((I wasn't going to give ATHATH the artifact action, but then that would make it less of a cool-artifact. So, artifacts can give fairly minor free actions, depending on what they are.
Re: Locke's situation: The king's completely drunk, and has barely even heard of slade. He might not even know what a floodgate is. It was amusing watching you try to create one anyway.))
It is
winter. Somehow, the kingdom holds firm against the darkness.
Darius gets the king drunker so he will raise the taxes.
{2} - The king's system finally gives in to alcohol poisoning, leaving him comatose.
Sir Biscuits sends the local levies out to reinforce and recruits volunteers for replacements.
{3} - The local levies head west, to relieve the rapidly-weakening militia defending against rebels.
{4} - The recruitment efforts go acceptably, but the new forces are completely untrained and barely equipped.
Zech makes transmute-to-slate powder to help Locke.
{2} - Despite all his efforts, the secrets of creating a powder to turn ordinary materials into slade elude the court wizard.
Sir Mangrove tours another adjacent state, because he wants the poor GM to stop being lazy and make that map already.
{1} - Sir Mangrove finds himself lost in a forest. Sometimes, he thinks he can hear feminine laughter echoing about.
Priestess Asha calls for a crusade to retake the kingdom.
{6} - Peasants across the kingdom leave behind a life of farming to take up arms against the rebels.
Slaughtersoul the Fiendish trains the lycanthropic levies in controlling and unleashing their curse.
{3} - The knight leads the levies to the west, to deal with the rebels. He is not a good teacher, but does pass off some tips on controlling lycanthropy.
<CLASSIFIED> uses the artifact vial to recover his poison supplies, then lets Locke out.
{2} - The assassin does not have any sort of magical storage. He places his new poison supplies on a shelf in his room. With the civil war, he was unable to get anything other than low quality poisons.
{6} - After using lots of acid to unseal the door, Locke is freed pretty easily.
The castle dungeons are not in a good state.
Locke uses assistance to make slade floodgates.
{1} - Without the promised assistance, the court jester is completely unable to create a slade floodgate. He can't even carve a hand-sized model of a floodgate from wood.
Fortunately, an assassin frees him.
King Roland is comatose. Currently, the game will end if he dies.
{5} vs {3} - With fresh reinforcements, the organized rebel forces are shattered. There is still some resistance in the more populated towns and cities, and a few fortifications remain in rebel hands, but it is now only a matter of time.
{6} - The werewolves form their own separate units. With harsh inner-discipline, they are fully controlled and not a threat to the kingdom.
{5} vs {3} - Rebel forces throughout the kingdom are beaten back at every turn. They're not really a threat any more, but the economy is in tatters.
The treasury contains enough to pay the local levies for 2 years.
Taxes remain moderate.
The necromancers have gone off-grid.
The kingdom is fully back under control.
The local economy is lacking farmers.
The kingdom economy is abyssal.
The local levies are limited and fight like farmers.
The kingdom levies are moderate and are decent fighters. They have well-controlled werewolf auxillaries.
There is a group of agriculturally-focused mages in Zechtenmarkus' tower.
There is a group of veteran berserkers from Undermoon, currently guarding the capital.
John Locke (nosaneinme), the palace fool.
Sir "Biscuits" McGee (NJW2000), knight of the crown and head of military finance.
Sir Mangrove (Harry Baldman), the Secretary of Love, Worldliness and Quests.
Asha Imeremifava (penguinofhonor), Priestess and Religious Adviser.
Darius Welthon (Coolrune206), Economic Adviser.
Classified (ATHATH), assassin.
Zechtenmarkus (crazyabe), Royal Mage and Adviser of magical Affairs.
SlaughterSoul The Fiendish (BFEL), Knight of Darkness.