strip him of his plate armor, gag him, and chain him up in one of the cells.
Evelyn got his shield, sap, and platearmor, Dylan his masterworked longsword.
After some discussion, it was decided that the armory, where the window led to, was the first target to hit. It was however complicated by the fact that there was a fat porter civilians just beneath the window.
Undeterred, Worm and Dylan snuck up on him and killed him, seeing to 2 smiths which had not seen them yet, they quickly move the corpse outside of their view, and availed themselfs to some of the armory contents.
Dylan was pretty happy about having scale armor, Worm grabbed some stuff as well, and they signaled for the rest of the party to make their descent.
Unfortunatly, Vexus, who spied his dragoon musket and beneficial bandolier on the table beneath the window, was overenthusiastic about being reunited with his precious, slipped, and set it off.
The shot rang throughout Banderscar prison. Dylan moved to the armories exit to interfere with any attempt to invesitgate, while the rest moved to loot more and subdue the smiths, who surrendered quickly.
Dylans plan was party rewarded, as a confused guard opened the armories door, alas, Dylans readied attack missed, and the guard, taking one good luck and Dylan slammed the door shut, barred it and screamed "THE PRISONERS ARE IN THE ARMORY".
It was decided to loot the armory, after the rest of the party murdered the smiths in cold blood.
The guard meanwhile were out in force and demanded surrender, to wich the party, wishing to use the chokepoint in their part, replied "come and get us Sunsuckers". The guard got the idea to smoke them out, while the party decide, under cover of ghost sounds from Worm and after barring the door somewhat silently on their end, exfiltrate back up through the window.
This was the gear of the party at this point:
Dylan: Scalemail, MWK Longsword, Heavy Shield
Evelyn: Platemail, +1 Greatsword
Vexus: Dragoon musket, Studded leather
Worm: halfling fitted longspear, studded leather
Nox: Had connection problems and couldnt really participate
Victor: Spell component pouch.
After finding nothing particularly interesting on the second floor (hindisght, I should have grabbed the manacles in the torture chamber), the party descended into the first floor, and immidiatly ran into the guard component (Blackerly, 4 melee gaurds, 2 archers, 2 healers) commanded by Blackerly.
Worm moved first, casting a cunning degree of grease in the path of the guard. Vexus paused his action, while Dylan strode forth and flung a Javelin at a Guard archer, it was on. Victor summoned a trusty infernal dog, Worm sang to inspire courage, Evelyn strode side by side Dylan towards the Grease and Vexus unleashed another shot at the already wounded archer, nearly killing him. (Party has a surprise round and rolled fairly well on init). A first guard who tried to charge did not see the grease, slipped, and landed prone in front of Dylan, who quickly drove his Sword through his chest shouting "BLOOD FOR THE LORD, SKULLS FOR THE LADY", amazingly, the guard was still living so Evelyn walked up said "Skull be there" Rammed her Greatsword through the guards head and spoke "your welcome" to Dylan.
The archer, hit by a javelin in the surprise round and a musket shot from Vexus in the first round, panicked and fled, while additional guards attempted to bypass the grease. This funneled them into Dylan and Eve on the grease fields rightside, and Victors summoned dog on the grease fields left side.
Dylan and Eve managed to dispatch 2 more guards in quick succession (we play with elephant in the room, and both of them are powerattacking with STR 18) and vexus got in a nicking hit on blackerly himself.
Then it got worse. The other archer unleashed, from his masterwork composite longbow, a terrible blow on Dylan, straight one shotting him, it was ruled that Dylan could rage reactivily to get back to +1 positive hitpoints. Blackerly threw a blinding grenade thing at eve and Dylan, leaving eve temporary blinded, but she nevertheless dispatched another guard in her turn.
One healer buffed the remaining mellee guard, and blackerly moved closer to the part.
Sudenly, Worm has a cunning idea, and greased Blackerlies magical longsword out of his grubby hands. Victor, at worms suggestions immidiatly followed up and snatched it with mage hand, leaving it at evelyns feat.
Dylan did some damage to the buffed guard (when you deal 13 damage on level 1 and the mooks dont die from that), the guard retaliated with a massive blow on eve leaving her at 1 HP, having finished Victors Dog a turn earlier.
Blackerly meanwhile was undeterred by no longer having a weapon, ran up to victor and smacked him down with a single unarmed strike.
This ended the session.
Situation:
Dylan at -1/+1 /11 HP 1 more rage round (Vexus is in range to CLW him).
Evelyn at 1/12 hp
Victor KOed
Worm full (I think 3 more rounds of courage)
Nox connection problems
Vexus still has 1 cast of a spell left.
Blackerly up, only midly nicked but disarmed
Buffed melee guard at 13 hp points of damage
1 healer at 7 damage who would provide flanking to Blackery vs Eve or Dylan
1 healer on the other way past the grease, probably out of spells because he was healing Blakcerly and buffing the guard.
1 Monster archer with a +7ish Attack bonus while deadly aiming. The archer was ordered by Blackerly to stand down though, as Blackerly probably wants to take them alive.
We do go first, if we can take out the flanking healer and the buffed guards, this may still work out. Seems really hard though, especially because that archer can basically one shot anybody. Apparently has a MWK composite bow key to +2ish STR bonus. Dylan definitly wants that bow.
Kill/Defeat count:
Victor 2 (via infernal doggoes)
Eve 1
Dylan 1
Civilian kill count (porter dude)
Dylan 1
| Mightypion |
Worm attempted to cast Daze on the buffed guard, but failed to penetrate his mighty will.
Vexus was somewhat confused, shooting blackery for 9 damage anyway.
Feeling his Strength wane, Dylan shouted "MY BLOOD FOR THE LORD YOUR SKULL FOR THE LADY" and critted Blackerly for 20. He still stood.
Seeing her chance, Evelyn hit Blackerly as well, hitting for 18 and sending him into a dying state!
Alas, the remaining guard healer with spells cast cure light wounds, receiving a vicious attack of opportunity (we have a houserule that basically everyone has orc ferocity, with Orcs having a better version), which would have struck him down, stumbled to blackerly and healed him.
Blackerly then knocked out Dylan, because AC17 is apparently not worth very much (definitly not against people with 16 Str and 5 BAB).
The archer took aim and wounded Vexux, who retreated, while the low level cleric nicked worm.
