Return to Heart of Darkness 1103

Back on the main continent after an interminable boat journey we went to Franconia, probably due to its central position, to meet with envoys from the Greenskin forces. The Nomads had prepared a magnificent location for these political discussions between the 'Continentals' and the 'Greenskins', unfortunately the climate was just a little too hot and humid for many (though this did make a rather pleasant change after the visit to the Emperor's palace).

Although the mercenary camp seemed fairly empty (only the Lion Azure, Draken & Gnolls had tents in the camp) there were quite a few companies present. There were representatives from the Lion Azure; Draken; Gnolls; Black Company; Helcaraxe; Advena and Erin Navy.

Almost as soon as we were set up an undead portal opened up nearby. It was situated between the Fir Cruthen camp and the mercenary camp leading to what could be called 'interesting times'. With the very small numbers of personnel in the camp at most times it was very quickly determined that the best way to deal with the larger intrusions - they mostly seemed to be homing in on living beings - was to depart the area as fast as possible and warn neighbouring camps. Obviously this depended on their numbers, but there was no point losing valuable members of the company purely in order to defend some sticks and canvas. At times we had to use a member of the company as a tethered goat to attract the undead while the rest made their exit, a particularly dangerous task that was usually assigned to Ryo-oshi.

Ghost had found her way out of the portals and rejoined us after some difficulty with a Phoenix Guard member (Suraklin) who accused her of being a thief when she was found hiding in some bushes (she was hiding from the undead). Luckily this was sorted out by the Nomads when the accusation was taken to them.

That night a large meeting was held in the mercenary camp between members of the nations & faction groupings (aka Continentals) and representatives of the Greenskins (aka Imperials) to determine what should happen on the continent now the Emperor was dead. Apparently the Empire was falling apart without the Emperor in control (well, what d'ya know? It worked). The meeting caused a few problems with identification as the guards brought to the meeting obviously couldn't recognise the mercenaries who belonged in the camp. The meeting was disrupted by at least one assassination attempt, which appeared to be against one of the Draken. A second Imperial assassin (or ninja) was discovered, accidentally, by Toku who then helped in taking him down.

Some time after the meeting came the first of many attacks by servants of the Blood Queen. These people simply appeared in the camp, the same thing happened at all the other camps at various times, looking for a 'circle' (apparently this is some artefact that the Blood Queen wants back). This 'circle' caused much confusion as they were often pointed in the direction of the ritual circle near the Jhereg camp. During this attack the camp was exceptionally hard pressed and we lost Toku in the confusion.

Early in the morning we heard about attacks on traders and alchemists, at least one trader was dead and there were rumours of many more. We were joined by a new member, Jan, who had been wandering around Franconia looking for the company since the end of the Festival of Renewal. Jan was somewhat under equipped and was given a lot of Toku's kit.

The undead attacks continued through the day permitting no time for respite. Thanks must go to the Wolves for healing Rosalie after a ghoul tried eating her spine. In the afternoon the Gnolls performed an impressive ritual to close the portal. Unfortunately there were a few side effects of the ritual. It knocked everyone in the area off their feet for a few seconds (unsure whether this was from the world shaking or being overwhelmed by their god's appearance) and forced the undead that were in transit through the portal at the time out of it in a rush. This led to some interesting moments, such as Lions, Wolves and mercenaries fighting together, as the area around the portal was flooded with undead .

The political meetings continued on and off. The factions seemed split over what to do. Some were in favour of supporting the Emperor's number 1 son as Emperor which would require him to leave the continent with most of his troops to restore order in the Empire. This approach would let the factions regain control over most of their original land and give them a chance to rebuild after the troubles the war had brought. Others thought it would be better to simply continue to fight the Greenskins in the hope they would be weakened and distracted by the troubles in the Empire. Unhappy with the view of the Wolves' leadership's view that they should continue to fight, the Grendels decided to join the Draken who they felt were thinking more of the people in general.

Spent some time trying to find out why some local women were going missing, turned out some rat-ogres were taking them for unspeakable reasons. Ghost went out with a Lion party to deal with the rat-ogres.

That night we had a couple of visits from a Crom cultist with an undead announcer. They were looking for the Erin navy in an ominous sort of way. There seem to be a lot of Crom supporters around these days, possibly due to the undead portals.

The following day the factions all seemed to have made up and a plan had been arranged. They would support the number 1 son in his efforts to become Emperor, which would involve 'delaying' the number 2 son who nobody trusted. The agreement would mean signing away some land (including possibly the whole of Franconia) from each of the nations for the Greenskins' use but the Greenskins would pull back from all other land. Any breach of the agreement would lead to the united factions dealing with it.

Although rumours had it that up to 18 merchants and alchemists had been killed investigations could only confirm the loss of one trader and a couple of attempts on alchemists.

Suddenly the camp was attacked by large numbers of Tokra troops, unsure who they were fighting for with their leaders in our camp, discovered by a Viper foraging team. The attacks hit all the camps and we had people fighting in many areas. Ghost was fighting with the Lions; Jan with the Vipers (though both joined in many fights near the Merc camp); Ryo-oshi was with the Algaia; and Cullen with the Fir Cruthen where he fell. Cullen was buried by the Fir Cruthen with full honours. None of these battles were fought for coin, members of the company were simply helping their friends in the nations.

Return to Heart of Darkness 1103 Piccies

Amazingly there are no photos yet - forgot to take the magical picture device this time, but expecting some later. We do have another attempt at a camp map.

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Lion Azure Roll - Return to Heart of Darkness 1103

It's for real, not part of a game