You send a small force to Lurrothel. Ten zombies commanded by a Doom-Seeker split off from the Broken, carrying loads of stone. They arrived, and the zombies walk in, still carrying their loads of stone. They burn, and the stone falls to the ground, driving the fire back enough for Lurrothel to crawl out, her flesh burned black. She is carried back to Avar, moaning in agony, and left to recover on her own.
Caliwick grins when you mention cavalry. It’s actually a little unsettling…he heads south, into the desert, and finds what he went looking for. A veritable army rises up from under the sands, horses and riders with their bodies twisted so that it is locked forever, withered and dried like the desert itself. And deadlier things rise as well – creatures of the brood of the Dame of Famine, with her endless hunger and swift flight, although their capacity to infect others is currently reduced by their long slumber. He rides north, bringing his army with him.
The Barrow-Bows are split in two. Half join with your army, the other half continuing to work with Krell. He encourages them to worship him, to participate in depraved orgies of blood-letting and animal sacrifice. The power he gains from this is spent, corrupting the land, making profusions of demonic crops and grasping thorns stretch across the ground. Most are merely thorny and unpleasant, but a few near the rivers leak a corrupting poison from their diseased flowers. Of those who join the Broken, you pick out the twenty fastest and deadliest. And with a casual wave of your hand, you turn them into Hunters. Unfortunately, seven of them seemed unable to bear the transformation, wounding themselves seriously as they attempted to block out the horrid thoughts before their brains dribbled out of their heads. Perhaps doing this in the middle of a typically horrible worship ceremony wasn’t the best idea. Whoops.
At your orders, the servants begin to do more than hide the Night-Stalkers and provide amusement. They begin to provide intelligence – mostly useless gossip. The Night-Stalkers demonstrate their displeasure. The servants are even less capable of finding information now. But the tension in the castle rises with every kill, with every mocking mimicry. They have no priests now, and no one dares enter the chapel. The commander of the garrison is a nervous wreck after finding the heads of his family stashes around his office…and hearing them whispering to him. Two companies of mercenaries abandoned Southbend, the smaller one fleeing north. Their barely living bodies were tossed over the wall the next morning, and you barely suffered a scratch fighting them. The larger went south, and slit their arms as they knelt before you.
A few more flee, but they are tossed over the wall as well. For now the soulless bodies are being kept in the dungeon, tended by a few healers.
Your army camps just south of Southbend now, barely out of sight of the castle walls. They don’t send scouting parties anymore, and no more mercenaries join their cause. Their numbers dwindle every day, from sudden claws in the night, from bloody clashes in the courtyard, from sheer terror as the setting sun begins to lengthen the shadows on the walls.
The Avar Society continues to struggle, and recruitment for the Ceaseless Consumption slows as well. The Doom-Seekers and Doom-Seer have a little better luck, as they turn some crops demonic and help guide the zombies.
As the week draws to a close, you grant a final boon to Duthrax and Lurrothel, carefully making sure neither of them explodes. They survive, although both look distinctly inhuman now – Duthrax’s mouth has turned vertical, and Lurrothel will bear burn marks in the form of blasphemous sigils forever.
Name: Klx-Dryklfx
Time: 7.75 months
Physical Might: 87+6 (-4 leakage,- 20 Hunters, -4 empowerment, +25 worship)
Mental Might: ] 87+6 (-4 leakage,- 20 Hunters, -4 empowerment, +25 worship)
Cults
The Ceaseless Consumption
Members: 7 seducers and 77 peons split among 8 locations, 1 high seducer and 75 peons
Resources: 0
Power: 14 (5 spent worshipping you, 3 spent recruiting, 4 spent spreading rumors)
The Avar Society
Members: 1 seducer, 14 peons
Resources: 0 (+4 “donations”, -4 party)
Power: 2(2 spent throwing parties)
The Bloody Terror Cult in Southbend
Members: 8(5 Night-Stalkers, 3 servants)
Resources: 0
Power: 5 (2 spent making discord, 2 spent spying)
Fortresses
Canord
Strong walls (45), Deep moat (25), Thorn Wall (25), Weak wards (15), Traps (15) Demonic crops, plentiful mines, Strong aura of domination.
Avar
Basic Walls(25), Living Ward(15), Demonic Mud Moat (10)
Demonic Realm
1900 Peons
1 Doom-Seer, 2 Doom-Seekers
46 resources (-5 rescuing Lurrothel)
+20 power/week, + 15 resources/week
Demonic Armies
13 Reavers, 2 Doom-Seekers, 50 thralls, 100 zombies in Canord
The Broken – 826 chaff (52 thralls, 441 zombies, 227 skeletons, 17 wisp wights, 89 weeping sores), 339 light infantry (137 Spear-Thralls, 202 Sword-Thralls), 137 heavy infantry (28 Demon-Touched, 109 wisp-wretches), 130 ranged (130 Archer-Thralls), 19 mages (2 Doom-Seers, 17 Doom-Seekers), 336 heavy cavalry( 5 mounted god-slayers, 331 deathless knights), 18 infiltrators (18 Hunters), 33 support (18 Dark Priests, 15 Shapers), 10 siege (8 armored brutes, 2 crushers), 17 incorporeal(17 specters), 180 scouts (rangers), 17 flyers (17 Gresh-spawn) near Southbend
Barrow Bows – 200 scouts (rangers) in between Avar and Southbend
Champions
Kreth Woemaker
Physical might: 12 (+10 worship, - 8 corruption)
Mental might: 12 (+10 worship, - 8 corruption)
Other: Magic Cloak, worshipped by the Barrow Bows
Duthrax Soul-Render, First of the Thrall-Herds
Physical might: 9 + 1
Mental might: 5+ 1
Other: Duelist, skilled commander, zombie horse, Herald
Lurrothel, Weaver of Nightmares
Physical might: 0.1 (Injuries)
Mental might: 3(Injuries)
Other: Necromancer, skilled at wards and dream magic
Caliwick the Arch-Necromancer
Physical might: 2
Mental might: 11
Other: Necromancer, Soulbond, Living Legend
Artifacts
Desecrator
+6 physical, +6 mental
Bringer of unholy rot, Reanimator, Focus of Power
Magic Cloak
Unknown properties
Herald
+1 physical, + 1 mental
Inspiring song