I ran a special session at Curt and Vicki’s place to resolve the war between Thallarin and Zurek. It is resolved but it took turns I could never have predicted. I suppose that is why I placed the future of the realm in the hands of the players instead of resolving it myself. When all is said and done I think the only ones who will be dissatisfied with the outcome are the players who hoped their characters would have a shot at becoming Regent.

Credit Where Credit Is Due

War and Peace

 On the first of the year Duke Arthon Jurel of Zurek declared his Regency. On the following day Duke Blacksteel of Thallarin gave his answer by declaring war on Zurek. The resulting confrontation was bloody, but mercifully brief. What follows is a summary of the reunification process.

Day One: Blacksteel’s armies arrive at the river border between Thallarin and Zurek. After a brief but vicious struggle the border garrison is defeated and the survivors are forced to pull back. The wood elf scouts and archers are instrumental in the success of the river crossing. It is obvious from the outcome of this initial confrontation that the armies of Zurek are unprepared for war.

Day Two: The Regent issues a call to arms. Levies gather and meet the regular troops at Barik’s Ridge. Blacksteel’s armies arrive at mid day and it quickly becomes clear that Zurek’s troops are no match for the veteran forces of the Lord of Thallarin. Casualties mount and the Regent’s makeshift army is forced to abandon the ridge. Most of the Levied troops vanish into the surrounding countryside and the Zurek regulars are in no shape to maintain a defense. The battlefield is surrendered to Blacksteel.

Day Three: What remains of the Regent’s troops force march toward Herant, capitol of Zurek, in an effort to reinforce the city before Thallarin’s armies arrive. Blacksteel’s well-rested cavalry decimates the retreating troops. Pockets of resistance stirred up by the cavalry are casually eliminated by the main body of Blacksteel’s infantry.

The Special Session took place on the fateful fourth night of the engagement.

Blacksteel refused to bring his march to a halt just to parley. He agreed to send representatives to meet with delegates from the other Factions while he was camped. He told them that he intended to start moving again at dawn, which only gave them five hours to resolve the situation. If at the end of that time he was not presented with a satisfactory settlement he warned that he would press onto Herant, which at that point was less than a week away.
    For five hours representatives of the various Factions struggled to create a viable proposal that would diffuse the situation. There were some tense moments as rivals were forced to sit down at the bargaining table with one another.
    Among the NPC delegates were seven player characters; Count Skye was there as part of the Evangar delegation, Lady Rhianna and Loremaster Delight helped represent the beleaguered people of Zurek, Branywn spoke for the Druids, Hunter spoke for the Elves of the Great Wood and Reman spoke for the Cabal. Captain Rhys was asked by several Factions to act as an unaffiliated mediator.
    Blacksteel arrived when he said he would and met behind closed doors with a few delegates at a time. The warlord took elements of the two proposals that were presented to him by the delegates and created a Treaty that was acceptable to all.

The Treaty of Zurek

• Blacksteel was named King of Kaleth. The treaty of Zurek was ratified by all five Dukes, reunifying the Shattered Realm. Reaction to this announcement has been mixed. Years of warmongering have given the new King a less than admirable reputation and few have forgotten or forgiven the brutal attack on Zurek that won him his crown.

• In compliance with one of the conditions of the Treaty Lord Blacksteel has named Arthon Jurel his heir. After five years Highlord Blacksteel has agreed to step down at which time Arthon Jurel Blacksteel will succeed him. This stipulation makes the current crown a Regency. Arthon is very popular and his involvement in the future of the Realm has helped ease the transfer of power.

• Lord Morgan Winterborne has been named High General of the Armies of Kaleth, which will become an inherited post. Giving Morgan this power has satisfied the fears of the Lords of Kaleth that Blacksteel won’t step down when the time comes. If something goes wrong the General will be in a position to remove Blacksteel by force and put Arthon Jurel on the Highlord’s throne.

• Kaleth has agreed to waive all rights to the ancestral lands of the Wood Elves, Dwarves and Nomads, giving them independent sovereignty over territories in Thallarin, Vathos and the Desolation. This was a controversial decree but Blacksteel insisted upon it. There were representatives from each of these three new nations at the his coronation, a significant gesture from these isolationist cultures.

