[LP] The Shattered Realm: Monsalyar, Round 2

[angelfromanotherpin]

Note: Please do not post in this thread if you have read the Dorganath, Round 2 thread past the first post.

Step one is choosing a character. Each kingdom has three potential representatives: same choices as Round 1.

Choice 1:

Lord Mowbray of Usk, Marshal of the Realm

You are a tall strong man, tending slightly to the corpulence of middle-age. As the marshal, you have the sole command of the army and your many feats of daring and your compassion have won the hearts of your soldiers. Your family home is the beautiful but strong castle of Usk, long the seat of your noble ancestors. You are a veteran of three campaigns and studied in the military academy at the Spires of Foreshadowing in the far away Manmarch as a youth, making you one of the most travelled people of the Land of Ten Kingdoms. Your bluff heartiness and goodwill belie your insight into character and your sure judgement on the field of battle.

Choice 2:

Crown Princess Leonora

You are a slim and graceful girl of eighty seasons and your charm has brought portrait painters from the master's schools at Mytilene near the Inner Sea and countless suitors to spend time at the Monsaljan court. Your mother died when you were young and your old father has long been in his dotage. Life at court has been lonely as you have been forced by your royal circumstances to distance yourself from your childhood friends, save the marshal's two sons. The Vizier takes you for little more than a spoilt young girl, but you have long studied statecraft in secret and know well that you have the ability to make men lay down their lives for you at need. You are like the concealed dagger in a velvet-gloved hand. He who esteems you for your beauty misses your greater qualities of courage, will, and leadership.

Choice 3:

The Vizier Maximilien the Magnificent

You are a young man who has won power and influence beyond his years at the court of Monsalyar. You gained the confidence of the ageing king when others sought to take advantage of his dotage and have become his most trusted advisor. Now that he has lost his senses, it is left to you to run affairs of state until such time as the Crown Princess shows herself able to assume these responsibilities. Impatient of those who lack your considerable powers of intellect, you have used your knowledge of magic to good purpose, but never to an evil end. Many look to you as the man to lead the people of Monsalyar through the storm. For days now, you have practised your battle magics in secret in order to surprise the Dorgomen.

[Korgan0]

Okay. We go Vizier, same as before. Judging from the Dorganath thread, the only way to get the l33t Sacerdoge cavalry is to offer babies, and I have a hunch that tells me that's a Dorgo-only option. Since Sacerdoge is out, and the Oligarchanes aren't very good, I'm thinking we go for Alleyn and the Fey, in that order. We can get the Alleyns no problem, and since we know what not to do when it comes to the Fey, we might be able to get something going there. After that, we can try to change the Suckers' minds, but who knows what'll happen there.

Sadly, that limits our options for the beasts, since Alleyn means that we can't go for the bone people or dragons, and I'm guessing the Marques will prohibit us from allying with the firedrakes, and vice versa. We could swap out Alleyn for the Oligarchs, which would give us a lot more freedom with the beasts, but I'm curious as to what y'all think.

edit: if the dorgs assume we're gonna do this, we should probably try to snatch the holy hounds out from under their nose, since they're gonna treat the necrophiliacs as a safe bet.

[Omegonthesane]

Even if we can't get the super-cavalry ourselves, we might be able to get the weaker cavalry and in so doing deny the super-cavalry to Dorganath.

We've got some idea what not to do to the Fey, so should try there.

So, based on that, I say we try Sacerdoge first in case the Dorgish don't, then the Fey, then the Oligarchs if they're still going or "deliberately bollocks it up with the Alleyn" otherwise.

If the Dorgs get the Alleyn, and we still have 3 Rebellion Points, we should nab the Firedrakes, because they're more hardcore than the Fenbeasts. If we spent even one RP already then we go Fenbeasts because they're less evil so less likely to need a RP. After that we take the two picks that the Dorgs can't.

If the Dorgs don't get the Alleyn, we still go <one of Firedrakes or Fenbeasts as above>, then dragons if they're still going.

[Korgan0]

the Alleyn hate the dragons, though, but that honestly sounds like the best plan. Sacerdoge, then.

[Omegonthesane]

the Alleyn hate the dragons, though, but that honestly sounds like the best plan. Sacerdoge, then.

That's why I suggested we deliberately fuck it up with the Alleyn if the mechanics force it to be our third visit.

