Rel's Faded Glory III: Glory Reborn (FINAL UPDATE 6/22 - SHE'S DONE, BABY!!)

[BSF]

*laugh*

That's funny Rel.

I really enjoyed the exchange with Marius and Senator Gracchus. I see our heroes are working many angles at once. It seems they are starting to command enough influence to be a political center of their own with a reach into several different groups and areas. It should be very interesting to see how quickly this snowballs into play.

 

[Rel]

Over the next few days, the pile of dispatches on Gracchus’ desk grew almost faster than he could read them. Certainly faster than he could absorb them. And the picture they painted was grim.

The day after his meeting with Marius Flavius, scattered tales of Orcish skirmishers in the southwestern coastal mountains began to crop up. And there were tales of dragons darkening the sky, no doubt these were the “Wyverns” that his contact in the Imperial War College had briefed him on.

So far, every indication was that the invasion would be far to the west where it would take the longest for the Legions, pulled off duty at the Sythian border, to reach the attacking army. It was too risky at this point to send any of the Legions stationed in Emor south to try and intercept them. If they committed those troops too soon then they might find themselves south of the mountains with the Orcish army threatening the Capital itself. And those Legions were largely ceremonial in any event, few of the men ever having seen any combat.

Then, overnight, two key bridges across the Arno River, those at Pistorae and Carcioli were destroyed with magic. That would mean that the troops headed west from the Sythian border would have to divert to smaller towns and use bridges and ferries that were never designed to move so many men. This would delay them by at least a couple of days. Who was responsible for this act of sabotage was anybody’s guess so far, but Gracchus felt that it might have been done by agents of the Banites secreted among the population. Perhaps at the behest of the wife of his rival Senator.

Word of the actual advance of the Orcs started to come in the following day. Scouts reported that they were advancing rapidly but on a very narrow front, headed into the unpopulated areas of the central valley. So far, no major engagements had been fought against them as they had avoided the larger towns that contained auxiliaries. The only real negative impact that could thus far be perceived was that the refugees who had been fleeing northwards into the Salerian Pass were now turning back south in fear of being caught in the open.

In the north, word came that two of the six Legions that were part of the foolish invasion of the Northlands had boarded ships and were headed south across the Crescent Sea under heavy guard. A third Legion might have been brought but the lessons of the Slave War were well remembered and cargo space was sacrificed for fighting power to some extent. These ships would remain higher in the water should they have to fight or run.

By nightfall, the Emperor had ordered the Emorian Guard deployed in the fortifications south of the city. He feared that the Orcs might be attempting a rapid advance to Saleria and could then turn northwards and come toward Emor. But most of his generals indicated that if this were their goal they would likely have cut through the lower mountain passes further west and kept their distance from the border troops.

By breakfast the next day, dire news arrived: The flying column that had been surging across the central valley was not the primary body of troops comprising the Orcish Army. In the pre-dawn hours, two separate groups of ships deposited troops both east and west of the city of Hadria. Approximately a third of them advanced on the city and put it under siege while the remainder struck off into the countryside in raiding parties.

Throughout the day these parties took captives from the surrounding farming communities. In addition, many of the refugees who had turned back south from Saleria were caught up by these raiders and taken captive as well. By nightfall, the Orcs had hundreds in the pens they set up north of Hadria. And still the forces of Emor had not engaged in any major battles against them.

On the next day, the flying column suddenly doubled back to the southwest. The main invasion force near Hadria swept to the west and caught several hundred more refugees in a tightening net between themselves and the flying column. These new prisoners were herded back to Hadria. At first it appeared that the Orcs were behaving in a relatively civilized manner compared to what was expected. But when a group of Imperial War Wizards flew over to attempt a magical strike against them, they could see that they had interspersed the prisoners with their own troops, making the use of magic all but impossible without causing large numbers of civilian casualties. As darkness fell, the Orcs had further increased the throng of captives in their pens, now numbering in the thousands.

Then, sometime in the night, they launched an all out assault on Hadria. In the early going the Auxiliaries inflicted more casualties than expected on the Orcish invaders. But the War Wizards were again hampered by fighting within the city where so many of their own people kept them from unleashing the largest of their destructive magics. By dawn, the Auxiliary troops were defeated and the War Wizards were forced to evacuate.

The first Imperial city had fallen and her Legions were still nowhere close to the battle.

 

[Rel]

I really enjoyed the exchange with Marius and Senator Gracchus. I see our heroes are working many angles at once. It seems they are starting to command enough influence to be a political center of their own with a reach into several different groups and areas. It should be very interesting to see how quickly this snowballs into play.

