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Final story update


The Nikephoriad

by Princess Irene

Chapter 12Fortunate CephalopodThe Tilean Wars

by Heinrich Breytenbach of Bechafen

Extract from chapter fourteen: Onore and the Golden Company

The war had not been kind to the Golden Company, and the loss of Red Rock was an especial tragedy for the many dwarfs among them. There had been murders also: the brutal deaths of many of the most prominent generals of the Company had disheartened those who were left. Statues were raised to the fallen in the new temple at Monte Castello, that fortress that had been so important to the Company in the early days of the war, and had been recovered from the Tyrian Guild at great cost. When the Guild again attempted to capture Monte Castello, the Company repelled them with ferocity. They would stand for no more losses.

Now, there was also in Monte Castello a man called Janos Aquilus, who had once been the king of Onore. Over a year before he had been driven from his lands by the Vermillion Legion, one of whom had set himself up as the new king. Dryden, as the king was known, had ruled Onore throughout the mercenary war, holding firm against many attacks. Now the Golden Company determined to topple him.

The mistakes they had made at Luccini haunted them, so there was no preparation that they did not make, no stratagem that they did not consider. They procured a new siege train of fine dwarfish cannon and they hired miners and sappers to reduce the walls of Onore from above and below. So it was that the full force of the Golden Company fell upon Onore, where only Dryden and his small army waited to oppose them.

The list of the generals who fought at Onore is long indeed: Matthias Corvinus, The Lion of the Reik; Anastasia Contyre; Norri Grumson, the Thane of Red Rock; Sorscha Kosnokov; Klaus Schweik; Morgrimm the Devourer; Vander Schmidt; Aldobrando Aldobrandesco, Count of Monte Castello, soon to declare himself prince of that place; German von Streissen; Konrad von Frundsberg, once an agent of the despot of Remas.

The ending was never in doubt. Onore fell, and Dryden was driven out. Anastasia Contyre declared herself the new Queen of Onore - Janos being quite forgotten - and rode through the city at the head of a magnificent procession. At her side rode Aldobrando Aldobrandesco, Klaus Schweik and Vekram de Crux. The queen was crowned on the steps of the palace, before the people. There she made a brief but impassioned speech to her new subjects, promising order and prosperity, and a new kingdom that would rival the Tilean states to the east. Fortunately for Anastasia, the people of Onore, like all who live in the Border Princes, are always ready to accept a new ruler.



Extract from chapter fifteen:  The fall of Verezzo

Author's note: here I present a number of first-hand accounts of the fall of Verezzo to the Cerulean League. The stories are, in places, rather lurid, but I have taken great pains to confirm their veracity. The names of the witness are not recorded.

"It was a quiet day. I remember thinking that - so quiet. Our Duke Alexander had been murdered only days before and we were in mourning. I don't know how they moved so quietly when there were so many of them. They came in the night. The morning was misty at first, and when the sun burned it away we saw them, already arrayed for assault, all around the city walls. Men, dwarfs, even goblins. I was on the north-west tower, and I saw Isaac von Siegfriedshof give a command to his men. 'Sing,' he said to them, 'sing,' And they did - maybe it was partly the quiet before, but I have never heard anything so loud as that singing. It was a hymn of some sort to their northern god Sigmar, and it echoed with such power that it shook the walls. Over the singing, clear and loud, we heard Isaac's voice, urging his soldiers on, proclaiming our own destruction, calling out to the gods to strike down our walls. Now, this is the part you won't believe: the north wall fell, all at once, without the enemy so much as touching it. That was when I knew the gods were against us, and I abandoned my post and ran as far as I could."

This was not the only magic used against the city, as the following account of the sorcery invoked by the man known only as 'The Spinner' shows.

"The skies above Verezzo began to boil and churn. A high-pitched, ominous chant could be heard from the woods as clouds gathered above the city. All at once, the air split open, revealing a shimmering vortex out of which poured horrific, eight-legged daemons! The monsters scuttled towards the town walls as mutant goblins and screeching cultists charged from the woods."

Furthermore, a creature previously encountered at the Via Nano struck once again.

"It was a spider. But not like the ones you find in your privy in the dead of night. This spider was taller than a house, and it scuttled up the east wall like it was nothing. We shot at it with our crossbows, but if the bolts pierced its skin at all it didn't seem to bother it. Again and again it lunged forward, each bite freezing a man's limbs and leaving him helpless. I saw the pile it made later. They were still alive."

When the battle was over, the attackers each tried to stake their claims over the city.