The buffed guard attempted to take out Evelyn, and actually managed to miss for the first time.
On the villains turn, Evelyn eviscerated Blackerly, before falling to the buffed guards pommel, despite being at AC22 against him. Worm was overwhelmed.
Alas, the guards did not actually murder the prisoners in cold blood, but recaptured them.
Worm managed to stash his masterwork lockpick in his mouth before beign taken.
Away from the scene, Nox, the Mesmerist who missed session 2 happened upon the warden after looting his library and was unceremoniously put to sleep.
Awaken at level 2 and in the prison, Worm fairly quickly managed to free the party, hearing the warden approach (who wanted to deal with the window), the party went back into their cells to have him marvel at the window ineffectively and then leave.
With the warden no longer in the second floor, the party quickly dispatched the reamingin conscirpted cultist guard by the old combination of getting fascinated into a riddle game by worm, while Dylan, whose cell door has been opened, snuck up from behind and slashed his throat.
Eve grabbed his armor, Dylan, practiced raider he is, scooted of to the torture room and grabbed a grapling hook and a handaxe and some other stuff (like manacles). With Eve in guard looking armor (Dylan prefering his mobility for now), she went down to the first floor first, and was pressured by the warden, who was searching for blackerleys ledger, into kicking in a door for him, a task she performed to his satifaction. Dylan considered Grappling the warden from ambush, but with just one person armed it seemed like a bad idea, so he retreated stealthily back upstrairs.
The party descended, first into Blackerlys area where they looted some goods (including blackerlys sword (eve), and a sash of the war champion (dylan), a dervish sicke (worm) and some other stuff(rings of communique), Evelyn bribed a genre aware guard who passed by into not going inside, the party then snuck up into the armory, where evelyn encountered the wounded archer (not the murder archer but the scrub) who was trying to heal himself.
He was swiftly coup de graced, and looting began.
Dylan had armor again! And a shield! Maybe AC19 will do soemthing this time :). Actually, AC17 because they found the +1 Greatsword again, which Dylan claimed because why not. He is hitting for 2D6 + 9 when power attacking with it, or for 2D6 + 12 when power attacking while raging. He also joinked a longspear for reach weapon shenanigans.
The stealthily approached another room, finding a sleepy healer guard whom they promptly coup de graced, finding great treasre in the form of a 16 charged wand of healing and a 4 charge shield of faith.
Things were really looking up. Hearing the genre aware guard with his dog approach, Worm got the cunning idea to ghost sound a dog whistle. This made the dogs go nuts, which greatly annoyed the guard outside.
The group is up a wand of healing, a fair number of levels, Dylan is just missing his butchering Axe (and this time he didnt waste 3 rage rounds on non combat suff), Evelyn has all of her stuff and then some.
Oh, Vexus managed to sneak away and is positioned on the wall to snipe people once stuff happens.
The ghost sound dog whistle should get us the actual time to cast CLW on Eve and Dylan (both at roughly half health).
Things are looking up!
Overall, the mellee part of the party was fairly optimized for level 1, but everyone, including the opposition, rolled like on fire. AC barely mattered. Kill count got upped by 1 more (Blackerly) and then a civilian conscript (escape initial) the wounded archer (armory) and the thought to be dead level 3 healer (sleeping room).
I was thinking "If Blackerly has 5 Bab, why doesnt he double attack" but kind of kept my mouth shut.
The debate is if we try to skedaddle, or try to make pursuit more difficult by taking out the dogs and maybe the warden.
Warden mentioned to eve that some rations are spoiled.
We did identify the kitchen, and do know that there is one guard in there.
Warden has an owl familar.
Oh, Blackerlys sword is a talon blade.
| Mightypion |
Murder count:
Bosses:
Evelyn 1 (Blackerly, with assists from Dylan)
Mooks:
Dylan 3 (+2 in the session, conscripted mook and coup de graced healer)
Evelyn 2 ( but she did kill Blackerly and nearly put down the healer who was later cdged)
Nox 1 (coup der graced the wounded archer)
Victor 2 (doggos still going strong)
Vexus claimed (GM controlled) that he murdered 2 guards off screen.
Civilians:
Dylan 1 (porter in the armory)
2 smiths were killed by, lets say Vexus, he is a daemon worshipper and wants to destroy life with mostly explosion, shrapnell and science.
Worm has yet to kill anything, and claims it is because he does not want to be detected by "sense murderer" spells. He is really useful though as a bluff stealth and buff monkey. With inspire courage, rage, smite good, and using unusually good looted gear, some party members can possibly get into double digit Attack boni at level 2 (Dylan with his +1 Greatsword, while raging, hits at +10, at level 2, which is nuts. Realistically its +9 because power attack but its still nuts, the real fun will begin with enlarge person on him).
Alternatively, 2X +8 for 1D6+9 damage with powerattacking claws.
I think we would have probably rolled over the dungeon as written, although I have no idea how much opposition would actually be there in this case.
| Mightypion |
And the next session.
Ended on a semi cliff hanger.
Before we could actually heal, a guard searing for some medicine ran into the floor. Dylan and Evelyn quickly murdered him with readied attacks, Evelyn striking first for 21 damage and then Dylan delivering another massive blow for 17. The poor guard never knew what hit him.
Alas, this was seen by another guard, who had a dog, and was next to the dog kennel. Victor summoned a fiendish doggo friend to keep that guard occupied.
Switching his greatsword for a longspear, Dylan moved out.
The guards dog charged him, Dylan hit it with an AoO, doing 7 damage which the dog survived. It then succesfully bit him for 4.
Evelyn moved up as well. The dogs in the kennel were smart enough to delay their actions, and then charged Evelyn when the guard opened the kennel. Dylan heavily wounded one on an Attack of opportunity, dealing 9 damage, however, both of the charging dogs hit Evelyn with the 3rd dog providing flanking support. She was down 7 hitpoints and looked shaky.
Vexus (GM NPC now) shot the dog threatening Dylan from his position on the wall , disregarding a runner trying to warn the warden.
I think Worm inspired courage.
The remaining PCs also moved out of the prison building into the courtyard, and closed the door behind them.
Dylan, seeing that the situation was serious, dropped his longspear, grew his claws and tried to kill the wounded dog with a full attack. He rolled a 4 and a 2 though, wasting both attacks.
