There are dozens of souls still here in the catacombs; the faintest of threads, clinging on to the mortal realm. You call out to them. You promise the chance of redemption to those that will follow you, the strength to change the world again. More than two score answer your call, more than you can willingly give strength to. Instead you select less than half - the guilty, the regretful. Murderers you leave, for the most part, save a handful that gain your attention for their particular strength of will. Themselves already on the verge of attaining the state of spectres, you opt to save them from that fate.
You bring 15 new Shades into being and 5 Greater Shades, though the effort does drain you. They will travel with you, invisible save when they choose to manifest and able to attack the minds of your foes to drive them to terror or even to gibbering wrecks. Like their evil counterparts they are incorporeal and cannot physically interact with the world not be physically attacked, save by silver or unholy weaponry.
You start on the journey to Ferrun by foot, instructing the two macemen to train the villagers and luxpanap along the way. They do their best, but say that they need to stop to teach properly, as the men are tired by the end of the day's travel. Once you settle somewhere, they will take about two weeks to train your five peasants to use the simple spears they have. John will take about a month to train to use the necromancer's sword properly, but will be more deadly for it when he is.
The journey is fairly uneventful, but you come across more burned out hamlets and emptied villages along the way. You catch glimpses of inhabited farmsteads in the distance, too far out of your way to investigate and still make good time, but you presume these were the villages that capitulated to Lord Thrane and his cronies.
The town of Ferrun is based at the base of a man made hill, upon which an ancient motte and bailey castle once stood, rotted to the ground and rebuild several times across the centuries; you can still see the foundations. You can particularly see them because significant work has lately gone into renovating and rebuilding it, this time with stone outer walls and a stone inner keep. A red flag with a black wolf's head flies over the keep. One of the soldiers tells you this is the flag of Lord Thrane - or probably the captain assigned to take the town.
The rest of the town sprawls around the base of the hill, a collection of houses and shops focused on a cobbled marketplace. This must once have been a relatively prosperous market town from the size of the market and the few drystone buildings around it, but today it is sparse and only a couple of stalls are set up. You can make out a blacksmith's forge nearby, which is lit and apparently hard at work. The town has no walls apart from those around the castle, so one could sneak in easily, though you can see a pair of guards posted at all three of the main streets leading toward the marketplace.
You should decide:
- How and if you will enter the town.
- Any plans for once you are there (or plans to go elsewhere).
- Whether to try and stay in town as visitors or camp outside whilst you make any plans or decisions.
Name: Lvantha Talaoia
Strength: 13 manpower ()
Mind: 9 menminds (-4 Summoning)
Followers: 1 luxpanap (John) (training, 2 wks)
5 peasants (training: spearmen, 2 wks)
2 macemen
Slaves: 0
Servants: 0 (Beings under your command - be they mutated mortals or lesser angels.)
Holdings:
1 village (1 Resource)
Items:
Unnamed Angelic Sword: +2 vs undead & demons if you wield it. More effective when a mortal holds it.
Shade: 0 Str, 1 Mind. Cannot be attacked physically save by silver or desecrated weapons, cannot physically attack. Special Attack: Haunt - Drives victims insane or inspires terror. Invisibility.
Greater Shade: 0 Str, 2 Mind. Abilities as Shade.
Well, there's both the Humanity and Demonhood threads to check out, both with excellent writing. =B
I don't like limiting choices much, but I think there are some lines for story reasons we shouldn't cross. Not many, but trying to use demonic magic is one of them. Maybe the only one. Now, Lvatha's other actions are a whole different story. Ends justify the means, full on. But purely from a mechanical viewpoint I don't think Lvantha should do it.
Lvantha can never use demonic magic herself, but if there's massive support for it and the opportunity arises, I'll let you guys try to get a tame necromancer of your very own. But expect consequences to deal with; physical Good and Evil do not combine well. And re: dead as your personal army... heh. Travelling with spirits as you can see is still an option, and more powerful spirits may yet be available to the side of Good. Just not zombies and such.