Derek58
Rocket Punch is Best Punch
- Location
- Getter Valhalla
If you voted for something before this post, that x in the brackets will overwrite it in the tally. You should remove the x to fix that.
Warhammer Fantasy: A Princess of the Borderlands
- Thread starter Tekomandor
- Start date
- Fantasy
- Location
- Australia
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Just a reminder: the opportunity to purchase those cannons is for this turn and this turn only. The building you would need to do this yourself is significantly later on, or you'd need much better relations with someone who can make cannons (this will not be the dwarfs).
- Location
- Lost amidst hungry sheep
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Plan "woo Sartosa" is a go then, me mateys.
Given what I named my plan to I am not changing that part of it away from fighting the orcs, but I might design a version of it that has canons and no orcs in the morning given this GM hint as to the value of the event.
King Arthur
The Once and Future King
[X] Plan: The Chaos Steamship Can Wait For Next Turn
Hmm... you know thinking about it the only thing about [] Plan: The Chaos Steamship Can Wait For Next Turn that I do not agree with to any real degree is the intrigue action and it's not the end of the world is one of the potential wizards gets in trouble. I might as well change over
[X] Plan: The Chaos Steamship Can Wait For Next Turn
[X] Plan: The Chaos Steamship Can Wait For Next Turn
- Pronouns
- He
[X] Plan: The Chaos Steamship Can Wait For Next Turn
[X] Plan: The Chaos Steamship Can Wait For Next Turn
Having ready cash might not be the most high speed low drag option but I like it. That said, I wonder if population is going to stabilise a little bit any time soon, because we might spend a lot of resources chasing the boom.
Having ready cash might not be the most high speed low drag option but I like it. That said, I wonder if population is going to stabilise a little bit any time soon, because we might spend a lot of resources chasing the boom.
2251, Second Half Results
- Location
- Australia
- Pronouns
- She/Her
2251 IC, Second Half Results
Population Growth:
8d20 Children = 80
9 Children Age into... 3 Sailors, 3 Farmers, 3 Labourers.
5d100 Immigration = 265 = 99 Labourers, 99 Farmers, 33 Sailors, 34 Craftspeople
Private Construction:
Budget: 200GC.
Result: 1d23 = 19, Lumber Camp. Cost 400GC = 200GC progress towards a lumber camp.
Several of the recent immigrants to your settlement have experience as woodsmen, and a few of those have worked in the various lumber camps that attempt to turn the dark forests of Sigmar's Empire into gold. Whilst they have some good sites secured, they'll need some more gold to afford the saws, barges, and draught animals required.
[x] Train some Labourers as militia
Your second group of labourers turned militia march in a ragged formation beneath the mid-morning sun. Their predecessors continue their drills in a much more proficient manner - presting a wall of pikes that might actually dissuade an opposing force. With a full hundred humans under your arms, your settlement is no longer reliant on your mercenaries to defend it.
They are its sole offensive punch, besides your elves, but the militia can man the walls and keep watch - and there's enough of them to dissuade any pirates or brigands looking to make a daring raid.
[x] Attack the Nearby Orc Base
Your scouts report that the orc base is somewhat along the northeastern curve of the massive bay that your settlement lies at one end of. They have basic, crude palisades and watchtowers - but their lookouts don't seem particularly adept. Still, crude as they might be, orcs were dangerous.
Strong, tough, and eagre for blood - but not, as some thought - so bloody-minded that they would press on in the face of overwhelming casualties. Orcs were still cowards at heart, like their diminutive cousins. An orc who stood his ground was a dangerous thing indeed - but a fleeing orc died from a lance or sabre to the back as well as a human.
You gather your force and set out, marching up the bay in a long column. Sir Helene Carrad rides with the Lady Ortiz and her freelances at the head of the column, though your Eagle Knights range out ahead of it to keep up a constant aerial watch. You glide slowly above the column on Galerion, whilst Eydis is located in the centre.
Lady Ortiz's infantry bring up the middle of the column, her pikes in front of the handgunners and their vulnerable powder stores. Behind them are Captain Hochetrasse's troops, his cannons safely in the middle of the column and his halberdiers at the rear, guarding the supply wagons. He himself rides there, keeping a watchful eye over the valuable stores.
The orc base is only a day or two's march away, and soon your force arrives in the area. The base is constructed atop a hill, looking down over a smaller bay. Your army fans out of its column on top of the next hill over - outside of bow or musket range, but well within cannon range.
Captain Hochestrasse's artillery is soon set up, as your troops deploy for battle. Orcs, when faced with flatly superior shooting, must advance and attempt to close the gap. They are not nearly disciplined enough for anything else - no matter how smart these unusual orcs are, the pirates you've been dealing with are the same undisciplined rabble.
Lady Ortiz's pikes deploy in the centre, slightly down the hill. The halberdiers deploy as two small detachments on the flanks, ready to anchor the lines with their superior armour and hefty blades. The handgunners are just above the pikemen, able to shoot clear over their heads. The Lady Ortiz has dismounted and stands with her warrior priests in the very centre of your formation. Sir Carrad has taken the freelancers and is ready to charge down the hill if the orcs look likely to break.
"Well, your highness? Shall I start shooting?" Captain Hochstrasse asks. His blackened plate and brace of pistols, along with his feathered hat, make him the very picture of a Sigmarite commander.