Evelyn dispatched the wounded dog, massively overkilling it.
She then 5 foot stepped away from the dogs, setting them up to be put to sleep by worm.
However, at this moment, a guard openend the recently closed door from behind (from where the heroes came, we did not kill everything there), and the murderous highly skilled archer unleashed a readied action to shoot worm but thankfully missed.
Dylan struck the guard at the door, but failed to connect. Nox summoned a brave eagle next to the evil evil archer, which did good work and hurt it quite a bit. Victor ray of frosted the guard in the door.
The guard tried to hit Dylan, fighting defensively, and failed, while the other guard tried to hit Eve, failing as well.
We omniously heard the voice of the warden shouting "WTF are they breaking out again? Where are they?".
In the next turn, the archer turned on the eagle, Dylan and Eve slaughtered their respective guard opponents, Eve moved to coup de grace the still sleeping dogs, Dylan moved next to the archer.
The archer was nearly shanked to death by Irithael, the GM NPC who was hiding in a neighbouring room. Dylan delived the killing blow on his arhcer nemesis (but not before he managed to blow a horn signal), figured that the warden would be coming from around the prison.
We had 2 turns, but the warden did not appear where we expected.
He came in from the back of the prison building, using a backdoor we did not see. He had a knife flying around him, and an owl that went invisible. He moved up, but not out of the building, and began pelting the party with magic missles casted via his owl. Victor cleverly put and end to this by closing the door with a mage hand, while the party tried in vain to kill the owl (hitting it 4 times but each time missing due to total concealment). The warden blasted a door open, and then later casted grease to protect his position. Misjudging slightly, Dylan tried to get to grips with him but was 5 feet short.
He promptly got dumped in a create pit. Have I mentioned that this spell needs a nerf? Dlyan had a skill point in climb, climb as a class skill and 18 base strength, so an innate bonus of 8. He also had a grappling hook, which the gm ruled to give a +5 circumstance bonus to climb out of it. He was wearing only fairly lightish medium armor, which his armor training reduced to just a -3 ACP. So, with an effective +10 to climb, he still needed a 15 or higher. Which he just failed to roll until the combat was near over.
The rest of the combat was somewhat comedic.
Dylan was stuck in the pit trying to get out. An Eagle summoned by Nox succesfully tripped teh warden, and Evelyn rushed him, trying to put him down. However, she did not roll especially high. Typically. Nox bravely ran into combat, and also tripped him but was nearly gutted by the wardens AoO. Yes, the warden had a +1 holy knife. He summoned a flaming sphere, but Eve rolled a nat 20 to dodge. Using expeditious retreat, and getting tripped a couple of extra time (there were several rounds where eve, inspite of flanking, smiting, inspire courage etc. just didnt manage to roll more then a 2 on the to hit), still, the warden slowly expended his spell pool, and now tries to run away using expeditious retreat. However, Vexus turned up and is blocking the way out.
On the completely different flank, Irithael (Elfen Smith GM NPC) was not a fan of engaging the warden, moved forward and ran into 2 guards. She is not looking so hot right now, but Dylan finally got out of the pit (GM fiat, DC25 is just stupid), and is on the way to assist her.
Current forces standing: 2 guards ganging up on Irithael, the warden.
Entire party is still active, although Nox is down to 2 hp or so from one AoO from the enemy mage :).
Plans: Finish combat, gnash teeth as Eve will likely claim another boss kill, loot the place, interrogate civilian staff, decapciate blackerly and the warden, set some stuff on fire. Actually break out. Next session should have more roleplay, this one was just fighting.
Oh, the dogs had hero levels in warrior. Good riddance. The warden is wizard 4, aristocrat 3.
| Mightypion |
And another session!
Evelyn finished off the Warden (2nd boss kill), Dylan (1) and Irithael (1) joined forces to defeat the remaining 2 guards.
The prison was thoroughly looted, gaining the party some suits of noble clothing, a map, a plate armor for Dylan, a composite longbow (+2 STR) for him as well, 2 spell books from the mage and a total of 3.7K gold that was equitably split between the party.
The warden also had a holy dagger, which we let Irithal handle because we all were evil. We also found Dylans Orc Butchering Axe furious overcompensation. When Dylan was united with it he nearly developed the ability to cast waves of extacy.
One guard and 3 porters/cooks were interrogated, the cook was not cooperating to Evelyn killed her, this gained the party the knowledge of the codeword.
Dylan decapciated both Blackerly and Warden Richter, and intended to use their heads as guest gifts.
Dressed up as mostly guards, the party bluffed its way through the porticullis, and then promptly murdered the last 2 guards there and also their dog! Freedom!
Dylan prepared a very obvious trap out of a rope and a spiked chain which he picked up somewhere in the way they were not going.
There was only one notable encounter in the swamp. A big boulder turned out ot be a massive frog monster. The party was unwilling to engage it, and the frog monster was unwilling to attack the party as well. Wisely, the party opted to rest elsewhere and leave the frog as a problem for possible pursuers, after throwing some rations at it as a peace offering. Some other navigational hazards were overcome because Worm is pretty drat good in knowledge geography, some others have a lot of knoweldge as well, Dylans survival was not even needed.
As such, the party arrived at the manor. Oh, Vexus gun blew up in his face, and as such he fled in such a way he disappeared, for now, from the adventure. (Player missing).
After being welcomed by Lady thiadora, Dylan made haste to most politely present his 2 little guest gifts of small import, while regretting he could not offer anything more substantial. Thiadora was quite pleased.
After some rest and relax while attended by her servants, which Dylan and Nox utilized in a carnal but mutually satisfactory manner, they were led to meet the cardinal.
Dylan was rather mindfull of his tounge, and, while noting that he had no authority whatsorever to speak on behalf of his people, let alone Out Lady in Shadows, that joint emnity towards both Mithra and a certain Goat with very loose standarts of property rights and admittedly amusing pretensions of relevance, could certainly be grounds of a considerable degree of cooperation in this manner.
Dylan was fairly surprised that Cardinal Thorn referred to Nocticula as "your goddess", while of course refraining from saying her name.
When silently praying to Nocticula for advice, he heard amused feminine laughter in his head, which he interpreted as demand for a tribute of antics and shenagians.
As such, the contract was signed, dylan using his claws and everyone else using a writing feather. Dylan thinks he is aware of several loopholes, but does not think that if he is not certifieably alone.
