Shyish and the Path to Glory: Weekend Two

This is, oh, a couple months late. We concluded our Path to Glory campaign after a second bingey weekend and just never updated. Since we're about to start a Season of War campaign this weekend, I figured there should be some closure to how the warbands closed things out.

Guldakka and Literic

Since the dynamics were Peter vs Ian and Scott vs Philip in the first weekend, followed by a big team up battle, we decided to cross things over.

Guldakka was furious that Literic refused him the honor of seeing what was in the bag of ghosts. It didn't matter a whit that the orc warlord dithered on the battlefield, and that was mostly why the giant demigod was so stingy.

What transpired was known as the Battle of the Bag. By Gorkamorka, if Literic wouldn't reveal the contents of the bag, Guldakka would take it.

The Battle of the Bag.

Two mighty generals prepare to fight over the Bag of Ghosts.

The battle was swift and bloody. The Ironjawz surrounded Literic and his brood, making a lightning strike and stealing the bag. Guldakka, bellowing with dark mirth, opened the bag, releasing the ghosts, and then threw the empty sack into the Ghost Fires of Shal'tor. The bag was destroyed forever, the ghosts lost.

Literic wept.

Guldakka and Goldie make their move.

Guldakka triumphant.

The only proper thing to do after such a tremendous battle was to build a monument. Guldakka decided to build a monument of the bag to honor his triumph and to further humiliate Literic. The Visignomes were incensed and attempted to interrupt the creation of the statue. Guldakka and his warband were put into an unfamiliar position: defending against a strong foe.

Guldakka proved the superior general once again. The monument was built erected before the savage giants and their gnome followers could tear it down. Barely. It was hard fought and the defense came down to the last wisps of pale sunlight. Literic skulked off into the night, though some say you can still hear him, his wracking sobs breaking the still, dead air of Shyish.

Aristion and The Mortician

While the forces of Destruction were having their falling out over a bag of ghosts, an equally portentous split was happening elsewhere among the forces of Death. Aristion and The Mortician argued one night over who had the right to raise the dead of The Mortician's village, specifically a beloved snack of The Mortician's from ages past.

The Mortician forbade the spirit to be risen. Aristion did so anyway. A series of battles broke out, with both forces seeing victory. The furor of their rivalry reached a terrible pitch when Aristion tried to sacrifice the newly risen spirit as a means of showing dominance over his rival. He failed in this and retreated to tend his wounds.

As a means of salving his hurt, he wrote a poem about all that had transpired:

"I had an orc, which was not all an orc.

The joined force was extinguish'd, and the stars 

Did wander falling in the enemy's space, 

Taken, and neglected, and the stupid orc 

Swung blind and foolish in the moonless air."

Final Battle

The stage was set for a high pitched battle. Aristion allied with Guldakka, telling the orc that portents proved a falling star was to fall nearby and whoever held it would wield great power. The Mortician, being equally versed in Shyishian astronomy, approached Literic on similar terms.

Literic and The Mortician triumphed when Guldakka, again, dithered, arriving too late to help secure the fallen star. The superior numbers of the Visignomes told true; not even the strongest can stem the tide of so many gnomes.

Setup

 

Conclusion

We wanted to go a third weekend, but everyone got busy all at once and we couldn't meet for a couple of months. Since we'd already gone over the suggested Glory Points, and we were all working on new projects by the time we reconvened, we decided to leave it where it was.

I don't have the final totals with me, but the last rankings were.

Peter

Scott

Ian

Philip

Peter and Scott were close and it could've gone either way. Our grand plan was to have a giant four-way battle to close things out, which may have swung it, but as it stands Peter wins and he retains the title belt until the close of the next campaign.

-Ian