"Yes, but only so much as to draw them out. Keep your guns cool until the orcs present us with some clearer targets," you command. It is probably not necessary - but then again, perhaps they have a giant. One can never quite count such things out when it comes to orcs.
The cannons belch fire and acrid powder smoke, shattering the crude palisades and ramshackle watchtowers. It takes only a minute or two for the orcs to begin streaming out of their base. At first, they seem eager to rush as an unorganised mob, but you spot the bosses marshalling their troops into rough units.
You count perhaps three hundred orcs all told, armed with wicked blades and armoured in a motley mix of chain and scale mail. Some have shields that look to be bits of broken boats lashed together with rope. Ahead of them ride a force of goblins, a hundred strong, on snarling wolves.
The goblins give out wild war cries and advance, urging their slavering mounts forward. Galerion leaps into the air, through the cloud of powder smoke from the cannons. You join your knights as they harass the goblins, circling above the range of their shortbows and raining down arrows.
Eydis blazes with power, the winds swirling around her as she conjures a field of lashing thorns from the ground between the two armies. The wolf riders cry out as they attempt to avoid it - but they're unable to stop in time, and the vines slash and crush and constrict. Your knights wheel away from the goblins, and you fling a fireball towards the orcish lines.
You feel the Aqushy unravel, another wizard attempting to dispel your spell. A fairly powerful one, too - but from the wild energies visible to your witchsight, a typical orc or goblin caster. The fireball survives the attempt, but the explosion is not nearly so devastating. Your eyes narrow as you examine the aether. There is a spell there, hidden in that whirlwind of power. You grasp for Qhashy, for High Magic, and drain away the power.
In the centre of the orc lines, the illusion fades away. At the very tip of the spear, you see a small group of orcs clad in black plate and wielding weapons of a much finer make. Leading them, you see a truly massive orc clade in that same plate armour, and wielding a sword definitely not of orcish make. Dhar swirls around it, dark flame burning along the length of the greatsword.
The goblins have managed to get through the vines, only to find themselves squarely in range of the handgunners. They open fire, lead and smoke belching from the crude human weapons. The goblins are torn apart, wolf and rider alike nothing before the deadly hail of bullets. They answer the hail with arrows, dripping bright green poison, and slay several handgunners.
Smoke envelopes your lines as the goblins scatter, their leader blown apart by several bullets.
All the while, your cannons pound the advancing orcs, Captain Hochestrasse's expert gunners soon getting their eye in and sending cannonballs scything through the orcish ranks. The goblin wizard, hidden with the black orcs, attempts to call on his wild power to smash apart your lines - but Eydis drains away each of his spells; expertly manipulating the winds.
The orcs surge forward as the goblin wizard finally manages to unravel Eydis's spell; even as the handgunners fire. The musketballs cut down orc after orc but still they press onward - now too close for the cannons. The black orcs, clad in their menacing plate, shrug off most of the musketfire, only a few falling. The orc leader takes a musket ball, only for it to come back out of him as some fell magic regenerates his wound.
Lady Ortiz leads her troops in prayer, and you see her goddess's power channelled through her. Golden light gleams from the tip of each pike - and you see her warrior priests ready something else. The goblin wizard tries to empower the orcs, but finally, he has revealed himself from the masses of orcs. One of your knights soars downwards, diving out of the air and impaling the goblin on his lance.
The eagle cries out as an orcish spear cuts a bloody gash in its side, but it recovers and is able to regain altitude - the tiny form of the goblin wizard still impaled on the lance.
You nudge Galerion downwards as the orcs make their charge, your handgunners firing over the heads of your pikemen into the mass of orcs. In the last moment before that thunderous mass of orcs tries to slam through your wall of pikes, the warrior priests release the power they'd been building up. Flashes of light explode all down the line, the human warrior goddess blinding the enemies of her faithful.
Horns sound from Sir Carrad's hiding place as the orcs smash into the wall of pikes, Lady Ortiz's enchantment lending them the power to slay the tough orcs. Your knights charge too, their lances and the wicked claws of their eagles reaping a terrible toll on the flanks of the orcs.
Even so, even through all that fire and holy fury, the orcs persist. Their choppas cut paths through the pikes, the munitions plate of the pikemen proving only so effective. The black orcs are terrors, and for a moment as they charge the men around Lady Ortiz look likely to flee - and then she steps forward, her spear glowing like the midday sun. She strikes down one of the black orcs, and then another - but then their leader reaches her, and with one swing he brings down his baleful greatsword.
She blocks the strike with her shield, but the sword shatters the shield and she's sent flying backwards - alive, but injured. Galerion cries out, and you undo the straps holding you into the saddle. As Galerion flares out his wings to slow his dive, you draw on Ghur to strengthen yourself and leap from the saddle; drawing your sword as you do.
The orcish leader stalks towards the injured Lady Ortiz as she tries to stand. Her troops falter as he approaches - but before he reaches her you land in front of him. He stares at you, his eyes not nearly so wild as you expect an orc's to be mid-battle.
"Elf," he snarls, hefting his blade. You do not deign to answer him - instead, you run your hand up your blade and speak a word of power. Fire, blazing white-hot, follows your hand. The orc takes a step back, and you step forward.
He is quick, despite his bulk. His sword radiates dark power, and now you can see the daemon leashed within. He handles it with the skill of long practice, not the wild swings of an ordinary orc.
None of that is enough. The black orc boss thrusts his daemonsword towards you, but as fast as he is, you are faster. You rotate out of the way of the thrust even as your blade blurs upwards. With one expertly placed blow, your burning blade cuts the orc's head from his shoulders.