While free will was, in Dylans mind debatable, very few things would have prevented his hosts from kicking him out, and eventually meeting his end either at the hands of the Mithrans or by the moors charming denizens.
The party was granted 3 days of rest before their training would begin.
Dylan, being a veteran of Caer Bryn military training with his tribe (best described as Ranger school, but with a greater focus on creativity and cheating) was expecting ranger school from hell, with probably a great focus on obedience. Despite having better then expected relations with Thiadora on account of being head-Uber-eats man (Thiadora apparently ate the heads, Dylan would have actually expected Necromancy), but as the strongest party member he was likely the prime candidate for getting thrown at a wall for the purpose of establishing dominance.
He assisted Irithael in masterworking his axe, as well as his platearmor, placed an order for a Bardiche and ideally a dwarfen waraxe (will pick up Weapon focus Axes at level 3, its EITR so it applies to all 3 of his weapons) and made sure to be in peak physical condition for the incoming training, by resting well, having mutually enjoyable times with attractive female slaves.
Dylan is considering to approach Thiadora about possible means of remotely deliving heads to her perusal, perhaps via some type of special bag of holding, which would not have the olfactory, diplomatic or stealth burden of lugging several numbers of heads around.
His surface thought are preoccupied by how many quality heads he needs to get to Thiadora in order to get his Butchering Axe enchanted with the much desired impact enchantment. This will probably be a long term contract.
| Mightypion |
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In character:
In which Sir Dylan, first of his name, battles a powerful devil.
As a slight side project, I am increasing my efforts to pass for a Mithran if neccessary, as such, I will be writing this record in their dreary pompous and frankly uninformative style, well mastery of forgery is not gained without practice.
such subterfuge please both the Lords and the Ladies of our joint endeavour.
Signed, Dylan ap Dryfedd
After 3 days of resting and refitting (Dylan picked up a Bardiche, some additional weaponry and had Irithael masterwork both his captured plate armor and his precious axe) from their recently conquered ordeal, our intrepid band of vigorous heroes began their training at the hands of their new commander. Various people received specific training, suited to their own abilities. Lady Evelyn learned to focus her fury better, and how to rely on her considerable force of personality rather then her dexterity to deflect blows Evelyn took a level in Oracle and Natures prophecy, and now uses cha instead of dex like an Apex predator.
Nox and Victor embarked on some magical training with the cardinal and emerged from this much enriched.
Worm learned how to act with ever more unabashed Gall .
As for myself, I had earlier expressed apprehension about my lack of mobility, which may render my combat prowress moot.
Mindfull of my desire to protect others, the cardinal bid me, fully armored as I was, to pick up a quite fetching female servant. Then Lady Thiadora, with a look promising naught but pain in her eyes, a look I knew knew well from my upbringing in the Caer, appeared, and the Cardinal bid me to run. Which I did.
With great motivation and enthusiasm. After thus spending a month running from Thiadora while carrying a giggling servant girl , whose name was Katherine and who thought this was all but a funny jest, in my arms, I became much faster and more capable to move quickly in heavy armor (profane bonus of 10 feet to land speed). I was as a matter of fact quite inspired by Lady Thiadoras demand to "run like the hairless ape you are". Apes have some capabilities in sprinting indeed.
Soon alas our actual test awaited.
In the first chamber of deception, we were tested, passing it relaively easily by figuring out that the lie.
The second test caused some damage, as we first had to pick the correct door out of 3 possible ones, and then run through a wall of fire. It did some minor damage to me, although several of my comrades where more severly burned.
The third test nearly caused a casulty as we were faced with a bound angelic beeing, hanging from the roof in great pain whose radiance was such that those caught in her gaze received considerable holy damage. Some pillars were available for cover.
I myself distracted her attention by shooting arrows past her and then
sneaking on to the next room. Neither Evelyn nor Victor nor Markus, a Cleric of Asmodeus assigned to our group at Cardinal thorns behest, were quite as lucky.
Here, in a torture chamber, we found, in a secret compartment the noble lad Timeon, squire to none but Sir Balin.
After some gentle prodding and some shared whiskey, he informed us about what he knew of the dungeon, and also that none but Sir Balin would be here as well. Both myself and Lady Evelyn felt naught but joy at the prospect of meeting this fine exemplar of the Mithran cause.
Now at long last came the trial of courage.
The inscription here read:
“Our fight is a righteous one, you will face foes of strength that towers over your own, show courage work together and this world is ours."
After venturing along a long hallway, the party entered a room with a familiar face. Lady Thiadora herself, with a large greatsword rammed in the ground before her. A large battle was head, after which an irate and injured Thiadora left the bleeding but valiantly victorious party!
Dylans handwriting here changes.
To hell with this writing style, this was far too fun to lie about it. You see, Lady Thiadora drew her blade in a fluid motion and bid us to go first. Me being me, I began by hitting on her with the timely and well known words of "My Lady, I hope you dont mind if I give you my very best shot?" I spoke these words, accentuating them with a hint of a trust of my hips, knowing full well these words could be my last ones "I do not believe I will mind at all." was her answer as she looked like me as if I was an insect.
Victor did something to make me grow, Worm inspired courage, and Markus the cleric blessed us in the struggle, Evelyn drank a potion and moved to flank, while Nox summoned an eagle to flank some more.
The time had come for me to hit on her in deed rather then with words, and well, spending a month running away from her actually told me many things about her movement patterns, and of her arrogance. Apex predators such as herself do not expect enemies to simply hit them directly, thinking, not without reason, that a lesser foe will attempt a complicated attack incorporating multiple feints and thus hope to actually strike true.
Well, my wild strike, fueled by my bloodrage, looked like a feint, but it wasnt.
Speaking the words My Lady, allow me to introduce thee to another Lady who is most dear to my Heart I brought down "furious overcompensation" in a massive diagonal blow. She expected it to be a feint because only a monkey would strike such a powerful foe with the most textbook attack possible? Well, it strook true, to her palpable surprise, bypassing her surprsingly resilient silken clothing and cutting into her fiendish flesh.
Her reaction I will fondly remember for the rest of my life. Her lower body turned into a nest of gracefully writhing tentacles, and as she began to levitate, her retribution began.
