Apologies this has taken longer to put together than I had hoped; I’ve been sick of late, and work has been busy, but I’m optimistic to get another report out this weekend, and hopefully a post unrelated to this war game as well. Posts on ACKS Birthright to cover realm magic and the awnsheghlien are coming together slowly, but I think some further reflections on eldritch magic will come first, and perhaps some general notes on converting the classic D-series drow modules if I can find a way for a domain of that size to pay the outrageous expenses of elite 2 HD troops. The recent article on the ACKS Patreon about republics of slaveowning citizen-aristocrats is certainly helpful . . .
The preparatory movements are now paying off, as ploys are brought out and battles are fought. Next week we’ll see even more fighting; I think in part, the great powers of Ali-Aram and Thar are seeing the musters they had begun at the beginning of this scenario approaching, now halfway to completion with the surge of reinforcements that will bring.
It hasn’t really fit into the summaries below, but it’s been quite interesting running the fanatic Oracle of Theris at Calarah as an NPC faction, who is constantly urged by Ali-Aram to proceed more slowly, and by the Temahn to hurry before Thar can consolidate its grip. I’m still hoping to find a patron to run that, but the one guy I have been speaking with sounds like, while his schedule is now freeing up to participate, he wants a less centrally involved faction — probably some Madran merchant-prince who can provide monetary backing and spies and intelligence but mostly try to manipulate things from afar. (Originally I had proposed one of the Dragonlords of the Far East, but he seems averse to throwing in his allegiance with the chthonic powers of the Underworld.)
The Annals of War
The Thari garrison at the ruins of Kirkuk works to rebuild the citadel there. Upriver, the 6th Army is picked up by the fleet that had docked outside that city and taken upriver to Thar itself — finding themselves arriving only hours after a great host of lizardmen erupted from the river and took the city! Finding it held by their enemies, too strong to take by storm, the army of Thar begins to invest the siege of their own capital. Smoke rises within as the city is plundered. Circumvallation and countervallation proceed quickly with the aid of a potent Standard of Encampment (see the Treasure Tome).
As that position is entrenched, an unknown army of uruks approaches from the eastern savannahs, where they have apparently made their living as mercenaries and have now come to offer their services, at a hefty rate given the Caliph’s apparent desperation. Around the same time, two brigades of elite Agrahavan hobgoblin cavalry ride up from the south, led by their Sultan who warns of dire news — but then once in private audience, draws his blade and attempts to murder the Caliph outright! Both are struck down together, but healers are quickly brought in and manage to save them both, though the Caliph lost an eye to his vassal’s treachery and will need two weeks of bedrest (itself quite crippling, given how much he needs every commander he can get in this dire time).
Apparently, the hobgoblin host had sealed orders from their sultan that were intended to lead them to treacherously fall on the uruk rear as well once admitted within the camps, but they have been conditioned toward honor from birth as a precaution to ensure their own loyalty, and at such blatant treachery desert their sultan (as their sultan feared they might, but deemed necessary to attempt). With their sultan in the Caliph’s hands, and unknown chaos now spreading at home, the hobgoblin General bargains with the Caliph for new employment and an agreement is reached. The Caliph Mesakai seems uneasy to trust his former enemy, but having been rendered unable to command himself and with threats tearing pieces off his domain on every side, he is growing desperate — particularly when scouts report a 6000-strong army of Temahni nomad warriors just 50 miles to his west. Though he does yet have a wish . . .
Thrassia obviously made their own bold play here, racing downriver to seize Thar after their scouts reported its garrison left understrength, aided by the admittedly-sluggish river and a forced march into just beating the Caliph’s own army. Now they are trapped there, dire straits for most forces suddenly besieged in a hostile city with no supply lines . . . but the God-King of Thrassia laughs, for he holds a city full of manflesh.
The companions of the Pirate King undergo a swift reorganization this week, as called pegasus mounts enable extremely fast travel., and redeploys heroes from the central desert to the fleet at the secret pirate base of Keelhaul Cove and to reinforce Ali-Aram where their ranking operative disappeared in the night with no trace. The aforementioned fleet then sails east to Najran, buoyed by a strong west wind. The Pirate King himself, having just previously spoiled the army’s supplies, departs the 6th Army of Thar and meets them there. The Second Army of Najran, led by the Sultan himself, marches east to threaten a crossing of the swamp by land and encircle Kirkuk from that side as well.
In Ali-Aram, a grand fleet of most of a hundred vessels is assembled and sets out, taking much of the city’s garrison along with the High Priestess’ newly hired mercenaries, courtesy of her friend Rashid Nazar and his contacts with the mercenary guildhouses of the region. She is intent on dealing with the pirate threat, though she does not suspect its operatives are so close to home, but rather has gained intelligence from negotiation with the Wasted Breaths on the location of the secret pirate base she had suspected must exist, and her fleet is well over halfway there by the week’s ending.