[Omegonthesane]

the Alleyn hate the dragons, though, but that honestly sounds like the best plan. Sacerdoge, then.

That's why I suggested we deliberately fuck it up with the Alleyn if the mechanics force it to be our third visit.

[angelfromanotherpin]

It is the first day of the month of Weir, the official beginning of spring and the first of the desert birds are flying to find their old roosts in Monsalyar. It is the day on which you have decided to review your troops. They are lined up in the square before you, their breastplates gleaming in the sun. Their captains have orders to drill them hard until the campaigning season begins in the month of Allmother's Splendour, a hundred days from now. The treasury has been emptied to pay for their weaponry and supplies, these men and women are the full might of the Monsaljan army.

(You are the Vizier, Maximilian the Magnificent.)

As you ride out before the troops there is a great fanfare from the court trumpeters and you are announced to the crowd which throng the stquare beyond the ropes that cordon off the parade ground. There is a muted cheer. You nod in a dignified manner, secure in the knowledge that your magnificent robes of richest green velvet are the focus of all eyes.

You have yet to win the confidence of the army as a war leader. Lord Mowbray the marshal has had to take his place at the head of the cavalry, instead of conducting the review himself. The army are splendid in their battle dress, your only regret is that they are not too numerous to occupy the parade ground at once.

Directly before the palace are the royal Monsaljan cavalry, six thousand heavy horse, their caparisons of purple rich and splendid, their lance pennons fluttering in the breeze. All carry resplendent coats of arms emblazoned across their shields. To their left are the swordsmen of Capulet, the northern province. The ranks of this 'Cohort of Implacable Vengeance' have recently been swelled to ten thousand, armed with stbbing sword, buckler, and scale mail.

To the right of the palace are twelve thousand spearmen of Laine, the southern province. They are clad only in leather armour and carry round shields, but they are skillful with their ten-foot spears. Behind them all are the mercenaries from the cities of the Inner Sea, dark-haired men and women with sallow skin in green courboilly armour, armed with crossbows. Monsalyar's coffers have been emptied to hire fully ten thousand of these southerners. Behind these are the local militia, armed with a motley array of rusted swords and farm implements, a few boasting a shield or a mail vest.

Lord Mowbray has told you what you may expect from them in battle:

The Royal Monsaljan Cavalry: Strength 4, Morale 3, Cavalry
The Cohort of Implacable Vengeance: Strength 3, Morale 3
The Spearmen of Laine: Strength 2, Morale 2
The Inner Sea Mercenaries: Strength 3, Morale 1, Ranged
The Local Militia: Strength 1, Morale 0

As Vizier, you have still to prove your worth as a war leader; the troops will not respond to your presence on the battlefield.

(Your opponent is The Hierophant.)

Now that you have seen what troops Monsaljar can muster, you must turn your mind towards hopes of foreign alliance.Your advisors recommend that you spend time travelling to the courts or governments of the Kingdoms of Men to begin with, only turning to the Kingdoms of Beasts when you have exhausted all hopes of allegiance there. There is no time to lose, for the ruler of Dorganath will surely be beginning just such a mission.

WAIT
Until your opponent is ready to decide where to seek aid first.

Where will you seek aid first:
• From the Kingdom of Alleyn?
• From the Oligarchane Confederacy?
• From Sacerdoge? &#8730;
• From the Dwellings of the Fey?

Within a few days your retinue is approaching the Altars of Sacrifice in the realm of Sacerdoge, the kingdom of Death on Orb. The peasants flee from you, but at last you see a crocodile of black cowled figures chanting a dirge and walking very slowly to meet you.

(Your opponent is also nearing the Altars of Sacrifice.)

The dirge being sung by the black-cowled figures seems to contain both your name and the name of your opponent. It sounds vaguely unsettling, but when your scribe tells you that it is the chant used before ritual human sacrifice, your scalp prickles with fear and you remember the stories you heard as a child about how naughty children were carried off to Sacerdoge where the priests of Death ate people alive.

Your horses shy away from the black-robed figures, until at a word from one of the priests of Death they become immobile, as if turned to stone. These are obviously very powerful priests, many probably have the mastery of many death magics. The crocodile of figures, numbering twenty or so, walks slowly between you and the Dorgoman retinue, which is also trapped as their horses cannot move either. One black-robed man turns towards you and holds out his hand, palm up, in what looks like a gesture of peace. You copy his gesture, but then he constricts his hand into a fist and you feel a burning in your heart as if he was actually crushing the blood out of it and simultaneously crushing the life out of you.