First, she hit me straight in the chest with her Greatsword, but stopped before the blade pierce my heart, next, a tentacle lashed out at Victor, striking him but amazingly enough failing to grapple him. Evelyn meanwhile was struck as well, but her armor and charisma enabled her to not be hit. My assessment of my own hit was that the damage I dealth with my first blow was probably half as effective as I expected it to be.
My comrades acted, Worm ably identifiying her and calling her a Gylou, which enraged her further, and then moving into a flanking position dodging a tentacle along the way and ably assisting (aid another) my own incoming blow, Evelyn struck, but narrowly missed, getting grabbed by a tentacle and being dragged into the writhing mass beneath her skirt for her troubles.
Markus healed me and Victor summoned a hellhound. Lady Thiadora did not interrupt either of them as she was strongly focused on me.
It was my turn once more. I bellowed, Lords and Ladies who watch this contest, ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED! as I heard the melodically malicious laughter of my Lady in Shadows in my head, I unleashed a completely chaotic and wild swing, trusting in the Abyss rather then my abilities, and, between the bless, the inspiration, the flanking and the additional assistance once more struck her!
A level 3 character, hitting a Gylou twice in 2 turns. Nocticula is laughing with Dylan not at Dylan right now.
Cardinal Thorn we did not bargain for this! My dress, ruined, this hairless ape even hurt me! She threw her sword (promptly identified as a potent weapon and given to Evelyn by Dylan) into Dylans general direction and flew through the roof.
That was unexpected We heard the Cardinals resonant voice, but quite pleasent to watch, Lady Thiadora takes great pride in winning difficult fights without a scratch. As you can surprise me, I have little doubt you will succeed in your efforts .
As we had thus passed the trial of courage with flying colors.
Personally, I was probably the smugest person on the planet right now, as Markus healed the rest of my wounds.
We then circumvented a very obvious trap (a pretty obvious Replica of what we were to retrieve in the next room, as well as a stairway back up to the manor proper), and then another obvious trap (A lot of gold behind a wall of crystalic glass, we were told to ring a gong to gain it, after being admonished before that secrecy is more important then riches. Only 2 out of 9 rooms remained for us to best.
Oh, I really need to get Thiadora some more hearts and heads lest I make a very powerfull enemy out of her.
The formal handwriting now continues
Having thus proven their great courage by forcing back the powerful Devil, the party proved its wisdom by passing the trial of Sin, here, Nox was invaluable for his ability to detect a secret door,
and its level headedness by passing the trial of Greed.
Only 2 more trials, Ruthlessness and Reward, remained.
| Mightypion |
I also got permission to sperg on Caer Bryn backstory, as we are going to deviate here from the AP:
Inquisitorial assessment of the current state of the Caer Bryn.
Overview:
The Caer Bryn represents a significant part Talingarde that has not yet seen Mithra's full light.
As assessment of its many totems, their strengths, weaknesses and liabilities in provided herein.
While a source of dubious value, and hardly objective or factual in many matters, the 40 year old writings of Cardinal Markadius Thorn are still the official record of Talingarde regarding the Caer Bryn.
Introduction:
The tribes of Caer Bryn are associated with respective Totems, one or more tribe constitutes a totem, and all adult members of that totem will carry a tattoo of their totem on their body.
Dangerously wrong, Lunar Hawk or Grey Death infiltrators do not have tattoos.
Following the victory of Markardian the fourth over the united tribes in the battle of Ynnistrid, and his judgment on the fallen tribes, a strong rift of opinion exists between those tribes that stand defiant before our Lord Mithra.
As a matter of fact, this question is political. What keeps the compliant tribes compliant is the implicitly threatened use of genocidal force by Mithran armies, as well as antagonism from the defiant tribes who view them as traitors, collaborators and who often treat captured compliant tribesmen worse then captured Talingardeans.
Let us begin with the compliant totems and their histories.
1: Crimson Sunburst
Prior to the conquest of Markadian the 4th, this tribe worshiped a nonentity called Sarenrae alongside with another nonentity called Gorum. The thought against Mithra in the battle of Ynnistrid, and where most harshly judged of all the totems, as those who already know the light have no excuse for their wickedness.
By the stern yet warm hand of our lord Markadian the 5th, this tribe was allowed to worship Mithra, with an allowance make to worship Sarenrae as Mithra's ward or consort. It is rumored that Markadian the 5th has a consort from this tribe, or was pursuing a policy of unification by marriage, but this is of course merely scandalous propaganda.
The crimson sunburst is the totem most thoroughly integrated into Talingarde. Their armament tends to be Talingardean, albeit with a preference for scimitars over Long-swords.
Markadian the fifth indeed did seek reconciliation and unification on terms perhaps acceptable to Caer Bryn. There where however simply too many burned bridges at this point, yet a relatively stable cold peace has been achieved.
2: Thorned Rose
A tribe worshiping Shelyn, Arshea and the whore queen Calistria, they were defeated at the battle of Ynnistrid, yielded and were among the least harshly judged tribes. Weak and led by women, their foolishness was held as a mitigating factor by Markadian the 4th, and many of them were spared.
In battle, these lascivious weaklings of flexible morals prefer flexible weapons such as whips or spiked chains, whom they often poison.
It should be noted that Bishop Markadius Thorn managed the difficult to achieve feat of not having any sexual intercourse while visiting the Thorned Rose capital of Cridwen, a feat that could in part be explained by him having a degree of misogynism that rivals that of hell, of whose charming female leadership compartment the savored sting is most certainly not a part. It should further be noted that one of the 2 most dire defiant tribes, the Lunar Hawks, are essentially a matriarchy.
3: Autumn veils
A rarity among the tribes, this tribe did not participate in the battle of Ynnistrid. They consider themselves great seers of the future, which no doubt warn them of the terrible future that shall befall those who stand against the Great MITHRA! Their business ventures have also been blessed by Mithra and thus they are the richest clan. This of course makes them a frequently attacked target for other clans, particularly the defiant ones.
The Autumn veils worship Desna, Pharasma, Nepthys and Irori, they stand aloof of conflicts, and concern themselves more with manners of business and prophecy. In battle, they often augment their forces with mercenaries. Some of them use Star-knives, a clearly ineffective weapon that shows how puny and weak those who deny our lord MITHRA are!
