The Masked Archer's Epilogue

The Temple of Mars Ultor and the Rise of the House of Nixon

Having recovered the lost Tome of the Mamertine Apocalypse, The Masked Archer of the Apocalypse put forth great efforts to rebuild the Temple and a headquarters for the revived Protectores. With this band of loyal spies and assassins, The Masked Archer turned his efforts toward driving every last Therk from the Badlands, and then to harass them in their homeland.

Meanwhile, the Masked Archer's henchman Mysterious Clive was granted the honor to examine the Tome of the Mamertine Apocalypse. Although he found many amazing and useful secrets of the ages, he had one piece of horrible news for the Masked Archer: the magic that the Old Ones must have used to break all the Augurs' Towers at once was irreversible, the demonic forces released could never be contained by similar towers again. Clive eventually leaves the service of the Masked Archer to establish his own research tower at Hod.

From this time onwards, the Masked Archer spent some token time protecting the temples of the Ardean gods, and some time bothering the Therks, but more and more he was consumed in hunting down and massacring the Old Ones wherever they might be found. He was a constantly pitching an alliance with Portchester and even Dengwur against the Old Ones. He became so obsessed that he was eventually expelled from the Royal Court of Gatavia and simply lurked in the Temple of Mars, only venturing forth to slaughter Old Ones from the shadows.

The only one to profit from the growing isolation of the Masked Archer was Trusty Nixon. Nixon at first began to manage the day-to-day affairs of the Protectores, making a tidy profit doing so. One day, he resigned the post in favor of a true believer called the Shadow Blade of the Apocalypse and took his sizeable fortune across the river to the east and established a mighty fortress at the site of an old Therkish outpost. Swearing loyalty to the King of Gatavia, Nixon became known as Earl Nixon the Warden of the East March and founded grand noble house.

Rinaldo's Story

a man we once trusted as a brother who had forced us down a path as outlaws now lays dead, as Rinaldo watches the smoke and flame billow from punchy's pyre he cannot help but wonder if he was a chaotic agent from the beginning, as the flames begin to die down word was received of a rebellion in tiberios domains dispatching manfred, beavis and dead eye hayes to quell the uprising

Rinaldo sets his sights on securing his domain

while spending time in the library researching the harvest ritual he met a young and aspiring venturer by the name of Ronald Frump, who he hired to administer the town of the diggers

this village was soon re-organised into the Diggers Excavation Company, hiring some of the greatest architectural and engineering minds in the province

Hearing of the death of King Amicus concerned Rinaldo greatly though at times he disagreed with the king he never disagreed with the gods who placed him upon the throne

as Rinaldo completes his harvest ritual, the diggers, the warlock keep the death troopers and remaining massacre men that have sworn fealty to Rinaldo all enjoy the benefits sewn

 and as Manfred Beavis and Hayes return from the rebellion rinaldo places them each in charge of a small domain

Manfred and his massacre men

Deadeye hayes and her death troopers

Mighty beavis see's to the warlock keep

each domain see's its population growing quickly as word spreads of food and farm work in abundance

for 2 weeks of every month Rinaldo calls upon his most trusted henchman to conduct small guerrilla raids against dengwur and the old ones, to ensure that they keep fighting  each other and keeping the south eastern flank of the badlands secure

Tiberius Epilogue

I'm going to write a more detailed epilogue eventually, but I had a question for the other Skull Collectors.

I was rolling dice to advance my domain and it turns out that while the Hydra Legion has managed to beat most of the beastmen from the old wormcult domain into submission, the ones in the city are turning bandit and going rebellious.  Would any of the other Skull Collectors be willing to help me raze the rebel city to the ground as an example?  I'd offer 1 month upkeep (12000 gold) to each full member of the SC's and full rights to plunder whatever you can carry from the city.