The New Dukes

Evangar: Lord Montrose
Morgan was always concerned about the power of the Church of Dain, a stand that cost him the Regency. He made sure to chose a successor who would be faithful to the traditions of the Old Kingdom but who would ensure that Evangar would retain its independence from the Church.
    House Montrose is one of the oldest and most respected in Kaleth and has strong ties to House Winterborne. Baron Montrose was one of Morgan’s chief advisors and a man who shared his moderate religious views.
    Unfortunately, the new Lord of Evangar hasn’t done much to endear himself to his peers. Montrose has made it clear that he doesn’t consider Blacksteel to have a legitimate claim to the throne of Kaleth and that he believes the only legitimate claim possible is one made by a Lord of the Old Blood. Morgan has asked him to back off a bit but Morgan is a bit too loyal to the Winterborne bloodline.

Thallarin: Lady Maegara
    It was important to Blacksteel to ensure that Thallarin would continue its alliance with the Druids so he chose a Druid priestess of noble birth as his successor. No one expected Blacksteel to choose a woman to lead his people but the Highlord’s loyalty to his faith is apparently stronger than his notorious gender bias.
    Very little is known about Lady Maegara’s background. She left her family to serve as a priestess and has only returned because her people needed her. It is rumored that she holds a high office of some kind in the Wheel.
    In her new role as Duchess of Thallarin Maegara has proven quite competent. She has a level headed objectivity that has served her well and she has earned the respect of many of those who expected the worst of her.

Zurek: Lord Legarre
Arthon’s only criteria for selecting a successor was finding a ‘good man’ with the strength of character to back up his moral convictions who would be willing to commit his life to Zurek and her people.
    Garit Legarre was Arthon’s swordmaster and an adventurer of note. Apparently the ‘Lion of Zurek’ admitted to his favorite pupil that age was slowing him and that he was looking to retire. Legarre was made an honorary Knight Commander of the armies of Zurek over a decade ago but never cared much for titles and would not have accepted this latest honor if anyone else had asked it of him.
    Some of the Lords of Kaleth don’t care for having an inveterate wanderer in a position of power, no matter how good his reputation may be. The people of Zurek know Garit and love him almost as much as young Arthon.

The Balance of Power

Argoth (Blacksteel, The Church of Dain)
    Argoth lost its alliance with Evangar because that alliance was based on their mutual alliance with the Church of Dain. When Evangar broke with the Church, Argoth broke off its alliance with Evangar.
    Argoth supports the crown because Claridge has decided to take a stand in favor of stability, even if it means opposing the Church.

Evangar (Dissident, Winterborne)
    As Morgan hoped his successor severed Evangar’s ties to the Church, but he didn’t stop there.
    By speaking out against the new King he damaged his effectiveness at court but has earned himself supporters among the dissidents who want Blacksteel to step down.

Thallarin (Blacksteel, The Druids)
    When Blacksteel declared war on Zurek without consulting Lord Vamadrexus Thallarin lost Vathos as an ally.
    The old ties to the Druids are still there but in many ways the new Duchess is on her own.

Vathos (Arthon, Zurek and the Cabal)
    The alliance between Thallarin and Vathos couldn’t survive what Lord Vamadrexus considered a ‘brutal and unprovoked attack on a defenseless people.’
    Vathos chose to support Zurek instead and has ties to Arthon, in part because of the burgeoning relationship between the young heir and Lady Vamadrexus.

Zurek (Arthon, Vathos and the Cabal)
    The loss of the Pantheists as a faction robs Zurek of an ally but they can still rely on the Cabal and they have gained the support of Vathos, a powerful combination.
    Unfortunately, the recent war and the loss of Arthon as a figurehead for their Faction has reduced Zurek’s Influence considerably. They no longer enjoy the lead that ultimately created the new Kingdom.

The Cabal (Vathos and Zurek)
    Nothing has really changed for the Cabal, which makes them unique among the Factions and gives the suspicious reason to wonder how much Influence the Cabal really has. 

The Church of Dain (Argoth, Dissident)
    Reunification broke the Alliance of the Faithful. Of all of the Factions the Church was the hardest hit by the repercussions of the Treaty of Zurek but they lacked the Influence to stop it from being signed.
    At present, their only ally at court is Duke Claridge of Argoth who isn’t as reliable as he used to be.

The Druids (Blacksteel, Thallarin)
    When the Pantheists faded from the political scene the Druids lost an ally but they are as committed to Blacksteel and Thallarin as ever. 

Political Power

Argoth: Characters with Mastery of Healing, Mastery of Scholar and/or the Teacher Advantage earn an extra point, Loremasters earn two extra points but Mercenary Captains earn a point less. While Argoth is in the lead all Healing Potions, Elixirs and Scrolls which bear only Healing Spells can be purchased by anyone because of increased access to the resources at Wellspring.