His great bulk falls with a crash loud enough to be heard over the din of battle, his sword clattering from his grasp. There is a moment where even the black orcs waver - and then Sir Carrad arrives with the freelances, their charge slamming into the flank of the orcs. Lances and iron-shod hooves alike shatter them, and then you surge forward.
.
After that, all that remains is mopping up. You and Eydis both work to heal the wounded, as Sir Carrad and your knights run down the orcs. Lady Ortiz will survive, though she will need some time and treatment by Eydis to recover. Your losses were relatively light - around twenty men.
The daemonsword poses a problem. Such a foul item must be destroyed, but it takes some time for both you and Eydis to be available for such a thing. Until then, the warrior priests watch over it.
When the wounded are either healed or dead, you and Eydis walk some distance from your army. You hold your sword at the ready, as she casts a spell to unmake the accursed blade. Such high magic is well beyond your powers - but, as she shattered the sword, the daemon bound within it is unleashed. It screams a bloody war cry, but even as it lunges towards Eydis you are there - and with one swing of your enchanted sword, the daemon is sent back to its hellish home.
Crushing Victory! Orc base is wiped out, and the small boat threat is eliminated. Losses are: 12 Pikemen, 2 Halberdiers, 6 Handgunners. These can be made up with a martial action.
+1 Martial to Osydin, +1 Progress towards the trait Killing Blow [1/5 towards Monster Slayer]. After looting the orc base, you recover 500GC and rescue a number of slaves. Many wish to stay, expanding your population by +30 Labourers, +30 Sailors, +20 Farmers.
[x] Escort Trade
The route to Tilea may be less dangerous setting out, but pirates still infest the Border Princes. Still, your ships are able to make their runs without too much trouble - the only cause for alarm being a distant sighting of what you think may have been a Druchii raiding ship, though luckily they seemed to have other prey in mind.
Additionally, you were able to conduct trade with Wurtmoot Island without any issue.
[x] Arm your Merchant Ships x4
Once they arrive in tiles, your ships spend nearly a month being refitted in the great docks there. Cannons, curiously marked with the heraldry of a Bretonnian merchant house, are mounted on the ships. Putting in a gun deck would be much more work, and would seriously cut into their carrying capacity, so the ships merely carry as many guns as they can fit on their weather decks.
After the ships arrive back at your settlement, you have Captain Hochestrasse's armourers remove the marking from the cannons. You suspect you understand why they were so cheap, now.
[x] Launch a Diplomatic Expedition to the Norscans
After your crushing victory over the orcs, a good portion of the army escorts the freed slaves back to your settlement where those who wish to leave can take ship to Tilea or Wurtmoot Island. Lady Ortiz heads back with them, whilst Captain Hochstrasse takes his halberdiers, a number of handgunners, two of your Eagle Knights, and Lady Ortiz's freelances up the bay towards the Norscans.
You head back with the victorious column - it is important that this victory is associated with you, in the minds of your subjects. Luckily, with the aid of Galerion, you'll be able to catch up to Captain Hochstrasse well before he reaches the Norscans.
Your reception when you return victorious is almost rapturous - many of your subjects were once prisoners of the orcs, or had lost someone to them. A new dedication is carved into the temple of Myrmidia, telling the tale of the battle.
Still, you enjoy the festivities only at a distance. The human ale and food is tolerable only in small doses, though you find it amusing how much they enjoy seeing you drink the ale. The human drink, even the much stronger version sold in taverns, is not nearly so strong as elfwine.
You catch back up to Captain Hochstrasse a day before he reaches the Norscans, and are able to be at the head of the column when it arrives at the walls of their settlement.
It is an impressive settlement, for the Border Princes. A well-made wooden wall rings the settlement, which looks large enough to house several thousand people. Farms extend out past the walls, thralls working the fields. A distasteful practice. At the centre of the settlement is a keep the Norscans surely did not construct - Sigmarite, perhaps.
Your column approaches, your banner fluttering in the wind. Thralls and freemen alike gaze at you with awe, for Galerion is twice the size of even the mightiest destrier. You see no dhar when you examine the settlement from a distance with your wichsight, which is a reassuring sight.
After perhaps an hour, a man in fine armour approaches you. He's accompanied by a retinue of armoured warriors, wearing a mixture of Norscan-made scale and imported plate. They carry huge, two-handed axes.
"What is your business here, elf-lord?" the man asks you, his voice deep and loud.
"Peace, trade, and diplomacy," you reply.
"You need that monster for peace?" he asks.
"Galerion helps with the diplomacy," you say. The Norscan laughs.
"Aye, aye that beastie looks mighty convincing to me. Be welcome, then, elf-lord. I am Ulfric, called the Seafarer by some. These lands are mine," he says.
"I am Osydin, Princess of Eataine," you say, as you and your men head into the settlement. You spend only a day there, always watchful for any items bearing the taint of the dark gods - but you see no traces of dhar within the Norscan's keep.
New Diplomatic Actions Unlocked!
[x] Begin Enlarging the Piers
It is slow going, working on the piers whilst trade continues to flow through your settlement. You provide much of Wurtmoot Island's food, and there is a constant stream of small boats carrying all sorts of goods between your settlement and the island. More work will need to be done, and more gold spent - but the expansions can be done.
Unlocks Medium Peirs and Medium Docks.
