Previous: In which spies are captured, spies brainwashed, mercenaries discouraged, armies spotted, wards broken. | Current: In which sacrifices are made, armies routed, victories obtained, negotiations entered. | Next: In which a town is rebuilt, exposition revealed, an idol sealed, a cult formed. You can't take the risk to your allies of destroying the idol here and now, so you opt to make a personal sacrifice instead. You send orders to the resistance to prepare to ambush Sir Braithe should he come to the temple, place the amulet around your neck and grip the idol with both hands.
Your skin burns where it touches the idol's surface, and golden flames lick across your hands. The medallion glows with a brilliant white light and you stop bothering to hold your nature in so human a form; your wings/tendrils break free and your allow your eyes to shine again. Trying to subvert the idol is tricky and requires total focus and strength from you. Despite your best efforts, you manage to only partially transform the stream of energy from darkness to light and the act drains you almost to the point of collapse. When you are done you let go of the idol and step away, seeming much more frail and mortal than before. The amulet continues to shine brilliantly.
The enemy were arrayed against us in what I would later learn was a classic formation; shock troops in the centre to attack, stronger infantry on the flanks and archers behind. In this case, the shock troops were the shambling mass of the dead, whilst their mercenaries flanked them.
Before we came within bowshot, I raised my sword and called out to them; gave them a chance to surrender before Lvantha Talaoia came to claim them. I willed her blessing into being then, and felt the warm glow of the bright whips unfurl from my back. The necromancer and his men laughed and jeered at my offer, but the mercenaries did not. Some of them went deathly pale when they saw the wings on my back, even as they shouted that it was just a spell. Others simply ran for the hills, perhaps a third of the macemen and half the archers.
You see? I shouted to our men. The enemy runs at her very name. As I prepared to signal the attack with the old necromancer's sword, it happened. The undead grew more restless than before, then began to shriek with unearthly howls. I thought they were preparing to attack, but the necromancer was as perplexed as we were. Then some of them started to glow with a golden light. The light turned to fire, and before our eyes the enemy 'shock troops' burst into flames and fury. The display lasted less than half a minute, but when the divine flames subsided fully two thirds of the damned host had fallen. The remainder held together, just, but it was clear that the foul mage at their head had put his all into keeping them together. Taking this as our signal, I raised my sword and shouted the warcry. We attacked.
We had no priests and Lvantha was preparing her own attack within the town, so our weapons were unblessed against the horde. We still had numbers and weaponry on our side, though. The remaining five archers loosed a pair of volleys upon us before we made contact, but the arrows clattered uselessly against the raised spears of our infantry. Our spearmen clashed against their zombies to great effect, stabbing and cutting through the dead like so much wheat, but their more mobile forces flanked us and engaged myself and our more skilled troops, killing over a dozen in the first exchange.
The necromancer and his men feigned a retreat to put distance between us and them, then turned and struck at our spearmen as they were finishing off the dead. Just over two dozen fell in the ensuing melee as we raced to catch up with the better armed, better trained soldiers. They kept playing cat and mouse with us until we were finally able to corner them against a steep hill where they fought like lions against us; the last of the spearmen went down against their deeply professional force. We crashed like the waves against their rocks to little effect, and in the end the few of us remaining routed and fled for cover as their archers pelted us in our escape. The overseer from the mines, who we had pressed into service as a swordsman, escaped as well.As your first army is busy being routed by the superior training and luck of the enemy, you are busy preparing an ambush. You hand Mistwalker to one of the resistance leaders and tell him to lead his men to victory whilst you make your way to the roof of the temple. You remove the idol from the altar and lock it away in a rather ignominous chest for now; you might not be able to destroy it just yet, but you don't have to give it pride of place.
When the army arrives Braithe is amongst them, or so you would guess; their captain is wearing another of the black bronze medallions. Most of his force is living men; barely a handful of zombies accompany them, the rest destroyed in the goldenfire. As he approaches the market square, men burst out from doorways, alleys and even begin hurling rocks from the rooftops. His men move quickly to prevent themselves being surrounded, but in the tight conditions of street fighting many of his archers are unable to get clear shots at anything. Those that do, unfortunately, fire at the shining figure on the temple roof. You take several direct hits and are forced to retreat out of sight.
Your shades descend upon the archers with vengeful fury. Their wails are largely ineffective, but the harassment prevents them from firing on the resistance and gives you leave to return to watching the fight. As humiliating as your retreat was, the resistance down below are making excellent headway. They slaughter Braithe's men so quickly and so effectively that within a minute only Braithe and his bodyguards remain. He yells for surrender again and again, and only by your intervention do the fighters stop before they kill him. By the time they rest their spears, only Braithe and the mercenary archers remain of their force. They are bound and taken to the castle.
At the castle itself, you find the soldiers who had been sent out to defeat your army. They are of good cheer, but find that the gates are barred against them - your spy has barricaded himself in the castle gatehouse. You approach them with the resistance army, Mistwalker in hand, and demand their surrender. They seem indignant at first, but upon seeing Braithe in chains the mercenaries that make up much of their number see no reason to risk their lives when pay will not be forthcoming. They surrender on the grounds that they are allowed to leave the town with their lives, if not their weapons. Braithe's remaining men have little choice but to surrender as well.
Level Up! - Some of your shades have grown stronger as they exact righteous wrath upon the iniquitous. They are now greater shades.