Evangar: Characters with Political Focus earn an extra point of experience for earning Favor with any of the five Dukes (but not with the Highlord). While Evangar is in the lead buying Plot Points for any of the other Dukes or the Highlord costs 25 gold a point (20 for characters with Strong Affiliation to their Faction) but Plot Points may be purchased for Winterborne for 15 gold a point.

Thallarin: Wood Elves and Druid Priests earn an extra point of experience but characters with noble title and/or a Strong Affiliation to one of the other Dukes or the Church of Dain earn a point less.

Vathos: When you bank your gold you only lose a quarter of what you banked instead of the half you would normally lose. Characters with the Merchant Subskill may either invest twice as much as usual or invest the normal amount with no risk. A Vathos lead also impacts the exchange of Bank Notes. Characters with Mercenary Focus earn an extra experience point for improving their Wealth.

Zurek: Pantheist Priests, Pantheist Champions, and Bards earn an extra point of experience a session while Zurek is in the lead. Characters with the Heroic focus earn an extra point of experience for acting in a heroic fashion.

The Cabal: All characters with the Lesser or Greater Gift earn an extra point because of the open exchange of arcane lore (Wizards, Magisters and members of the Cabal earn two extra points). Characters with the Blessed or Chosen Advantage earn one less point (regardless of their faith or allegiance). The cost of casting all Ritual Spells is reduced by 10% because of the availability of the required materials (members of the Cabal save 20%). Anyone can purchase minor magic items and scrolls and freelance magicians can be hired to cast spells for 20% less than their usual rate.

The Church of Dain: Priests of Dain, Crusaders and Lightbringers earn an extra point of experience (Bishops and Saints earn two extra points). Nonhuman characters, Priests of other faiths and Pantheist Champions earn one less point. While the Church of Dain is in the lead no one may purchase minor magic items or scrolls from NPC magicians in between sessions.

The Druids: The only effect is that Druids earn two extra points. While the Druids are in the lead use the rules for the second place Faction unless it is the Church of Dain.

Current Events
What's Going On In The Realm

There was this war and a new King and stuff.
    Within a month of the signing of the Treaty of Zurek the Inquisition was publicly disbanded. The Church of Dain announced that the ‘demise of the Legion of the Damned has put and end to the need for an active Inquisition.’ All of the facilities used by the Inquisition have been closed down and the Inquisitors have been recalled to Argoth where it is rumored that they will be retrained.
    It seems as though the Church is right about the Legion of the Damned. For years now the Order of the White Rose and heroes such as Captain Gregor Rhys have been hunting the surviving Legionnaires. One of Blacksteel’s first acts as King of Kaleth was commanding High General Winterborne take his newly formed Kaleth Guard into the field to ensure the ‘extermination’ of the Legion.
    Duke Claridge is not well. The aging Patriarch of Argoth failed to attend the coronation of Highlord Blacksteel despite his intention to swear fealty to the new King in person. It is rumored that he is dying and that there is nothing more that the healers of Wellspring can do. It is also suspected that the recent changes in the politics of Argoth have a lot to do with the increased influence of Devin’s heir over his fading grandfather.
    Dana Vamadrexus of Zurek is said to have moved into the Highlord’s Palace to allow her to spend more time with Arthon. While Blacksteel was a rival suitor her relationship with Arthon had to be discrete for political reasons. Since the coronation they have continued their courtship in public with the Highlord’s blessing. It is expected that they will announce an engagement within the year.
    The efforts of Vathos to forge new bonds with the Kingdom of Kellar have been going quite well. Ambassadors from Kellar have been negotiating treaties and trade agreements with Governor Reese, who has been empowered by the Highlord to speak for Kaleth in these matters.
    There are rumors of a ‘phantom ship’ raiding the Vathos coast that Governor Reese has denied but he has also hired mercenaries to protect his ports and all of the ships traveling to and from Kellar. Tales of a phantom ship aren’t new to the area. During the days of the Old Kingdom there was a folktale about a ship crewed by the unquiet dead has been haunting Vathos for generations. If the legends speak truly and this is the same ship it isn’t certain why it has chosen this time to return after so long an absence.
    Word is the vineyards of Evangar have had an excellent year and the people of Kellar have gone wild for Evangar wine. There are a few merchants who have already grown quite wealthy off of this fortuitous synchronicity of events.
    A Dwarven hero has returned from his quest to find one of the lost dwarven hoards and has been spending gold in heroic amounts, cutting an economic swath through the Kingdom. It seems safe to assume that he was successful. He has been throwing around so much money that his riches are actually causing trouble for the bank of Vathos.