[x] Order Buildings Constructed
Construction continues apace all over your settlement, with more and more streets full of well-made houses springing up. Farms continue to be established, and the expanse between you and your nearest neighbours is enough to fit far more farmland. You also direct your steward to have public baths built, so as to keep your settlement from becoming as filthy as the other human cities you've seen.
You also begin to employ several herbalists, who provide medical care to the public. This is unusual in human lands but seen as the mark of a wise ruler in Ulthuan. Of course, the herbalists themselves are humans - and so are ignorant, superstitious near-illiterates - but they do know the basics.
[x] Keep an eye out for scouts, spies and others
Eydis finds several people poking their nose into places it doesn't belong, though none of them are especially concerning. A few weeks after your visit, a few Norscan scouts linger around the wood's edge, surveying the size and likely output of your settlement. You make sure to have your troops drill in sight of them, to emphasise why any competition should stay friendly.
You also see a few merchants who slip in on small boats and unload goods of dubious providence. None seem to be stolen from elvish ships, so you let the matter rest for now.
[x] Investigate the elvish ruins
Vadac leads you, on foot, to the ruins he'd found. They are no shining tower, like your lighthouse - but rather a low hall, hidden amongst branch and root. You can feel the magic on the air, a lingering taste of power. You extend your witchsight, and carefully probe the edges of the warding spells.
It takes a day of careful, precise work to take down the defences - but you have lowered them without mishap. Carefully, you open the ancient doors and explore the ruin. It seems to have been a mansion for a colonial lord, but judging by the architecture it must have been forgotten about long before the War of the Beard.
Most of the furniture, all the fine silks and tapestries, have long since rotted away... but some of the interior remains. Certainly, the building itself is well-preserved, as is all the intricate stonework.
What do you find? 1d100 = 97!+21 = 118
In the centre of the ruin, you find a small dias. Around it lies the rotted remains of fine tapestries, and treasures long since lost to time. As you approach it, you notice yet more defensive spells - and that they have been disturbed. Where once an entire suit of armour lay, now lies only a helm.
But what a helm. Flaring dragon wings extend out of it, and a line of diamonds sits between them. It sings of magic and great deeds, done in the time when the world was young - in the time of legends.
It takes far more work to extract the helm than to breach the outer defences - the better part of a week - and you only manage to open a small window, just enough to grab a single piece of armour. You know now why the helm had been left behind... and that the theft must have been recent.
Something stinking of half-trained, human magic has touched these wards, and recently. Dhar, but... not chaotic. Cold and dead and stinking of rot. Necromancy.
Gain: Unknown Enchanted Helm
[x] Study the blade
You meditate on the forms your mother taught you as you spar against your knights. You move with practised grace and effortless lethality, but there is nothing new to be learnt in that fight - merely keeping skills sharp.
As skilled as your knights may be, they are all very familiar to you. You find no new insight into the blade sparring with them.
[x] Use magic to aid your farmers
Newcomers to your settlement are always nervous when you make your rounds amongst the farmlands. They have heard whispers of witches and sorcerers, of those who cavort with forbidden gods and dark powers.
It never lasts more than a season, as their fields grow bounties unmatched by even the best soil. Even the most ardent doubters feel a sense of rightness as they walk amongst their crops, the life magic something that no daemon could master.
Population Growth:
8d20 Children = 80
9 Children Age into... 3 Sailors, 3 Farmers, 3 Labourers.
5d100 Immigration = 265 = 99 Labourers, 99 Farmers, 33 Sailors, 34 Craftspeople
Private Construction:
Budget: 200GC.
Result: 1d23 = 19, Lumber Camp. Cost 400GC = 200GC progress towards a lumber camp.
Several of the recent immigrants to your settlement have experience as woodsmen, and a few of those have worked in the various lumber camps that attempt to turn the dark forests of Sigmar's Empire into gold. Whilst they have some good sites secured, they'll need some more gold to afford the saws, barges, and draught animals required.
[x] Train some Labourers as militia
DC 50 = 1d100 + 23 (Osydin's Martial) + 19 (Lady Ortiz's Martial) = 62+23+19 = 103
Exceeded DC by 50, two degrees of success.
Exceeded DC by 50, two degrees of success.
Your second group of labourers turned militia march in a ragged formation beneath the mid-morning sun. Their predecessors continue their drills in a much more proficient manner - presting a wall of pikes that might actually dissuade an opposing force. With a full hundred humans under your arms, your settlement is no longer reliant on your mercenaries to defend it.
They are its sole offensive punch, besides your elves, but the militia can man the walls and keep watch - and there's enough of them to dissuade any pirates or brigands looking to make a daring raid.
[x] Attack the Nearby Orc Base
Your scouts report that the orc base is somewhat along the northeastern curve of the massive bay that your settlement lies at one end of. They have basic, crude palisades and watchtowers - but their lookouts don't seem particularly adept. Still, crude as they might be, orcs were dangerous.
Strong, tough, and eagre for blood - but not, as some thought - so bloody-minded that they would press on in the face of overwhelming casualties. Orcs were still cowards at heart, like their diminutive cousins. An orc who stood his ground was a dangerous thing indeed - but a fleeing orc died from a lance or sabre to the back as well as a human.
You gather your force and set out, marching up the bay in a long column. Sir Helene Carrad rides with the Lady Ortiz and her freelances at the head of the column, though your Eagle Knights range out ahead of it to keep up a constant aerial watch. You glide slowly above the column on Galerion, whilst Eydis is located in the centre.