I made sure the players knew this too. What I hoped they could understand was that the world around them was one at a low ebb. The times of mythic heroes were past and there were precious few who dared venture past the edges of civilization to challenge the wild lands beyond. And so they find themselves in the roles as the budding heroes of their age. They are the ones who will make the difference in the coming stuggle.

 

[Belen]

Very cool updates. Keep em coming!

 

[Rel]

Very cool updates. Keep em coming!

Thanks, BU. Hopefully I'll manage another update sometime this weekend.

 

[Rel]

Some good news finally arrived on the fourth day after the Orcs had invaded. The first Legions withdrawn from the Northlands arrived in Opal on the north coast. They immediately disembarked and began marching south toward Emor and the lands beyond where the invasion had taken hold.

In addition, the Legions headed west from their posting along the Sythian border managed to reach smaller bridges across the Arno River and were again on the march toward the areas now held by the Orcs. But it would still be at least three days until they were close enough to attack the Orcish army and they would be tired when they arrived.

Throughout the day the Orcs reformed the core of their army and struck north and inland again using the excellent Imperial roads to great effect. They rapidly approached the city of Nepet that lay roughly half way from Hadria to Saleria.

Fearing that the fall of Nepet could put the Orc army only two days from attacking Saleria itself, the Imperial War Wizards ordered everyone withdrawn to the northern half of the city and proceeded to destroy the bridge across the small river that ran through the town. This would not likely stop the Orcs but it would slow them a bit and make the north bank easier to defend from the bulk of the Orcish army.

That night the Auxiliary garrison at Nepet was bombarded from the air by Wyvern mounted Orcish wizards. The Imperial War Wizards on hand returned fire with magic of their own and managed to down two of the Wyverns while suffering few losses themselves. But the barracks was burned to the ground and scores of the Auxiliary forces were killed and more were wounded to badly to fight until they got treatment for their burns.

By morning, the Orcish flying column had forded the small river the small river that split Nepet and made their way around to the north side of the city. There they proceeded to burn down a number of farmsteads and cut off retreat along the road to Saleria. When the main body of the Orcish army approached the southern edge of the city, they sent a prisoner, the Regional Governor of Hadria, into Nepet to demand its surrender on behalf of the Orcs. With most of their troops dead or wounded from the previous night’s attack, and with retreat cut off to the north, the surrender was given. At dusk Orcs crossed makeshift bridges and occupied the town in force. The War Wizards used their magic to escape the city, largely undetected.

As morning arrived on the sixth day most of the Orcish army remained encamped within Nepet. A sizable occupying force still held Hadria to the south and the flying column surged north again on the road to Saleria. But by late afternoon, the column left the road and turned to the west, striking toward the small mining towns in the foothills. The populace there was forewarned of this by the War Wizards who had fled Nepet the night before. Most of these people took refuge in the mines and caverns at the southern edge of the mountains.

Fatigued and isolated with no supporting troops, the War Wizards decided they would join the people in their refuges and try to protect them if they could. The tight confines of the mines were places where their small numbers would be best able to defend against the hundreds of Orcish attackers and they were tired of running. As they huddled in the dank mines, they waited, hoping beyond hope that the Legions would arrive soon and begin to drive the Orcs back into the sea.

Late that night the fleet of Imperial Navy ships and the commandeered merchant vessels arrived once again in the northlands to take aboard the waiting Legions. Men boarded the ships throughout the night using the hastily constructed floating docks the Imperial Engineers had been building for the last week. At dawn they set sail for the Empire leaving the last two Legions in the Northlands.

That same morning, Scrying by the Imperial War College showed that most of the Orcish Army had departed Nepet and headed south again. They left behind several hundred troops as an occupying force but it seemed too small to hold the town against even one of the Legions on their way to the region.

Scouts from Sutrium and Vulci, reported sighting the main body of the Orcish Army, now only some seven thousand strong, headed rapidly toward Hadria. They made the city by mid-afternoon and continued without stopping toward Sutrium.

Sutrium held within its walls the largest concentration of Auxiliary troops in the South. These men had been drawn down the coast and were rallying there for a possible attack to liberate Hadria if the largest concentration of Orcs had continued northwards. Now they were about to find themselves on the defensive.

Sutrium was far enough west to have suffered few attacks by the Sythian privateers and piracy was seldom a concern. Thus her defenses had not been well maintained. But if a stand was going to be made anywhere, Sutrium offered the best chance. That night, Imperial War Wizards began Teleporting from the War College into the city armed with whatever magics had been hastily crafted to aid them. In the pre-dawn hours the troops manned the eastern walls of the city and prepared for battle.