She leaves her Chaplain-Regent and heir in command in Ali-Aram, under guidance from the Knight-Commander of the Ever-Bright Eyes (a militant holy order with a modest presence in the city that the High Priestess has been working to befriend) and her eunuch spymaster. Her vizier is frustrated to be, perhaps unintentionally, excluded from this council, and from his own attempts to reach out to the Oracle at Calarah being insultingly rebuffed as the Oracle has little interest in negotiating with either sorcerers or pawns. He does present a triumph, in hopes of having his station restored, and is not disappointed: in response to a prior inquiry to investigate the suspicious merchant fleet that had long been noted in dock here, he now hands over its captain to be tortured and interrogated, having seized him and compelled the admission that he was a Najrani notable here to investigate the viability of terrorist acts (all of this is in truth a manyfold deception: the Prince of Thieves kidnapped the captain, but bought his deception and does not know he is in truth an agent of the Pirate King himself; when the High Priestess started looking into the matter, the Prince of Thieves passed along the prisoner to his own agent her Vizier, to be surrendered to her judgement and win her trust and gratitude).
Her agents on the western isles continue their campaign of pacification and colonization with little to note. Former-Admiral Syed Ibrahm spends a couple days reaching out to old contacts in Najran and gathering information, then propelled by the west wind completes his navigation to Agrahvar to begin liquidating his cargo there promptly next week. Notably, he found many 1.5-rower galleys under construction in Najran — not strictly incriminating, but certainly indicative of cooperation with pirate scum. He also collects the names of many local officials, to be scried at later convenience.
Having mustered by last week’s end, the host of the Temahn is once again gathered for war and plunders their way east toward Thar, though as yet they have no means to cross the great river. They maintain an orderly requisition, without unnecessary slaughter, in the interest of plundering these lands again next year. However, when emissaries from the east and south come to present them with lavish gifts of fine silks, forged steel, fair flax, and good wine, in offering of friendship after seeing how righteously were plundered the evil dwellers to their north and west, those from the south are stripped naked and whipped back to their masters, and those from the east slain outright.
A small band of Temahni scouts was entrusted with the Atlas of Dominion after it was snuck off The Mystery near Kirkuk, and they ride north to rejoin their people as well. Contact with the Oracle confirms he intends to bring his army to hex 160.81 by the week’s end, and though careful diplomacy the Kagan manages to pacify the tribes whose lands the Crusade will traverse.
The Prince of Thieves pulled off a rather tricky exchange in Ali-Aram as discussed above, and with that complete has returned to the deep shadows to pluck at the strands of his web, content that he has forestalled the threat to his base of power in Ali-Aram — though his rumormongerers note that a new captain seems to have arrived already, among numerous other tidbits.
After tense negotiations, and secreting the Atlas of Dominion off to Temahni horsemen on the riverbank beside Kirkuk, The Mystery manages to peacefully pass the Thari blockade there, after persuading them that destroying its light trebuchet battery isn’t worth the losses it will inflict.
His operatives in Thar go silent, however, and he has no word from that part of the world; his continuing concern for the location of the Thrassian host, and his various attempts to scry where they might be, have not saved his men there (and his scrying is ineffectual, for that host is now warded, after leaving an opening at the very beginning to persuade scriers it was not).
The Wasted Breaths reach his desert fortress on the western coast south of Ali-Aram, continuing their slow overland trek, but seem to be negotiating with Ali-Aram as though they’re already closing in on Agrahvar.
Reflections
I am insufficiently heartless in enforcing the deadline for submission of orders, and that’s slowed things down somewhat; it’s hard to feel good about setting a strict constraint when people have real lives that get in the way, and especially when many of my players here are new to ACKS. The fact that they’re able to jump into this at all leaves me very satisfied, it just makes the turn-cycle a bit slower than I’d like (presently orders/reports every week and a half to two weeks rather than every week).
That said, the Sultan of Agrahvar was generally among the slowest (in part because he felt trapped with few options by the constraints of planning a rebellion with honorable troops whose loyalty would be questionable if they learned of such, as demonstrated above). I think he viewed his assassination attempt as a Hail Mary — not without fair odds of succeeding, but the dice were against him. With his capture by the Caliph of Thar, he is effectively eliminated, save for a stunning and improbable feat of diplomacy, so I am optimistic that things might move faster.
On the whole though, people are enjoying it, and there’s good momentum and trying out ACKS at the adventurer tier seems a popular option once we can get our schedules in alignment. Summer in Alaska is a tricky time to organize any sort of activity, but especially one involving sitting indoors on a lovely evening, but we’ll make it happen sooner or later and I’m excited to see where it goes.
Addendum: wargame reports from the Intro, Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, Week 4, Week 5, Week 6, and Week 7 are all available.