Lady Ortiz's infantry bring up the middle of the column, her pikes in front of the handgunners and their vulnerable powder stores. Behind them are Captain Hochetrasse's troops, his cannons safely in the middle of the column and his halberdiers at the rear, guarding the supply wagons. He himself rides there, keeping a watchful eye over the valuable stores.
The orc base is only a day or two's march away, and soon your force arrives in the area. The base is constructed atop a hill, looking down over a smaller bay. Your army fans out of its column on top of the next hill over - outside of bow or musket range, but well within cannon range.
Opposed Roll: 1d100 + 23 (Osydin's Martial) + 10 (Superior Scouts) + 10 (Superior Discipline) vs 1d100 + 16 (???'s Martial) + 10 (Enough Bosses) + 10 (Minor Defences) = 97!+62+23+19+10+10 vs 26+16+10+10 = 202 vs 62.
Beat opponent by 125, critical success and five degrees of success!
Beat opponent by 125, critical success and five degrees of success!
Captain Hochestrasse's artillery is soon set up, as your troops deploy for battle. Orcs, when faced with flatly superior shooting, must advance and attempt to close the gap. They are not nearly disciplined enough for anything else - no matter how smart these unusual orcs are, the pirates you've been dealing with are the same undisciplined rabble.
Lady Ortiz's pikes deploy in the centre, slightly down the hill. The halberdiers deploy as two small detachments on the flanks, ready to anchor the lines with their superior armour and hefty blades. The handgunners are just above the pikemen, able to shoot clear over their heads. The Lady Ortiz has dismounted and stands with her warrior priests in the very centre of your formation. Sir Carrad has taken the freelancers and is ready to charge down the hill if the orcs look likely to break.
"Well, your highness? Shall I start shooting?" Captain Hochstrasse asks. His blackened plate and brace of pistols, along with his feathered hat, make him the very picture of a Sigmarite commander.
"Yes, but only so much as to draw them out. Keep your guns cool until the orcs present us with some clearer targets," you command. It is probably not necessary - but then again, perhaps they have a giant. One can never quite count such things out when it comes to orcs.
The cannons belch fire and acrid powder smoke, shattering the crude palisades and ramshackle watchtowers. It takes only a minute or two for the orcs to begin streaming out of their base. At first, they seem eager to rush as an unorganised mob, but you spot the bosses marshalling their troops into rough units.
You count perhaps three hundred orcs all told, armed with wicked blades and armoured in a motley mix of chain and scale mail. Some have shields that look to be bits of broken boats lashed together with rope. Ahead of them ride a force of goblins, a hundred strong, on snarling wolves.
Opposed Roll: 1d100 + 23 (Osydin's Martial) + 40 (Eydis's Magic) + 41 (Osydin's Effective Prowess) + 50 (Deployment) + 20 (Very Superior Troops) vs 1d100 + 16 (??? Martial) + 20 (??? Magic) + 10 (Enough Bosses) + 40 (Outnumber x 2) = 34+23+40+41+50+20 vs 59+16+10+40 = 208 vs 145
Beat opponent by 50, two degrees of success
Beat opponent by 50, two degrees of success
The goblins give out wild war cries and advance, urging their slavering mounts forward. Galerion leaps into the air, through the cloud of powder smoke from the cannons. You join your knights as they harass the goblins, circling above the range of their shortbows and raining down arrows.
Eydis blazes with power, the winds swirling around her as she conjures a field of lashing thorns from the ground between the two armies. The wolf riders cry out as they attempt to avoid it - but they're unable to stop in time, and the vines slash and crush and constrict. Your knights wheel away from the goblins, and you fling a fireball towards the orcish lines.
You feel the Aqushy unravel, another wizard attempting to dispel your spell. A fairly powerful one, too - but from the wild energies visible to your witchsight, a typical orc or goblin caster. The fireball survives the attempt, but the explosion is not nearly so devastating. Your eyes narrow as you examine the aether. There is a spell there, hidden in that whirlwind of power. You grasp for Qhashy, for High Magic, and drain away the power.
In the centre of the orc lines, the illusion fades away. At the very tip of the spear, you see a small group of orcs clad in black plate and wielding weapons of a much finer make. Leading them, you see a truly massive orc clade in that same plate armour, and wielding a sword definitely not of orcish make. Dhar swirls around it, dark flame burning along the length of the greatsword.
The goblins have managed to get through the vines, only to find themselves squarely in range of the handgunners. They open fire, lead and smoke belching from the crude human weapons. The goblins are torn apart, wolf and rider alike nothing before the deadly hail of bullets. They answer the hail with arrows, dripping bright green poison, and slay several handgunners.
Smoke envelopes your lines as the goblins scatter, their leader blown apart by several bullets.
All the while, your cannons pound the advancing orcs, Captain Hochestrasse's expert gunners soon getting their eye in and sending cannonballs scything through the orcish ranks. The goblin wizard, hidden with the black orcs, attempts to call on his wild power to smash apart your lines - but Eydis drains away each of his spells; expertly manipulating the winds.
Opposed Roll: 1d100 + 23 (Osydin's Martial) + 40 (Eydis's Magic) + 41 (Osydin's Effective Prowess) + 50 (Deployment) + 20 (Very Superior Troops) + 20 (Skirmish) + 21 (Lady Ortiz Peity) vs 1d100 + 16 (??? Martial) + 20 (??? Magic) + 10 (Enough Bosses) + 20 (Outnumber) = 51+23+40+41+50+20 vs 100!+81+16+10+20 = 266 vs 227
Beat opponent by 25, one degree of success.