You double up in pain, gasping. Your knights look round at you in alarm, but then the priest of Death opens his palm and your heart can beat normally again. He was just demonstrating his power over you; evidently he could kill you with ease. Your opponent has undergone the same treatment but is now upright in the saddle once more. Next, your horses begin to walk off the road as if guided by some external force. Realizing that you are in the Death priest's power, you ride on in silence.

Your horses seem to know where to go to. They take you into a glade of rowan trees in the middle of which is a scorched and blackened circle of earth, fifty feet across. The horses stop outside this circle except for those ridden by you and your opponent, which bear you to the center of the circle. One of the figures speaks in the flat monotone affected by many priests of Death, supposedly in imitation of the way lost souls speak in the Valley of Death.

'You have come in search of an alliance,' he says. 'One at least must be disappointed. We seek a sacrificial victim, and the sacrifice of a ruler, such as you both are, would greatly please our Lord of Sorrows. You are standing in the Circle of Sacrifice.' He stops talking and there is an eerie silence. Is this a kind of test, you wonder? Your horse is freed from the priest's control. The priest warns, 'only by remaining in the circle may you win alliance.'

Will you:
• Quickly spur your horse out of the circle?
• Or remain inside it?

[Omegonthesane]

We saw this last time. Forwardwind. I mean, remain in the sacrificial circle. We're Team Good, the Lord of Sorrows may be more interested in corrupting us.

[Korgan0]

Yeah, stay.

[angelfromanotherpin]

You keep your horse steady in the centre of the sacrificial circle.

WAIT

...until your opponent has also decided whether to quit the circle or remain within it.

(Your opponent is staying in the circle.)

You both wait impassively for fate to take a hand. The black cowled figures of the priests of Death form a ring outside the circle of charred earth and start to chant. One of them speaks in the same monotonous diregeful voice. 'One of you must be sacrificed to the Lord of Sorrows, the Grim Reaper.'

(Neither you nor your opponent are in alliance with Belpariah of the Fey.)

The priests confer while you both wait in fear. You cannot know what passes through the minds of the inscrutable priests of Death. Your fate is in the lap of the gods.

(What follows is... strange. Each of the potential six characters is assigned a number, and one of the players rolls a die until one of those numbers comes up. Now, this is powerfully inefficient, because the odds are exactly the same as if you just did a single high/low roll, and this way you might theoretically sit there until the end of time before you get a result. I guess it might have been intended for the possibility of slow build tension?)

(Anyway, the Vizier's number is 3 and the Hierophant's number is 4.
6... 2... 3!)

One of the priests points at you and says solemnly 'You, ruler of the Monsaljans, have been chosen for the honour of being sacrificed to the Lord of Sorrows. You are to be sacrificed to Death, be thankful that your time has come so soon, we who must wait to feel Death's embrace are less fortunate.' Your opponent's horse trots out of the circle of sacrifice, but yours is rooted to the spot. You dismount and run for the edge of the circle, but there is a whoof of flame and a pillar of fire fifty foot wide jets skywards from the scorched earth. You have been sacrificed to the Lord of Sorrows, grim-faced Death.

I am disappoint. Of all the possible confrontations between the rivals, this is the lamest.

You are dead. You should now choose a second of the rulers of Monsalyar to play, but note that you are only the second choice as their war leader and may never influence the morale of any troops no matter what happens to you. You have obviously failed to win an alliance with Sacerdoge, but this does count as visiting a kingdom, as do any previous visits you have made. Your retinue returns to Monsalyar with the bad news to greet their new ruler. If this is the second time you have died, there is civil war and your opponent has won.

In your new character you must take up the reins of rulership without hesitation. You send messages to confirm the promises made by your predecessor, and if your predecessor lost any rebellion points, these count against you too. Any alliances already made, except for marriage alliances, still stand.

(Your predecessor had not visited three of the Kingdoms of Men.)

By the time you have attended to matters of state, your spies inform you that your opponent is also ready to set out on a new mission.

WAIT

When you are both ready, you must choose where you will now seek aid.