While this type of thing technically could maybe be a session, killing 3 HD creatures isn't really that much of a challenge for us anymore.  Some of my summoned creatures could tear through dozens of them.  I was planning on just writing up the conclusion by building units and looking at the DoW mechanics for the battle.  Probably variations of lost Hydra Legion soldiers and families will be the result.

Amicus' Ending

Some say it was a curse sent from beyond death by Archbishop Wardrick or Lucius Bastardo himself. Others say it was clearly the work of almighty Dengwur himself. In any case, following the battle of Mago's Tomb and the revelation that the "Exalted Master" was in fact the former Skull Collector Brother Punchy Amicus' heart was heavy. He was saddled with a powerful malaise that sapped his energy and made his breath rattle in his lungs. Pontifex Amicus knew he had little time left on the face of Baldgarth.

Using the Spade of Colossal Excavation, Amicus crafted a tomb for himself in the fallen city of Noviodunm for himself. It would be there that he stores away the artifacts of his rule. The Gauntlets of Ogre power he created for himself from the hide of Spunky the Cyclops. The Girdle of Giant Strength he won from the "Exalted Master" following his defeat. His protective holy vestments, his sacred tobacco and pipe, his mighty shield and chain armor all wrested from dungeons across the Badlands all found their way into the tomb. Finally, Amicus shut himself in and hid his mighty crown and the fabled Rod of Castor within the complex and never returned.

Some say Amicus was greedy and went to his death with all his equipment rather than leave it to an heir or companion. Others believe that Amicus used the Rod of Castor to preserve his spirit just as Dengwur himself had once done. The clergy of Jupiter left behind in Amicus' absence have created a tome that details how Amicus is to be awakened in the case of Dengwur's return, but the author is unknown and its content is suspect. In future generations, this tome would be known as Amicus' Treatise and it outlines the appropriate liturgy to be used by the faithful of Jupiter.

The old city of Noviodunum would never be reclaimed. The island's inhabitants spread out across the island, making the domain a bastion to the neutral gods. A modest cathedral to Jupiter was built on the west edge of the island, and Max Bemis would be given rulership over the island domain. The fallen city of Noviodunum would become the haven of the Crab Gods, and loose groups of mighty crab warriors would guard its borders tenaciously. Every now and again, someone would meet a southern warrior woman in emerald who stops by and asks for a favor or some sort of magical component. Those who have read Amicus' Treatise would know her as the heroine of the Rod of Castor.

Louis Impetuous, wielder of the Spade of Colossal Excavation would make a name for himself as a defensive-minded military leader. An abbey of bladedancers devoted to the goddess of Juno would appear to the East. Octavia, Amicus' bride once known as the Hag of Hod once more disappeared into her forest domain, leaving the rule of the locals to Mayor Clovis of Yoesville.

The Stage is set for Session 50

For the last month, rumors have been flying through the taverns of the Badlands that a new threat has arisen, calling for the overthrow of the Skull Collectors.
Rumors have come and gone, but in the last few days the Masked Archer of the Apocalypse has reported to his fellow Collectors that this threat calls himself the EXALTED MASTER and has gathered an army, including hiring Milton's Massacre Men.   The army has begun to move toward Diggers, and Rinaldo, in return has gathered what Skull Collectors and sallied to meet them.

Messengers have arranged that the Collectors will meet with the Herald of the Exalted Master at the Crypt of Pomponius Mago, halfway between Diggers and Milton's.

Behold: the area around the Crypt

  

Behold!  2 Bands of Milton's Massacre Men enter the field,  some spearmen and a hardy band of mighty knights.

 Behold!  The Herald of the Exalted Master and his lackeys surmount the Crypt of Pomponius Mago

 

Traveller files update

I have added the character generation charts to the Traveller Wiki documents page for the Fulton Campaign:


See here;


Fulton Galactic Documents

Next Time, the #50 Finale

A well done to Jason for last night's game!

Next time is session #50, and the grand finale for Gatavia campaign #3.

So how do we want to do it and what does everyone need to see happen?