Beat opponent by 25, one degree of success.
The orcs surge forward as the goblin wizard finally manages to unravel Eydis's spell; even as the handgunners fire. The musketballs cut down orc after orc but still they press onward - now too close for the cannons. The black orcs, clad in their menacing plate, shrug off most of the musketfire, only a few falling. The orc leader takes a musket ball, only for it to come back out of him as some fell magic regenerates his wound.
Lady Ortiz leads her troops in prayer, and you see her goddess's power channelled through her. Golden light gleams from the tip of each pike - and you see her warrior priests ready something else. The goblin wizard tries to empower the orcs, but finally, he has revealed himself from the masses of orcs. One of your knights soars downwards, diving out of the air and impaling the goblin on his lance.
The eagle cries out as an orcish spear cuts a bloody gash in its side, but it recovers and is able to regain altitude - the tiny form of the goblin wizard still impaled on the lance.
You nudge Galerion downwards as the orcs make their charge, your handgunners firing over the heads of your pikemen into the mass of orcs. In the last moment before that thunderous mass of orcs tries to slam through your wall of pikes, the warrior priests release the power they'd been building up. Flashes of light explode all down the line, the human warrior goddess blinding the enemies of her faithful.
Horns sound from Sir Carrad's hiding place as the orcs smash into the wall of pikes, Lady Ortiz's enchantment lending them the power to slay the tough orcs. Your knights charge too, their lances and the wicked claws of their eagles reaping a terrible toll on the flanks of the orcs.
Even so, even through all that fire and holy fury, the orcs persist. Their choppas cut paths through the pikes, the munitions plate of the pikemen proving only so effective. The black orcs are terrors, and for a moment as they charge the men around Lady Ortiz look likely to flee - and then she steps forward, her spear glowing like the midday sun. She strikes down one of the black orcs, and then another - but then their leader reaches her, and with one swing he brings down his baleful greatsword.
She blocks the strike with her shield, but the sword shatters the shield and she's sent flying backwards - alive, but injured. Galerion cries out, and you undo the straps holding you into the saddle. As Galerion flares out his wings to slow his dive, you draw on Ghur to strengthen yourself and leap from the saddle; drawing your sword as you do.
The orcish leader stalks towards the injured Lady Ortiz as she tries to stand. Her troops falter as he approaches - but before he reaches her you land in front of him. He stares at you, his eyes not nearly so wild as you expect an orc's to be mid-battle.
"Elf," he snarls, hefting his blade. You do not deign to answer him - instead, you run your hand up your blade and speak a word of power. Fire, blazing white-hot, follows your hand. The orc takes a step back, and you step forward.
Opposed Roll: 1d100 + 31 (Osydin's Prowess) + 5 (Eagle Knight) + 5 (Sword of Hoeth) + 28 (Osydin's Magic) vs 1d100 + 25 (Black Orc Boss's Prowess) + 5 (Black Orc) + 15 (Daemonsword) = 98!+68+31+5+5+28 vs 11+25+5+15 = 235 vs 56
Beat opponent by 150, six degrees of success. Black Plate reduces that by three steps, regeneration negated by Flaming Sword of Rhuin. Natural 98, KILLING BLOW - Black Orc boss is instantly slain.
Beat opponent by 150, six degrees of success. Black Plate reduces that by three steps, regeneration negated by Flaming Sword of Rhuin. Natural 98, KILLING BLOW - Black Orc boss is instantly slain.
He is quick, despite his bulk. His sword radiates dark power, and now you can see the daemon leashed within. He handles it with the skill of long practice, not the wild swings of an ordinary orc.
None of that is enough. The black orc boss thrusts his daemonsword towards you, but as fast as he is, you are faster. You rotate out of the way of the thrust even as your blade blurs upwards. With one expertly placed blow, your burning blade cuts the orc's head from his shoulders.
His great bulk falls with a crash loud enough to be heard over the din of battle, his sword clattering from his grasp. There is a moment where even the black orcs waver - and then Sir Carrad arrives with the freelances, their charge slamming into the flank of the orcs. Lances and iron-shod hooves alike shatter them, and then you surge forward.
DC 100 = 1d100 + 10 (Orc Boss Leadership) = 76 + 10 = 86
Fail
Fail
After that, all that remains is mopping up. You and Eydis both work to heal the wounded, as Sir Carrad and your knights run down the orcs. Lady Ortiz will survive, though she will need some time and treatment by Eydis to recover. Your losses were relatively light - around twenty men.
The daemonsword poses a problem. Such a foul item must be destroyed, but it takes some time for both you and Eydis to be available for such a thing. Until then, the warrior priests watch over it.
When the wounded are either healed or dead, you and Eydis walk some distance from your army. You hold your sword at the ready, as she casts a spell to unmake the accursed blade. Such high magic is well beyond your powers - but, as she shattered the sword, the daemon bound within it is unleashed. It screams a bloody war cry, but even as it lunges towards Eydis you are there - and with one swing of your enchanted sword, the daemon is sent back to its hellish home.
Crushing Victory! Orc base is wiped out, and the small boat threat is eliminated. Losses are: 12 Pikemen, 2 Halberdiers, 6 Handgunners. These can be made up with a martial action.