Hundreds of miles north, in the tiny town of Hrongar’s Hill, a small band of friends also prepared to go to battle. They were going to take the fight to the heart of Bane’s leadership, even if they had to go to Hell to do it.

 

[Funeris]

Beautiful...absolutely beautiful
I'm glad someone around here updates...
*ducks as a yeti throws a book at him*
yeah, yeah...i'll get to updating sometime... :\

 

[Rel]

Beautiful...absolutely beautiful
I'm glad someone around here updates...
*ducks as a yeti throws a book at him*
yeah, yeah...i'll get to updating sometime... :\

Beautiful...absolutely beautiful
I'm glad someone around here posts comments to my Story Hour...
*throws a yeti at his players*
yeah, yeah...i'll keep updating...

 

[Rel]

By the way, check out my new Story Hour. There's a link in my .sig.

 

[Rel]

As the companions prepared to depart, they exchanged information about what had transpired during their time apart for the last several days.

Lazarius had spent virtually all of his time in studying and scribing within the library of the Imperial War College. While there he noticed that many others were doing the same, primarily scribing scrolls for use by the War Wizards in the upcoming battles. He had been able to keep up with events as they unfolded thanks to regular meetings with the Chancellors, particularly his old mentor, Felix. And on the eve of his departure for the Northlands she had given him a gift.

It was one of her traveling spell books that contained a few incantations that she knew him to lack. She explained that he may have some difficulty understanding some of her notes but that he had a better chance to decipher them than anyone since he had studied directly under her. She wished him luck and told him that if his duties in the Northlands were quickly concluded that he would be sorely needed in the battles to come within the Empire. He promised to return if possible and they parted as peers.

Marius had stayed in Emor, continuing to gather as much information as he could from various sources. He kept in loose touch with Senator Gracchus but they had made no further inroads toward implicating Senator Pontius or his wife, Solvaria as part of the Cult of Bane. Marius also girded himself for the days of privation ahead by making full use of the amenities afforded by civilization in Emor, primarily its brothels and fine restaurants.

Cathal had spent nearly the entire last two weeks running from place to place at incredible speeds. He had been to the Stone Tooth and back, then south to the Shaman Moot in the Suevi lands before returning with Speaks and Marcus to Hrongar’s Hill. He had been able to rest for much of the previous day and felt ready and anxious to bring the battle to the enemies of his people within The City of Endless Summer.

Speaks had sent word via Animal Messenger to the strange, white, dragon-devil they had encountered guarding the egg of the White Dragon in the Blackpeaks. He asked that the creature inform his mistress that the companions would soon move against the City and that if she wanted vengeance against those who had plundered her brood she should head to that general vicinity.

With that done the Druid had entered the foothills of the Blackpeaks and gone about damming up on of the more sizable tributaries of the Fodor. By collapsing a section of cliffs he constricted the flow somewhat in a small area. He then set a few Wood Wose’s about the task of withdrawing stones from his Bag of Endless Rocks and pitching them into the river. As these stones began to pile up above the water level, he Shaped the heaps of loose Stones into a more cohesive wall with his magic. This reshaping of the flow of nature was not something that he enjoyed doing, but it was reversible and he kept his eyes on the greater good of preserving the Fodor tribes from being conquered. For they would surely tread more lightly upon the land than the Imperials.

While he was going about this task, he noticed some tracks in the surrounding hills indicating the presence of some very large boars. He spent a day near the end of his project in search of one of these creatures and was able to convince it to aid him in his task ahead. Thus it came to pass that when he returned to Hrongar’s Hill, he had in tow his newest companion, Brutus the Dire Boar.

For Marcus these last days had been him traverse vast distances. He had been transported to the south coast of the Empire and decided to spend most of his efforts in Sutrium as he had deemed it a likely target given how far west it was located. He spoke publicly, brandishing the shining Shield of St. Cuthbert and asking the Auxiliaries to defend the city bravely and the citizens to follow the commands of their clergy and the military leaders. He moved up the coast and spoke at other, smaller outposts, urging them to move south to aid in the defense where it could most make a difference.

From there he was transported, by one of the War Wizards who was a staunch ally of the Church, back to Emor. He met with High Priest Novanus again, explaining that he felt that he could best enact his role as the Left Hand of St. Cuthbert and Protector by helping his friends strike at the heart of the enemy. Novanus again insisted that Marcus’ path was his own to choose but that he should step cautiously within the stronghold dedicated to the God of Corruption. The High Priest gave Marcus his blessing and sent him on his way.