Given how close the battle of Ynnistrid actually was, one more clan joining could have well made the difference. This, rather the sheer pecuniary motives, is a greater explanation for the tendency of the defiant tribes to raid the veils.
4: Golden Sharks
The sharks were the first to yield in the battle of Ynnistrid, and were thus treated with more leniency by Markadian the 4th then many other tribes. Duly cowed, this riverine and mercantile totem has taken to the worship of Abadar as a subordinate of Mithra. While the veils augment their forces with mercenaries, the Sharks have a force of mercenaries augmented by some Caernic troops, the latter typically being ranged combatants using alchemical implements and bombs. It is said that they worshiped the Arch-devil Mammon before, but our Lord MITHRA has cleansed such unholiness from them by fire and sword.
There is a saying among the defiant tribes, why did we lose the battle of Ynnistrid? Because the Veils did not fight but the sharks did. The sharks are the designated raiding target for the defiant, and other compliant, and even the occasional Talingardean marcher lord.
5: Iron Oaks
The Oaks followed a philosophy called „the green“ and worshiped a fickle entity named Gozreh, and who left them alone, as all women are want to, against our Lord MITHRA!
Markadian the 4th burned a great score of them, as they surrendered last of those who capitulated!
Their heretical druids are now nearly extinct, and a mere shadow of their former self, and many of their fine woodwork is send as tribute towards Mithran cities. They are most easily cowed by fire and displays of strength! This is seen further by many Iron Oak war-bands joining Mithran hosts, and fighting alongside them both against defiant Caernic tribes and against the Hobgoblins to the north as mercenaries!
Out dear bishops issues concerning temporary maternal abandonment indeed come a fore here.
Of the compliant clans, these have great cause for wroth against Mithra, and should Talingarde become magically undampened and in contact with Gozreh again, then vengeance will most assuredly be attempted. The Oaks are the compliant tribe most likely to switch to being fully defiant. Their propensity to hire themselves out as Mercenaries to the Mithran may well be a long term ruse to understand and adapt to Mithran tactics and mindsets. The defiant tribes tend to respect the Oaks, in a way they do not respect the other compliant tribes.
The parade of the damned, the defiant tribes of Caer Bryn
1: Steel Wolves
These accursed fiends have refused to surrender at the battle of Ynnistrid, and instead sought to fight their way out of encirclement! For their great crimes, our Lord and King Markadian the 4th prayed to blessed MITRHA for a great cleansing fire, and indeed their ranks were burned by celestial fires, while other walls of flames prevented their retreat! Vicious savages they are, they charged through the flame walls, disregarding their losses and fell upon the heroic company of my ancestor Alexandrius Thorn, who held them off until struck from behind by the savage lunar hawks!
Alas, as these 2 most wicked totems combined their forces and nearly broke back through into their accursed forests, but the 2 mightiest servant of our Lord appeared, and with a single word spoken, „Regret“ their forces were impacted by blast of holy light, before the most ardent fire bird of our lord appeared to assail them with his flames! All of them were vanquished, leaving only remains deep in the Caer.
The steel Wolves worship vile Gorum, and even viler Moloch! Uncharacteristically, Steel Wolves will not fight Lunar Hawks and vice versa.
Unique among the Caernic, the Steel Wolves make heavy use of armor, ordered formations, pike-walls and 2 handed reach weaponry. Tales of female armored worg riders are just superstition!
The regret may have been the angels, rather then being meant for the Caernians. The female worg riders are more of a brazen beast then a steel wolf thing, they do however use wolfs and worgs as scouts and essentially cheap cavalry.
2: Grey Death
While the Grey Death did not participate in the battle of Ynnistrid, they became defiant and committed the most vile misdeeds afterwards! They worship the Lord of Pestilence Appolyon, as well the the Demon Lord Haagenti, himself a most dastardly entity of poison and alchemy!
Rarely do they fight frontally, instead relying on poison, disguise, treachery and disease to win their battles for them. It is said that they worshiped an irrelevant entity called Pharasma before, and some may still hold her in some regard.
In battle, the cowardly Grey death fights from range, hitting and fading, using webs, nets and traps to prevent its foes from manly battle! Most accursed they are in the eyes of Mithra.
The Grey death are very dangerous adversaries, making full use of chemical and biological weaponry to defeat forces greater then them. Their numbers however are very limited, as their boggy and swampy lands are poor, and their constant tailoring with diseases and poisons considerably reduces their fertility. It should be noted that other defiant tribes can be manipulated by challenges to single combat, the Grey Death sees value only in victory and the death of foes.
3: Brazen Beasts
Vile Worshipers of the accursed Lamashtu, the Brazen Beasts are numerous and bestial, with many treating deformities as a sign of great favor! They make use of many Beasts in battle, but reports of Minotaurs amongst their ranks are just folklore! Some of their elites just use horned helmets that make them look like having a bulls head! They are fond of axes, glaives and throwing axes in particular. Their women are known to be especially vile and....
I have spared you the reader a full 3 pages of misogynistic drivel, yes, female worshipers of the mother of monsters are indeed in frequent need of some plastical chirurgy. On a more relevant note, according to current reports, the Brazen Beasts actually worship Baphomet alongside of Lamashtu, which could be a recent development and explain why their raids on Mithran holdings have become cunning and more successful.
It is a manner of debate among the inquisition, if a successful offensive of the lunar hawks against the Beast immediately after these raids was due to a combination of inquisitorial encouragement and manipulation, which would have been fortuitous in light of the high resistance to such ploys the Lunar Hawks generally display, or due to manners beyond Talingardean influence, as some evidence is available that Nocticula and Baphomet are currently at war over matters unrelated to Talingarde.
4: Lunar Hawks
The perhaps most vile and notorious of the Caernic totems! These wretched excuses for humans follow the commands of women, lived side by and made much intercourse with demons, whose accursed taint is still visible in the vile souls hiding in superficially pretty bodies, and often strike at night, with poison and secret when our valiant knights are bereft of their armor! Even worse, they worship the whore queen Nocticula alongside Gorum, who is revered by many tribes but who is powerless to aid any against GREAT MITHRA!
Little distinction do they make between civilian and soldier, often attacking logistics officials and poisoning supplies.
In contrast to the Grey Death alas, they do not use disease as a weapon, and fight ferociously and with no small degree of skill.