• From the Kingdom of Alleyn?
• From the Oligarchane Confederacy?
• From Sacerdoge?
• From the Dwellings of the Fey?

(Your opponent is in alliance with Sacerdoge.)

[Korgan0]

Wow, that's bullshit. Let's go with martial dude, and head to the fey.

[Omegonthesane]

It really is. Hustle-mi-go.

[angelfromanotherpin]

Within a few days your retinue is approaching the Dwellings of the Fey. To your open amazement, you see that the city wall has only been half finished. There are gaping gaps, and in some places it has been built as high as the famous Walls of Shadow, in others no higher than a fieldstone wall. Crazy towers abut at random onto the masonry.

The people nearby stop and stare open-mouthed in a most discourteous way. Then, to your consternation, a party of ten horsemen and women charge from behind the broken wall and begin to fire crossbows, slings, and longbows at you.

(Your opponent is also nearing the city of the Dwellings of the Fey.)

There is a sudden clang like a muffled bell. One of your knights has been hit by a slingshot. Arrows and bolts hum past uncomfortably close, despite the fact that the standard of Monsalyar is in full view. You are not alone in suffering this outrage, however, your opponent's retinue are also approaching the Dwellings of the Fey and are suffering the same treatment from the ten Fey.

Will you:
• Ride towards the Dorgomen?
• Order your knights to charge at and try to disperse these people?
• Ride towards a nearby farmhouse to take cover?

[Korgan0]

Farmhouse.

[angelfromanotherpin]

As you order your retinue towards the farmhouse, so does your opponent. Together you gallop towards a rather narrow gateway into the farmyard.

• Demand to be allowed to enter first?
• Allow your opponent and the retinue of Dorganath to go in first?

[Korgan0]

We demand to enter first.

[Omegonthesane]

At risk of another death by dice rolling competition we barge our way in.

[angelfromanotherpin]

You demand to be allowed into the farmyard first.

WAIT

... until your opponent has decided whether to allow you to go first.

(Your opponent is allowing you to enter first.)

Your opponent courteously allows both you and your retinue to enter the farmyard first.

Will you:
• Bar the gate once inside and leave them outside to face the Fey?
• Allow them in and then agree to charge the fey together?

[Korgan0]

fuck 'em, they face the fey.

[Omegonthesane]

Yes, let us continue in the tradition of Greystaff.

[angelfromanotherpin]

Once you have barred the gate, the Dorgomen are trapped outside the farmyard. Your opponent and the Dorgoman retinue come under a hail of fire from the horsemen and women of the Fey. One woman, with a broken nose and missing teeth is a fine shot with her sling. A slingshot catches your opponent in the forehead. Dorganath is without a ruler.

The Dorgoman retinue bear the dead body of their ruler back towards the borders of Dorganath. The same woman invites you to ride, unmolested, into the City of the Dwellings of the Fey.

As soon as you enter the city of the Dwellings of the Fey through one of the gaps in the wall, you run into a reception committee. The ten who pelted you and your retinue with missiles are there, but they show no signs of further aggression. A High Priest awaits you, together with their king, a young boy of five whose large eyes stare at you in plain terror. The Fey kill their kings at the age of fifteen or so to prevent them ever becoming powerful.

It is the High Priest who stands before you now who holds the power at this moment. He is clad in a robe of black and purple, full length on one side but short like a tunic on the other, making him look most odd. The effect of this strangeness is intended, however, for he is the High Priest of the temple of Anarchil, Belpariah the Crazed. Your heart sinks, for as a worshipper of the chaos god, Anarchil, Breaker of Edifices, he is interested only in plunder and destruction.

(Your opponent is not in alliance with Belpariah and the Fey.)

(You do not have the codeword BALLOON.)

To your surprise, Belpariah welcomes you to the Dwellings of the Fey. He seems so affable, you suspect a trap. Your knights look around uneasily. Belpariah smiles, enjoying your discomfort.

'I had thought to ally with your enemy of Dorganath, but I like your face.' He speaks in the ear of the little king who then pipes up in a thin reedy voice, 'I announce an alliance with the Kingdom of Monsalyar.' The assembled populace cheer ecstatically, as if what they had wanted even more than bread to eat was an alliance with you.

Belpariah the Fey says 'The Legion of Unseaming shall march to your aid at the time of battle.' With that he turns away, the little king waves regally and is carried off in the High Priest's arms.