Overall you have enjoyed a mixed, almost pyrrhic victory. All the slaves who followed you here from Stworca's Hamlet have died in a crippling military defeat and you yourself suffered wounds and were forced to hide from a hail of arrows (probably because you opted to stand in the one place they could target during a street fight). The sheer humiliation has harmed your self-image (and thus your real power) as much as the hail of arrows did.
On the other hand, the castle and town of Ferrun are yours. It is small recompense for the costs incurred, but the people of this town are free of Sir Braithe's tyranny. Yet sacrifice is the nature of good, prices paid for liberty and kindness. Some days it is simply a greater price than others.
You find yourself in a complicated position. Whilst you did lead the army that saved Ferrun, said army was mostly comprised of its own townsfolk. They have not forgotten how you laid waste to their foe's army with your fire, nor the personal sacrifice it cost you, but neither have they forgotten that it has made you weaker or that you retreated in the face of attack (the cost of putting yourself in such an exposed and visible position).
You nominally control the castle for now. The resistance has disbanded, but after your mediocre performance only thirty of them are willing to follow you beyond their own lands. There is now the question of the town's protection and governance to be answered; Sir Townsend has proved an unworthy protector if he is even still alive. Some suggest that the resistance leader who wielded Mistwalker be the new lord (an old soldier named Marrham), others say it should be you (the first camp distrusting your martial failures). More than that, there is the question of whether it is even worth sending aid downstream to Ferrybridge; Lord White failed to protect them, after all, and all he has done most of their lives is just take their property in taxes.
Yet Ferrybridge is where Lord Thrane now sieges, and is he is successful who is to say he will not return for Ferrun? You could convince the town to send aid to fight him, but it might cost the goodwill you have earned. After all, you still need to determine how to deal with the temple. Once again you face the choice of accepting or declining worship; few doubt you are divine for all your fallibility. Once you have decided how to deal with the temple you could reconsecrate it in your name. The boost to your personal power would be substantial, and at a time when you need it more than most, but returning the temple to the gods would allow priests to be trained here.
Decisions, decisions, decisions. The people of Ferrun are grateful up to a point, and you can only press that particular point so far. If you ask too much of them, they may well decline your requests. You start with 3 Bargaining Credit for your deeds.
Possible suggestions:
- The town comes under your protection and government. You appoint Marrham as a steward and the town provides men and resources for your goals. [-3 BC]
- The town becomes self governing. Marrham is the new lord and the town trains its own militia for its own uses. A small tithe of resources is provided in your honour. [0 BC]
- The town becomes self governing and you graciously decline the tithe. [+1 BC]
- You destroy the idol immediately, ridding the world of this object of evil but potentially contaminating the place you destroy it in. [-1 BC]
- You seal away the idol in a secure location of your own devising, where it might still soak a small amount of evil away but will at least not be usable. [0 BC]
- You study the idol for whatever purpose before destroying or sealing it. [-1 BC]
- You rededicate the temple to yourself, acquiring significant power and establishing a cult in your name. [-3 BC]
- You rededicate the temple to the gods, but start a cult in your name amongst those who wish to worship you. [-1 BC]
- You rededicate the temple to the gods, being humble enough not to need worship. [+1 BC]
- Publicly execute Sir Braithe. [+1 BC]
- Accept an offer of service in exchange for redemption from Sir Braithe. [-1 BC]
- You rededicate the resources from your mines to improving and rebuilding Ferrun. [+1 BC]
- You try to help the town in other ways. [+? BC. Be creative.]
- You encourage the town to send troops and resources to help fight Lord Thrane. [-2 BC]
- You encourage the town to send resources to help fight Lord Thrane. [-1 BC]
- You make other demands of the town. [-? BC. Whatever you want to try.]
Or:
-To the hells with all this bargaining nonsense, they're just mortals! Conquer the town in the name of the greater good and get them to give you everything they have. There are more important things at stake than their liberty.
Name: Lvantha Talaoia
Strength: 11 manpower (-7 Purity Surge, -5 injuries, +3 Victory)
Mind: 11 menminds (-6 Purity Surge, -5 humiliation, +3 Victory)
Personal Retinue
Followers: 20 spearmen, 11 macemen (mostly former resistancemen), 1 armed luxpanap (John)
Slaves: 1 spy.
Prisoners: Sir Braithe, 2 necromancers, 20 mercenary macemen, 35 mercenary archers, 5 mercenary swordsmen.
Servants: 10 shades, 10 greater shades
Holdings: 6r
1 village (1 Resource)
1 tin mine (4 Resources)
Slave Gathering (1 Resource) [25 slaves]
Upkeep: 6r
<50 soldiers (0 resources)
Mine Development (4 Resources)
Items:
Mistwalker: +2 vs undead & demons if you wield it. More effective when a mortal holds it.
Unnamed Medallion: +3 vs undead, +1 vs demons on both mental and physical atacks.
Why the negotiation mini-game? It came about because I didn't want to give you a flawless reward for a flawed victory, but actually I might re-use it again in the future. It's the sort of thing you can't really do in Demonhood (probably could in Humanity), but which is a necessary consequence of actually respecting the rights and wishes of mortals - if you care to do it. Conquest is still an option. On the other hand this path forces us to be a little more creative and provides a little more opportunity for 'side quests', as it were.
And yeah. You guys rolled low, a lot.
Author
Topic: Divinity. - Dreams Invaded: 2 (Read 57907 times)