'Gaspard de Valois rode in over the ruins of the north wall, resplendent in his silver armour, his grail shield shining in the sun. At his side were his knights, before him trumpeters and standard-bearers. He had sworn his men to subdue the city as peacefully as possible, taking the precaution of paying off the less-honourable among them in advance. To the citizens, caught between goblins and demonic monsters, he seemed a beacon of hope.'

So there they were, these mercenaries who claimed to fight under the same banner, squabbling over who would rule Verezzo. But with the spiders, the warp-things, the horrors of all kinds, the piles of the dead and the near-dead: who would want to?



13 Reman Despots

by Procellus

Extract from part two: Nikephorus III MonomachusA final perspective on Tilea after the mercenary wars of 2203

by Jacopo Il Calamari

All accounts, banned as a result of assassination, have been unbanned.

As the glorious armies of the Vermillion Legion marched upon Luccini, they saw many things. Things of wonder, even to hardened mercenaries. They saw great engines of war, abandoned in the field. They saw rank upon rank of golden clad warrior, lying dead in the fields around the Leopard City. They heard the locals' tales of internal conflicts that had torn the besiegers apart, and left their commander furious.

But the most wondrous thing they saw was this : Standing in the middle of the road to Luccini's main gate was a lone figure. From afar, people could see this man was a mercenary general. No other creature in Tilea would dress as flamboyantly, as if by his fashion statement, the man wanted to discern himself from those around him.
Coming closer however, on could see that his clothing had faded with age, and that only his hat retained its original bright blue colour. That hat... only one creature in Tilea wore such a hat... Ennio Mordini.

Indeed, it was the infamous undead mercenary who stood there, waiting.
When the first soldiers aproached, he unsheathed his wailing blade, Skabscrath, and motioned them to halt. In a voice, cold as the grave he said "Fetch the fool who challenged me.. Hans Von Knoblauch is his name."

Immediately, a runner was sent to the witch hunting arch lector, who rode his horse forward to meet his nemesis, the one he had traveled thousands of leagues for.

"Greetings, arch lector Von Knoblauch, you sent word for me ?" the skeletal figure said.

"Prepare to be judged, abomination !", was all the Vermillion general replied, and he spurred his horse into a charge.

Fear test (Mordini causes Terror) :

Dice Roller

You rolled 2 dice:



Timestamp: 2010-10-14 20:28:08 UTC

Success.

Magic phase : winds of Magic

Dice Roller

You rolled 2 dice:



Timestamp: 2010-10-14 20:30:10 UTC

Von Knoblauch casts Hammer of Sigmar

Dice Roller

You rolled 2 dice:


Timestamp: 2010-10-14 20:32:42 UTC

Mordini dispell roll :

Dice Roller

You rolled 2 dice:


Timestamp: 2010-10-14 20:33:37 UTC

Von Knoblauch attempts Soulfire :

Dice Roller

You rolled 3 dice:



Timestamp: 2010-10-14 20:34:40 UTC

Mordini dispel roll :

Dice Roller

You rolled 2 dice:



Timestamp: 2010-10-14 20:36:03 UTC

Close combat :

Von Knoblauch drinks his Trollblood Elixir

Mordini attacks :

Dice Roller

You rolled 5 dice:



Timestamp: 2010-10-14 20:39:53 UTC

Dice Roller

You rolled 4 dice:



Timestamp: 2010-10-14 20:41:33 UTC

Armour save (1+, S4 = 2+) :

Dice Roller

You rolled 2 dice:




Timestamp: 2010-10-14 20:43:45 UTC

Ward save (4+)

Dice Roller

You rolled 1 die:



Timestamp: 2010-10-14 20:45:25 UTC

Hans Von Knoblauch takes 1 wound. (Mordini at 3/Von Knoblauch at 2)

and he strikes back with his great hammer :

Dice Roller

You rolled 2 dice:



Timestamp: 2010-10-14 20:46:56 UTC

to wound :

Dice Roller

You rolled 1 die:




Timestamp: 2010-10-14 20:48:15 UTC

Armour save :

Dice Roller

You rolled 1 die:



Timestamp: 2010-10-14 20:49:25 UTC

re roll :

Dice Roller

You rolled 1 die:



Timestamp: 2010-10-14 20:50:52 UTC

Ward save :

Dice Roller

You rolled 1 die:


Timestamp: 2010-10-14 20:51:42 UTC

Mordini takes a wound (VK 2/M2 remaining)

No players were succesfully assassinated this turn.


However, the Doom Hemisphere exploded....