(Your opponent has been notified of your alliance with the Fey.)

The Legion of Unseaming, numbering about nine thousand, three hundred, and fifty-one men and women have a strength of 4 and a morale of 3. You may as well leave for home.

The people line the streets and cheer as you leave the strange city known as the Dwellings of the Fey. You return to Monsalyar to check that all is as well as can be expected.

(You have not yet visited three Kingdoms of Men.)

By the time you have attended to matters of state, your spies inform you that your opponent is also ready to set out on a new mission.

WAIT

When you are both ready, you must choose where you will now seek aid.

• From the Kingdom of Alleyn?
• From the Oligarchane Confederacy?
• From Sacerdoge?
• From the Dwellings of the Fey?

[Omegonthesane]

As per the prior 5-year plan, Oligarchs, because we want to have actual choices in the beastlands.

[Korgan0]

Yep.

[angelfromanotherpin]

Within a few days your retinue is approaching the mountains which border the lands of the Oligarchane Confederacy. A goatherd spies you and runs off, abandoning his herd to alert the local landowner. Before long, three men in white robes are waiting for you by the side of the road.

(Your opponent is not also entering the mountain borderland of the Confederacy.)

As your opponent is not journeying to the Oligarchane Confederacy, your spies who are abroad everywhere will be on the lookout for the Dorgoman retinue, wherever they are.

(Your opponent is on their way to the Kingdom of Alleyn.)

The Dorgomen scouts are just as vigilant as your Monsaljans.

(Your opponent has been notified of your own destination.)

The three men in white robes are philosophers and botanists. Being learned men, they recognise you and your retinue instantly and insist on escorting you to the nearby city of Locris. Later that day, you enter the city by one of the many trade gates.

The philosophers take you to a great domed temple-like building which they call the Boule. Here, the elected representatives of the landowners – called Oligarchs – rule the city-state of Locris. You are greeted there by Demosthenes himself, one of the two most popular men in the Confederacy and the father of Locris. He greets you courteously enough, but the people of the Confederacy have little time for the rulers of the kingdoms. Their own king is a senile old puppet whom no-one takes any notice of. Nevertheless, he declares a feast in your honour and says that you may enter the Boule and address the Oligarchs tomorrow.

Before the banquet, you ask your scribe to tell you all he knows about the Oligarchane Confederacy. Locris and Nabata are its two most important city-states, the smaller city-states usually follow their lead if the leaders of these two very different cities can be made to agree. They are on friendly terms with both Monsalyar and Dorganath, indulging in a vigorous trade for both dyes and metals, but they recently invaded Alleyn (the merchant class wanting to add more farmland to their mountainous country) but were repulsed by King Timurlane. They have a deep emnity with the priesthood of Death in the Kingdom of Sacerdoge and mistrust the strange people in the Dwellings of the Fey.

The banquet passes off without incident, though your knights are made to feel slightly uncomfortable by the subtle jibes made by the people of Locris about their lack of learning. The importance of the merchant class is brought home to you, for there are several seated even at the high table, men and women of no lineage, but aparently great wealth, without whom the Locrian contingent would be no more than an unarmed rabble. In the morning you prepare to address the Oligarchs in the Boule.

There are twenty members of the ruling council in the Boule which is presided over by Demosthenes. There are wealthy merchants, philosophers, and priests and priestesses of several different gods: Moraine in his aspect of God of Victory, Nolbus the Sea God, Tanajla in her aspect of Protectress of the Home, and a servitor of the Demonlord Arathoth. You must try and decide what manner of speech will win their alliance.

• Appeal to them as protectors of the free to help you against the coming invasion of the Dorgomen?
• Offer them some of Monsaljar's farmlands in return for their support in the event of your conquering Dorganath?
• Promise an alliance against King Timurlane of Alleyn once you have conquered Dorganath?
• Promise that you will pass over control of trade in Monsalyar itself to traders of the Confederacy as soon as they ally with you?
• Warn them that the Dorgomen are allying with King Timurlane of Alleyn?
• Warn them that the Dorgomen are allying with the Priest-King of Sacerdoge.

[Korgan0]

Give them some farmland. Warning them about the dogs might not work since we have the fey on our side, but the farmland should. We've lost the morale thing anyways, so it's a moot point.