+1 Martial to Osydin, +1 Progress towards the trait Killing Blow [1/5 towards Monster Slayer]. After looting the orc base, you recover 500GC and rescue a number of slaves. Many wish to stay, expanding your population by +30 Labourers, +30 Sailors, +20 Farmers.
[x] Escort Trade
DC 50 = 1d100 + 24 (Osydin's Martial) + 19 (Lady Ortiz's Martial) = 92+24+19 = 135
Exceeded DC by 75, 3 Degrees of Success.
Exceeded DC by 75, 3 Degrees of Success.
The route to Tilea may be less dangerous setting out, but pirates still infest the Border Princes. Still, your ships are able to make their runs without too much trouble - the only cause for alarm being a distant sighting of what you think may have been a Druchii raiding ship, though luckily they seemed to have other prey in mind.
Additionally, you were able to conduct trade with Wurtmoot Island without any issue.
[x] Arm your Merchant Ships x4
DC 50 = 1d100 + 24 (Osydin's Martial) + 19 (Lady Ortiz's Martial) = 92+24+19 = 135
Exceeded DC by 75, 3 Degrees of Success.
Exceeded DC by 75, 3 Degrees of Success.
Once they arrive in tiles, your ships spend nearly a month being refitted in the great docks there. Cannons, curiously marked with the heraldry of a Bretonnian merchant house, are mounted on the ships. Putting in a gun deck would be much more work, and would seriously cut into their carrying capacity, so the ships merely carry as many guns as they can fit on their weather decks.
After the ships arrive back at your settlement, you have Captain Hochestrasse's armourers remove the marking from the cannons. You suspect you understand why they were so cheap, now.
[x] Launch a Diplomatic Expedition to the Norscans
DC 75 = 1d100 + 20 (Osydin's Diplomacy) + 21 (Sir Carrad's Diplomacy) = 58+20+21 = 99
Bare Success
Bare Success
After your crushing victory over the orcs, a good portion of the army escorts the freed slaves back to your settlement where those who wish to leave can take ship to Tilea or Wurtmoot Island. Lady Ortiz heads back with them, whilst Captain Hochstrasse takes his halberdiers, a number of handgunners, two of your Eagle Knights, and Lady Ortiz's freelances up the bay towards the Norscans.
You head back with the victorious column - it is important that this victory is associated with you, in the minds of your subjects. Luckily, with the aid of Galerion, you'll be able to catch up to Captain Hochstrasse well before he reaches the Norscans.
Your reception when you return victorious is almost rapturous - many of your subjects were once prisoners of the orcs, or had lost someone to them. A new dedication is carved into the temple of Myrmidia, telling the tale of the battle.
Still, you enjoy the festivities only at a distance. The human ale and food is tolerable only in small doses, though you find it amusing how much they enjoy seeing you drink the ale. The human drink, even the much stronger version sold in taverns, is not nearly so strong as elfwine.
You catch back up to Captain Hochstrasse a day before he reaches the Norscans, and are able to be at the head of the column when it arrives at the walls of their settlement.
It is an impressive settlement, for the Border Princes. A well-made wooden wall rings the settlement, which looks large enough to house several thousand people. Farms extend out past the walls, thralls working the fields. A distasteful practice. At the centre of the settlement is a keep the Norscans surely did not construct - Sigmarite, perhaps.
Your column approaches, your banner fluttering in the wind. Thralls and freemen alike gaze at you with awe, for Galerion is twice the size of even the mightiest destrier. You see no dhar when you examine the settlement from a distance with your wichsight, which is a reassuring sight.
After perhaps an hour, a man in fine armour approaches you. He's accompanied by a retinue of armoured warriors, wearing a mixture of Norscan-made scale and imported plate. They carry huge, two-handed axes.
"What is your business here, elf-lord?" the man asks you, his voice deep and loud.
"Peace, trade, and diplomacy," you reply.
"You need that monster for peace?" he asks.
"Galerion helps with the diplomacy," you say. The Norscan laughs.
"Aye, aye that beastie looks mighty convincing to me. Be welcome, then, elf-lord. I am Ulfric, called the Seafarer by some. These lands are mine," he says.
"I am Osydin, Princess of Eataine," you say, as you and your men head into the settlement. You spend only a day there, always watchful for any items bearing the taint of the dark gods - but you see no traces of dhar within the Norscan's keep.
New Diplomatic Actions Unlocked!
[x] Begin Enlarging the Piers
DC 75 = 1d100 + 15 (Osydin's Stewardship) + 21 (Captain Hochstrasse's Stewardship) = 41+15+21 = 76
Bare Success
Bare Success
It is slow going, working on the piers whilst trade continues to flow through your settlement. You provide much of Wurtmoot Island's food, and there is a constant stream of small boats carrying all sorts of goods between your settlement and the island. More work will need to be done, and more gold spent - but the expansions can be done.
Unlocks Medium Peirs and Medium Docks.
[x] Order Buildings Constructed
Construction continues apace all over your settlement, with more and more streets full of well-made houses springing up. Farms continue to be established, and the expanse between you and your nearest neighbours is enough to fit far more farmland. You also direct your steward to have public baths built, so as to keep your settlement from becoming as filthy as the other human cities you've seen.
You also begin to employ several herbalists, who provide medical care to the public. This is unusual in human lands but seen as the mark of a wise ruler in Ulthuan. Of course, the herbalists themselves are humans - and so are ignorant, superstitious near-illiterates - but they do know the basics.