Returning to the Imperial War College, Marcus was able to prevail upon them (with a bit of help from Lazarius) to Teleport him to the encampment of Imperials in the Northlands. There he found that there were still thousands of Imperial troops who appeared not to be making ready to depart. He inquired of their leadership as to the reasons for this and was told that the fleet of transport ships did not have room for the last of the Legions. Further, word had come from the Senate that they were to hold their position and make certain that the fortress that had been built was not occupied or destroyed by the barbarians. Assuming that the Legions withdrawn from the Sythian border along with those pulled out of the Northlands were able to drive the Orcs from the Southlands then their invasion of the Fodor Valley would continue on schedule this spring. The Empire would need those raw resources and slaves now more than ever.

Marcus barely kept his temper as he described how reckless these orders were and how every man was needed in the defense of their homeland right now. But he knew before he began his diatribe that hit was a lost cause. Orders from the Senate were nothing that he was going to countermand, Left Hand of St. Cuthbert or not. In frustration he departed the General’s office and made his way toward the gates of the fortifications.

As he moved to depart he ran into someone he hadn’t expected to meet.

“Greetings, Brother Marcus.”

“Greetings, Brother Lucius,” Marcus regarded Capito with some surprise. “I did not expect to find you within these walls. I would have thought you to be in the Southlands preparing to defend our people.”

“And I would have expected the same of you, Shield of our Lord.” There was a hint of bite in Capito’s words but he looked somewhat haggard and unable to make his remark as acidic as he might have liked.

Marcus straightened up and responded defensively, “The servant of our Lord made it clear that my conscience was to determine my destiny. And so I have come into the Northlands to cast my Shield over the people who live in the shadow of the mountains that are home to our enemy.” As he spoke, he saw a small group of young men dressed in the garb of his order gather to watch as the Left and Right hands of their god seemed poised to come into conflict.

The Inquisitor responded in kind, “I too have been given leave to choose where I might best serve our Lord. It seems that our destinies lie along a similar path.”

Marcus saw an opportunity to end these bitter words and perhaps gain a valuable ally in what lay ahead. “Soon my companions and I shall strike at the very heart of the Deceiver. Come with us and lend your Mace to our cause!”

Capito’s eyes filled with fervor. His faith had always guided him to strike at the core of corruption and evil and to carry the justice of St. Cuthbert into the dark places of the world. But this was different and he felt the full weight of the burden of destiny upon his shoulders. He could not act as he always had. He somehow knew that if he was to fulfill his role in these battles that he must not act precipitously. “I…I cannot. I wait for a sign and until then I will not leave this post. I am sorry, Marcus. And I wish you luck.” He half heartedly gripped Marcus’ arm and turned away.

Marcus stood and watched his counterpart leave, looking somehow defeated already. Whatever differences they had he did not like to see a proud man such as Capito so clearly struggling with how to fulfill his destiny. It was all too great a reminder about the inner struggle that he was experiencing himself.

As he watched Capito disappear into one of the barracks, he suddenly became aware of a young man kneeling before him. Looking down and seeing the cross of St. Cuthbert emblazoned on his armor, Marcus spoke to him, “Rise, Brother. I am not your Lord or commander.”

“But that you were,” the young man replied. He rose and took a step back. “I am Brother Albius of the Church in Opal. You are Brother Marcus and I wish to serve under you in your quest.”

Marcus was somewhat taken aback. “What? Who is it you answer to now, Brother Albius?”

“I came north of my own free will to place myself at the side of Brother Lucius. But now all of the other troops withdraw to defend the Empire and he wants to stay here. If I am not to return home to defend my people there then I wish to at least go forward and smite my enemy at his heart. But I have just heard Brother Lucius say that he will not join you in that task either.”

Marcus carefully regarded the young priest. The symbols he bore showed him to have risen well above the rank of Acolyte but he also saw that his armor was free of creases and blemishes. He may have been well taught but had he been battle tested?

Seeing the doubt in Marcus’ eyes, the youth pleaded with him, “I have served on the Sythian border with distinction! And I would be more than willing to do battle with the Orcs were I home to do it! But I am here and it is here that I wish to make a difference! Let me come with you and stand by your side as you take the fight to the enemy!”

The doubt did not leave Marcus. But he was a man of action and knew the turmoil this young man must be feeling. “Get your things. I depart within the hour.”

Without a word, young Brother Albius dashed away to collect his belongings. He was going to war.

----------------------------------------

And so it was that their fellowship had grown slightly since last they parted. Standing roughly in a circle outside Urdrax’s Mead Hall, they prepared to be transformed into birds and then Teleported far to the north where they would once again enter The City of Endless Summer.

And by silent agreement they all understood that they would not emerge until they or the Banites were defeated.