September 2006
September 1st
We skipped the Friday, September 1st, 2006 session day, because nearly all of us were at DragonCon. As usual, the convention was a pop culture experience with thousands of attendees. The Game resumed Friday, September 8th.
September 8th
The Friday, September 8th, 2006 game session was sort of a slow session. Two players were out of town, and most of the session was soft roleplay.
Basically, the group delivered the Tepet singing staff to Ejava and also delivered the lightning ballista they had gained from the Yellow Heron Dominion.
Then, they talked to the General her about her plans.
The Vermillion Legion was busy building rafts on the river (as the PCs could clearly see). The Legion had also swiftly conquered the city of Fallen Lapis, because it is only inhabited by a thousand or so refugees (Fallen Lapis was destroyed during the first war between the Tepet Legions and the Bull of the North). This was why Ejava chose to use it as a launching point for operations.
Anyway, she noted that she needed to shut down the Bull's air power, and thanked the PCs for the chance to try to use the lightning ballista to do just that. She also noted that even though she did have access to a flying vessel (the Cloud of War), it was exorbitantly expensive to use, it was just on temporary loan from her House, and it was a one-of-a-kind thing that was all too easily lost to the enemy. She believes that she will be required to send the Cloud of War back to the Blessed Isle shortly. Meanwhile, she has been trying to keep it safely away from threats, dropping her troops off by night and returning it to Greyfalls.
Her idea is that, since she doesn't have the air power of the Bull (or even Lookshy), she needs to achieve maximized mobility in another fashion. Since eastern Linowa is riddled with rivers, she plans to try to seize control over the river system and use it for rapid movement around the region.
As your characters reported that the Bull of the North was using a region inside of the mountains of Linowa as a base of operations, she plans to pincer that area between two halves of the Vermillion Legion, one moving down each of the two rivers which pass by the mountains on either side. Her theory, based upon your reports to her, is that the Bull hasn't managed to come to an arrangement with the demons (despite being an Anathema), because the demons predate his arrival by hundreds of years. She feels he probably has an area inside of the mountains which his Anathema sorceress (Samea) has warded against demons, and that he is relying upon his air power to travel Over the demons rather than through them.
This is a matter of concern for her, because it means she will be stuck taking on the demons and the Bull's forces all in one swoop. One of her ideas for how to overcome this was to climb one of the mountains outfitted with devices such as the mundane Haslanti gliders, and have a strike force of Dragon-Blooded and veteran soldiers glide over the demons into whatever region the Bull has warded. She also hopes to reach the Linowan guerilla fighter Faraka, through V'neef Mahina, if possible. Coordinating with a local force with a vested interest in seeing the Bull repelled is her goal there.
Meanwhile, she revealed that she has been in communication with Sesus Lahor. Sesus Lahor has amassed a large mercenary army, and is not currently associated with the legions. "Commander" Lahor was sent to the northeast by House Sesus, apparently in part as a response to V'neef Gavelin's revelations that the demon-haunted mountains of Linowa might be the source of the handful of First Age Artifacts which recently came to market in the region. Ejava noted that she had been trying to convince Lahor to directly join her efforts, without much success. He apparently plans to draw the Bull of the North's forces into conflict along the edges of the Fields of Woe shadowland, and drive the icewalkers into that dismal place. Currently, his forces are harrying the troops loyal to the de facto leaders of the Rokan-jin, who are essentially cronies that the Bull of the North left in charge after conquering the kingdom. Lahor hopes that freeing the Rokan-jin people will create a thorn in the Bull's side which he won't ignore.
Interestingly, the players who showed up last session (of August 2006) seemed most interested in going to help Lahor free the Rokan-jin, and least interested in Ejava's plan to pincer attack the Bull's fortified position.