[x] Keep an eye out for scouts, spies and others
DC 50 = 1d100 + 14 (Osydin's Intrigue) + 27 (Eydis's Intrigue) = 54+14+27 = 95
Exceeded DC by 25, one degree of success.
Exceeded DC by 25, one degree of success.
You also see a few merchants who slip in on small boats and unload goods of dubious providence. None seem to be stolen from elvish ships, so you let the matter rest for now.
[x] Investigate the elvish ruins
DC 75 = 1d100 + 15 (Osydin's Intrigue) + 28 (Osydin's Magic) + 10 (High Mage) = 96!+3+15+28+10 = 152
Exceeded DC by 75, three degrees of success.
Exceeded DC by 75, three degrees of success.
It takes a day of careful, precise work to take down the defences - but you have lowered them without mishap. Carefully, you open the ancient doors and explore the ruin. It seems to have been a mansion for a colonial lord, but judging by the architecture it must have been forgotten about long before the War of the Beard.
Most of the furniture, all the fine silks and tapestries, have long since rotted away... but some of the interior remains. Certainly, the building itself is well-preserved, as is all the intricate stonework.
What do you find? 1d100 = 97!+21 = 118
In the centre of the ruin, you find a small dias. Around it lies the rotted remains of fine tapestries, and treasures long since lost to time. As you approach it, you notice yet more defensive spells - and that they have been disturbed. Where once an entire suit of armour lay, now lies only a helm.
But what a helm. Flaring dragon wings extend out of it, and a line of diamonds sits between them. It sings of magic and great deeds, done in the time when the world was young - in the time of legends.
It takes far more work to extract the helm than to breach the outer defences - the better part of a week - and you only manage to open a small window, just enough to grab a single piece of armour. You know now why the helm had been left behind... and that the theft must have been recent.
Something stinking of half-trained, human magic has touched these wards, and recently. Dhar, but... not chaotic. Cold and dead and stinking of rot. Necromancy.
Gain: Unknown Enchanted Helm
[x] Study the blade
DC 100 = 1d100 + 31 (Osydin's Prowess) = 45+31 = 76
Bare Failure.
Bare Failure.
As skilled as your knights may be, they are all very familiar to you. You find no new insight into the blade sparring with them.
[x] Use magic to aid your farmers
DC 50 = 1d100 + 28 (Osydin's Magic) + 5 (Blessing of Isha) = 63+28+5 = 96
Exceeded DC by 25, one degree of success.
Exceeded DC by 25, one degree of success.
It never lasts more than a season, as their fields grow bounties unmatched by even the best soil. Even the most ardent doubters feel a sense of rightness as they walk amongst their crops, the life magic something that no daemon could master.
10ebbor10
DON'T PANIC
- Location
- Present
Pop growth continues to escalate, it seems.
Did... Did we just found the Crown of Sorcery and killed Azhag the Slaughterer before he found it?
- Location
- Goose Land
Something's fishy here
1650+250-200 is 1700, so maybe a 2 and a 7 got mixed up?
Otherwise, we've got some sneak thiefs getting into this.
We can fit one more of these, and free money is free money.
Options haven't updated yet.
We're at 990gp, and we have a lot of potential income going on. I believe we can get something like 2500gp for a gunpowder trading action, so we'd get an immediate return worth our investment if we go for it.
This explicitly only activates during a food surplus, and having alcohol on hand for clean drinking purposes seems like a good idea, and also good for further boosting our already great Morale.
In that same way, employeeing Laborers and getting more higher quality food seems like a good Morale booster.
They've already done half the work, so finishing this up and getting more money and employing more people seems like a good idea.
Plus having a local source of properly cut and shaped wood will likely help with either unlocking or discounting building projects.
One of our Eagles got hurt this turn. I am entirely on board with giving our Knight seed stock to build up her own Knightly Group to charge into nonsense for us instead of risking Eagles.
That being said, we might want to consider expanding the Aviary and starting the slow process of breeding more Eagles?
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Derek58
Rocket Punch is Best Punch
- Location
- Getter Valhalla
Wow nice, we rolled great on that battle, especially in killing the Black Orc Boss in one exchange! 
Also that's an awesome helmet we found! And we know where the rest of it is, even more reason to go kill that Vampire
Though probably best to wait a turn so we can recover our losses and hopefully figure out the bonuses the helmet gives us.
Also that's an awesome helmet we found! And we know where the rest of it is, even more reason to go kill that Vampire
Though probably best to wait a turn so we can recover our losses and hopefully figure out the bonuses the helmet gives us.
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10ebbor10
DON'T PANIC
- Location
- Present
One thing to consider on your math here, is that the gunpowder thingy produces 200 gunpowder, but the 2500gp trade is for 500 gunpowder.
Adrian XXIV
Average User, from Poland
- Location
- Poland
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Sigmar the Heldenhammer was worshipper of Ulfric, before he achieved godhood himself
Osydin now met (apparently) Sigmar-worshipping Norscan named Ulfric.
Tzeentch (most probably) has a good laugh about this irony
- Location
- Goose Land
200 should still translate to 1000gp, as it sells at a 1 to 5 goods to gold ratio, so if they're willing to take their delivery piecemeal it would still pay for itself in its first turn, discounting upkeep costs.
Otherwise aiming to build 4 Gunpowder Mills so we can sell to them every turn and build up our own stockpiles feels like a good idea? In terms of economics and military logistics at least.