Together with the Steel Wolves, the Lunar Hawk contingent at the battle of Ynnistrid refused to surrender and nearly fought its way out of encirclement, before their foul plans were waylaid by the twin interventions of an Angel and Mihras favored Bird of Flame, PRAISE LORD MITRHA!
The perhaps most dangerous of the defiant tribes. Following Nocticula apparently does wonders for your birth rates (que surprise), as such they are nearly as numerous as the Brazen Beasts (but fight far more intelligently then them), and far more numerous then the Steel Wolves, let alone the very numerically challenged Grey Death. While commonly regarded as masters of Guerrilla warfare, their operational doctrine does as a matter of fact explicitly call of decisive battles under favorable circumstances (by using Maskirovka, assassination, sabotage and mobility to gain local superiority). Their fighters are extremely well trained, work together splendidly in small units and act with great initiative during combat.
There are persistent rumors of a Lilitu among them, and the taint of the Abyss is visible in the presence of Half Succubi or Half incubi. The Lilitus presence may explain how their forces coordinate as well as they do, in several clashes with Mithran hosts, Lunar Hawk forces acted as if their local commanders were in telepathic communication with each other, down to the platoon (a unit of 42 warriors in Lunar Hawk terms) level. Most puzzlingly, a captured document detailing Lunar Hawk doctrine made mentions of terms unknown to Talingarde such as „Auftragstaktik“, „Операция Уран“, „Глубокие операции“ and „Blitzkrieg“ these terms are neither Caernic nor Abyssal and their meaning is unknown to the Mithran inquisition.
Out of character, Chieftess Balalaika (yes, basically the Black Lagoon character as a Welsh Not-Viking) prayed to Nocticula for military advice, and got a series of tomes with modern military strategy, including from earth.
The battle of Ynnistrid
Here I shall dispense with the official account, which is rather trite and may actively misinform us of both the depth of Caernic resentment, and of Caernic capabilities. Assuming that only the most wicked Caernic bear us a grudge is a dangerous illusion, as the the thought that the Caernic cannot prevail over Mithrans in open battle. It was not skill at arms that won the battle of King Markardian the 4th but overwhelming divine firepower and the presence and intervention of strong entities to which the Caernic had no answer.
The Caern lost many of its hard to replace elite forces in the battle and the successive massacre, and their depleted and divided forces henceforth lost the capability to oppose a Mithran host in open battle, but this was most thoroughly not the case in the battle of Ynnistrid.
Knowing that the Caernic had 9 totems and could bring perhaps 9000 man to bear, King Markadian assembled 2 of his beacons, a force of 5000 men, to crush them in battle, trusting in superior organization, divine firepower and his celestial allies.
A 3rd Beacon was guarding supply lines, and his 4th beacon protected the remainder of the realm.
Arrayed against them were however only 7 totems, with both the Autumn Veil refusing to take part in the battle and the Grey Death still on the march. Pre Ynnistrid Caer was reliant on the agricultural products from the fields around the forests for much of its nutrition, and this was where Markadian's scorched earth tactics made themselves felt. Using his excellent supply train, Markadian's raiders methodically spread out, burning the harvest before it could be collected.
The threat of the entire harvest being burned forced the Caernic forces to oppose Markadian's host at the Caernic Thorpe of Ynnistrid, where they entrenched themselves as best as they could.
Unwilling to advance headfirst into a well prepared position, King Markadian brought forth siege weaponry to fire upon the Caernic Lager, only to have some of his engineers be abducted and many of his siege engines sabotaged by a nighttime raid of a Lunar Hawk Commando unit. Within record time, the Hawks “converted” their engineer captives, and, likely by magic compulsion, had them fire back with quickly build Ballistas.
Within a day, another Commando struck and abducted a number of smiths. Now faced with the prospect of the Caernic minimizing the technological advantage of the Mithrans, King Markadius needed to strike. His plan was simple, draw the Caernic out of their compound by offering them a decisive battle, break through their weak-points with his heavy cavalry, bind their stronger parts with solid and reliable Mithran Heavy footmen, backed by clerics and divine healers and then have the Cavalry wheel back and crush what remains.
The King thus positioned, as was his custom, his cavalry at the extreme flanks and bid them to assault the far edges of the Caernic host.
A formal challenge was delivered, and the Caern, who were themselves under pressure to fight and win a battle (the difficulties of keeping a tribal coalition together being a rather frequently underestimated part of the Mithran victory) accepted, and marched out in battle arrays.
What Mithrans sources describe as great perfidy, namely the digging and laying of traps at the flanks prior to the battle by the Caernic, is frankly a completely reasonable tactic and not seeing this coming is close to criminal negligence on part of the Mithran cavalry commanders.
The Caernic also deployed some of their best troops (Iron Oaks and Crimson Sunbursts) at their flanks, reasoning, not incorrectly, that this would be where the hammer blow of Mithran cavalry would fall. The left flank was anchored by a rivulet in a deep ravine, and their right by the village of Ynnistrid, making a traditional outflanking maneuver impossible.
The dread Steel Wolves and Lunar Hawks were kept in reserve, with the remaining 3 clans making up the middle.
The Mithrans began the battle in textbook fashion, forming wedges of steel and trotting towards the extreme flanks of the Caern, while the Heavy infantry advanced in the center, easily shrugging off Caernic missile fire. However, the charging cavalry discovered that, in a zone of 30 feet from the Caernic flank lines, everything was either covered in grease, was a hidden pit, or suddenly became a spiders web. As their momentum carried them into the trap, the Caernic met them in a orderly row of Bardiches and Halberds, before counter-charging, taking no prisoners and advancing into a mess of horse and men. On both Flanks, severe losses were had among the elite of Mithran knighthood, on both flanks, the remaining cavalry retreated.
In hindsight, this went too well for the Caern. Seeing the success on the outer flanks, the Caernic center, led by the Brazen bulls went into an enthusiastic but unorganized charge, straight into the teeth of well organized Mithran infantry. Many a Knight, such as the famed Sir Balin was made here, as the well ordered Mithran host met the Caernic charge with resolute formations, well placed healers and good tactics. Now locked in melee the both centers grounded into each other, while the victorious Caernic Flanks took their sweet time moving through their own trap fields to support their center, which opened a gap in the Caernic formations. At this moment, the young Knight Sir Thomas Silvershield managed to rally their Mithran Cavalry on the right, reorganizing them and hitting the Crimson Sunbursts in the flank as they themselves were moving to flank the Mithran center This shattered the sunbursts, most of whom escaped for now as Sir Thomas now bypassed the Caernic center (still creating great confusion in it) and proceeded to hit the Iron Oaks on the other flank next. The Oaks wheeled in time to receive the charge, and as such inflicted significant losses and held, allowing the Caernic reserve of the Lunar Hawks and Steel Wolves to move to extinguish the Mithran cavalry.
