Renewal 1103

The Festival of Renewal was held on Erin this year, although it had been originally planned for Norska. The festival coincided with a multi-national invasion of Erin to retake it from the Tokra.

The Fir Cruthen had prepared a series of wooded glades to protect everyone from the heat of summer and conceal our forces from the Tokra. The area assigned for the mercenaries was far larger than usual on the outskirts of the camp. The size of the area was essential given the number of companies hoping for work as we, hopefully, expelled the Tokra from Erin after so many years of destructive occupation.

Present in the camp were the Lion Azure, Black Company, Merchant Militia, Draken with Gnolls & Kobolds, Acoatl, Helcaraxe, Advena, Silver Fox, Free Erin Navy, Freebooterz, Free Company, Da Horde, Spanish Navy, Free Army, and quite a few independents.

Within the company there were a few changes. Father Terry had renounced his vows in order to get married and settle down and Jan was trying to fill his role as company priest. Aislinn had met up with a few of his old comrades and together they had reformed their old group, the Silver Fox, taking Broken Paw with them. We were also rejoined with many members of the company lost in transit the previous year who seemed well relaxed after their various travels to return to us.

Early on there was an open companies' meeting in the mercenary camp to discuss the situation regarding the Erin Navy outlaws which was attended by representatives from most of the groups present as well as by representatives of the Fir Cruthen. The meeting was disrupted by Tokra sacrificing peasants in the woods adjacent to the camp, unfortunately our response was delayed due to inaccurate scout reports which gave the impression that the Tokra were torturing spirits but we managed to save some of the peasants.

That night there were attacks on Captain Carver of the Black Company by Tokra assassins who had infiltrated the camp by claiming to be Viper Goblins. Acting on information we got from one, somewhat fanatical, would-be assassin an impromptu hunt through the woods brought up one of their accomplices.

During the entire festival Ryooshi was behaving strangely – loss of memory, behaviour, changing skin patterns. We had him checked for disease and poisons, with no results, but had to assume it was part of him growing up (this was confirmed later, he was apparently worried about what would happen if he were to be around non-ogre females).

The idea of an alchemy academy was discussed in the mercenary camp. This meeting created a lot of worries about security bearing in mind how far we were from the other camps and the recent deaths of many alchemists.

Large numbers of Nomads were killed when things went wrong in the ritual circle. There was one survivor who was brought to the mercenary camp and a lot of people were involved in trying to find where she belonged.

The Moon Spear was taken from the Fir Cruthen by an unhappy god.

The College held a ball for its members and friends.

We had a little chaos with our contract situation, but it was all sorted out before we went to battle. We fought for the Fir Cruthen alongside the Vipers, Lions and Nomads through the woods and marsh areas and then on to the temple which had been walled in the previous couple of days. We lost Ratvig to one of the Blood Queen's priests in a most gruesome manner - tortured to death - our first battle casualty here. Our banner was captured by a special raid from the temple citadel, the goblins seem to have attached some importance to it, but we recaptured it when the citadel was taken. Most of Helcaraxe died during the battle. In the end, despite the heavy fighting we managed to capture of the temple.

There were two wakes other than the wakes for those lost in battle. The Lions had lost both Lord Protector Trueheart and Lord Mucous, something to do with evil / unhappy gods which had also lead to the loss of Excalibur. The Fir Cruthen had lost Fintan, one of their greatest leaders, slain in combat with Goblins.

Grandpa Trapz of the Jhereg goblins went for a long sleep under a bush after tiring himself out when he was attacked. The following morning Granny Trix summoned the spirit of Grandpa Trapz to take her with him so they could go to sleep in the bushes together.

The Gnolls were slaughtered by the Draken, apparently they'd been a bit dishonest in their dealings with the Draken. This lead to a lot of chaos and confusion as the Gnolls had been contracted to perform a ritual for the Fir Cruthen.

Ylva's marriage to Lord Wall had to be delayed due to all the chaos and battle preparations.

After much indecision Finn (aka Little Stag) decided to leave us and move to the Fir Cruthen, he'll be joining them in the Spring once our Winter contract is complete.

Broken Paw escaped after being captured and tortured by Tokra looking for info on the upcoming battle. The Tokra must have somehow got it into their heads that mercenaries tend to be well informed.

Most of Advena died in a second battle when the other nations fought to destroy the Blood Queen’s Fountain which was permitting her to project her power into the area. From all accounts it was a very hard fought battle, but the Blood Queen's forces were destroyed.

As part of our contract with the Fir Cruthen we are wintering in Erin this year, hopefully the Tokra daimyo's palace isn't in too much of a mess.

Apologies for any errors in the reporting or sequencing of events, please feel free to notify our scribes of any mistakes

A short while after the events chronicled here we received a message purporting to be from the last of the Helcaraxe. The message includes a detailed account of the demise of the Helcaraxe during the attack on the temple.

Renewal 1103 Piccies

Merc Camp

Panoramic View of camp

Click for Larger version

Tour of the Camps

Map	Algaia Camp	Fir Cruthen Camp	Jhereg Camp
Lion camp	Nomad Camp	Viper Camp	Wolf Camp
Mercenary Camp	College Tent	Ritual Circle	The Tavern

Ratvig - RIP

Lion Azure Roll - Renewal 1103

It's for real, not part of a game