The Lunar hawks unleashed their trademark sprint charge, covering a distance of over 300 feet in mere seconds (Haste and cheetah spring) and struck at the flank of the Mithran cavalry, wreaking great havoc with great-swords and great axes, as the slower elements moved up behind them.
Then the Phoenix appeared. He first unleashed a devastating flyby attack on the Caernic center, setting much of it aflame with pinpoint accuracy and starting mass rout/surrender, and then wheeling to hit the still holding Iron Oaks. The Oaks are brave, but they fear fire, as such they ran as well. Face with an incoming stampede of their own troops, who sought to find refuge in their fortified camp, the Lunar Hawks and Steel Wolves instead opted to retreat towards the forest.
King Markadian the 4th was in no mood for survivors, having leaving a small force to contain the fleeing Caernic in the camp, and having the majority of his forces, rejuvenated by victory and divine magics pursued the retreating steel wolves and lunar hawks. It should be noted that the Lunar Hawks, who are highly mobile combatants, could have likely left the Steel Wolves behind and simply ran like hell, however, they instead frequently wheeled, and hit overeager Mithran pursuers before fading back into the solid steel Wolf formation. A major Mithran use of divine fire attempted to bar their egress with a wall of holy fire, yet the Lunar Hawks jumped over it while the Steel Wolves simply charged through, scattering a weak detachment of Mithran mounted infantry behind it. Just as they reached the forests edge, 3 things happened.
1: The Phoenix unleashed its fury against the steel wolf ranks.
2: Ara Mathra, one of the foremost angels of Mithra appeared to demand surrender.
3: Sir Thomas Silvershield managed to also rally the remaining cavalry from the other Mithran flank, and was bringing it to bear on the Caernic
Seeing only the Angel between them and possible safety, the Lunar Hawk champion Ceridwen Ap Dryffed shouted “NUTS” and the angels command and struck it with her Great Axe, fueled by the fury of the Abyss. The Angel answered with “REGRET”, as a massive ball of holy light emanated from him, outright slaying most of the Caernic host within 100 feet, leaving those who weren't slain paralyzed or blinded. Thrice more would the Angel unleash its dire power, and then the Lunar Hawks and Steel Wolves were no longer a fighting force. Very few prisoners of these 2 totems were taken, but a few of both totems managed to escape into the forests.
Much was said of King Markadian's terrifying judgment of the remaining 5 totems who, after seeing the terrible power of Phoenix and Angel, surrendered their fortified encampment.
Full 3 quarters of the surviving Iron Oaks and Crimson Sunbursts were burned at the stake, the remaining quarter being force to throw the torch at the fire. Of the Brazen Beast, half were burned, and of Golden Sharks and Thorned Roses a quarter each. The Few captured Steel Wolves and Lunar Hawks were all executed as well, among them one still blinded Askold ap Dryffed.
While it crushed the power of the Caern, it said the stage for decades of a grueling, drawn out and brutal Guerrilla war, in which quarter was rarely asked for and even rarer given. The entry of the Grey death, and their wars of disease led to considerable losses amongst the Talingardeans, and the Lunar Hawks switched from Battle to a war of cloak and dagger, conducting assassinations even in the Capital.
It was only under Markadian the 5th, that a cold peace was established with the 5 reasonably compliant clans.
| Mightypion |
Lets try another writing style because why not.
Intelligence assessment on Asmodean capabilities on the world of Talingarde. We make use of the memories and thoughts of our Lady in Shadows subject, Dylan ap Dryfedd. Let HER secrets be hidden from all, and let HER know the secrets of all.
Introduction:
The subject was captured by Talingardean forces, broke, with the aid of infernal assistance, out, massacring much of the garrison, and was then compelled to sign an infernal contract with one "Adrastus Thorn", probably highest ranking member of the infernal hierarchy in Talingarde.
Subject did mentally ask for permission of our Lady in Shadows before signing the contract. Permission was not withheld.
Notable things about the trials prior to this:
--Infernals have capability of taking an angelic being captive on a long term. Capability of some type of dimensional anchor is assured.
--Infernals have the backing of a Gylou type Devil. This is notable, it is difficult to bring truely powerful beings such as this one to Talingarde on account of Mithran messing.
--Subject Dylan ap Dryfedd hit said Gylou twice with an large sized Orc butchering Axe. This implies potential. Could also be an infernal ploy.
Having succeeded in 7 out of 9 trials, subject and company proceeded to penultimate trial, "ruthlessness".
In here, a Mithran congregation was praying, and was massacred by the subject as well as his posse, as per instruction. Likely intended as a show of wealth and power.
Final trial: Subject and posse came face to face with one Sir Balin, noted as a specific Mithran combat potential, and as an assassination target.
Group needed to inflict, on account of constant self healing, a bit less then a Glabrezu (170 hp) worth of damage before finally killing the adversary. Subject did exactly half of that, much of it with one massive blow. Finishing blow was dealt by "Evelyn Silvershield", on account of mentality an unlikely recruit to our Lady in shadows.
Notes: Person in the posse called Nox displayed imaginative use of psychic abilities in the combat, potentially saving both "Evelyn" and "Dylan" from being tripped or killed. Possible recruitment target for forces aligned with our Lady in shadows.
After action:
Subject attempted to placate the Gylou by offering her the head of "Sir Balin" as well as a handwritten note of praise for her great restraint.
Subject attempted to do so in written infernal, and used the "authoritative contractual" rather then the "pleading supplicantal" form, greatly jeopardizing his relations with the Gylou (rolled a 3 on the diplo roll). This is benefical, subject was getting too close with the Gylou, and could have possibly be truely recruited into the services of the infernal hierarchy.
Subject and posse then undertook mission to supply Bugbear tribes in the north with weaponry, using seaborne transport for this. Subjects manage to evade patrols, and bluff their way through an encounter with Mithran patrol craft.