EPILOGUE
The Final Tally For Session Six

There was no Experience given out for the Special Session (it wouldn’t have been fair to those of you who weren’t there) so there was no Player’s Choice Award.
    No one really has a clear picture of where the influence is in this new environment so I’m not going to list the leaders and we aren’t going to use the Political Power rules during Session Seven but they will be in effect for Session Eight.

A Work In Progress
Additions, Revisions and Updates to the Core Rules

CLARIFICATION: Counterblow and Flurry 
These Advantages may only be used a number of times equal to their level each battle (a character with Flurry 2 can only use Flurry twice per battle). I will make sure that this is cleared up with clearer descriptions and examples.
    Remember that you can Flurry after a successful Counterblow, which in my opinion is one of the most dangerous combinations in the game.

Clarification: Rogue Mage 
A magician with the Rogue Mage Limitation cannot benefit from the Teacher Advantage. This includes Mentors, which are NPCs with the Teacher Advantage.
    The descriptions of the Rogue Mage and Mentor Advantage will be changed to reflect this fact.

Revision: Mercenary Captain 
In the wake of Reunification, Mercenary Units aren’t as valuable a political tool as they once were.
    A contract for a standard Mercenary Unit is worth 1 Plot Point to any Faction (it used to be worth 2 pts to the Dukes because of the role Mercenaries played in the struggle for reunification). A contract for an elite Mercenary Unit is worth 2 Plot Points to any Faction.
    From now on there will be more contracts available for nonpolitical purposes than in previous sessions to make sure your units are still a useful resource.

Revision: Two Weapon Style 
I have added whip as an alternative to dagger as the second weapon in a two-weapon combination. Whips aren’t very effective but your character will look awesome.
    When you are using the Two Weapon Style Subskill to fight with two weapons you can’t use the Mastery Advantage with either weapon unless you have Mastered both and have also Mastered Two Weapon Style.
    I realize that this is very expensive but anything that allows you multiple attacks is very powerful so it is still well worth the investment and if you are also willing to invest in Ambidexterity (described later in this issue) your character can become extremely effective with this combination of weapons and advantages.

WHAT IS THE LAW?
New Subskills, Advantages and Disadvantages

Ambidexterity 
5, 10 or 15 pts
Advantage

This Advantage makes fighting with two weapons more effective by allowing your character to ignore some or all of the usual penalties for fighting with Two-Weapon Style.
    For 5 pts your character will be able to resolve Attack Tests with the secondary weapon normally. For at total of 10 pts he will also be able to inflict full damage with his primary weapon and for a total of 15 pts he will also be able to inflict full damage with his secondary weapon.

Cleave 
10 pts / lvl
Weapon Master Advantage
Restricted: Battle-Axe, Greatsword, Thret and Waraxe

When you make a Cleaving attack your character will attack at the end of the round, regardless of his speed.
    If the attack hits and inflicts 2 or more points of damage your opponent takes 2 wounds. If you are also a Grandmaster of the weapon you are using and your attack scores 3 or more points of damage your opponent takes 3 wounds.
    The only Weapon Master Advantages that can be used in combination with Cleave are Charge and Crushing Blow. You can’t Cleave two rounds in a row unless you have a second level of this Advantage in which case your character can Cleave every round if he wants to.

Mercenary Commander 
10 pts / lvl
Warrior Advantage
Prerequisites: Mercenary Captain, Famous, Master Tactician, Veteran

A Mercenary Commander leads more than one Mercenary Unit. For every level he leads an additional unit which will raise the value of his contract by 1 Plot Point (a character with Mercenary Commander 2 commands 3 units with a total value of 4 Plot Points). These units must fight together so a contract with the Commander must involve all of the units in his Command. All of the units are considered elite but maintenance costs are 10 gold a session for the first unit and 5 gold for each additional unit (2 units cost 15 gold, 3 units cost 20 gold and 4 units cost 25 gold).

The Art of War

Unit Types and Sizes 
A basic Mercenary Unit is a Light Infantry Unit of roughly 75 trained fighters. The following table shows the four most common types of units and how many warriors each type of unit is expected to contain.
For game purposes unit type is determined by armor. Light Infantry and Light Cavalry units are those that only have 1 pt of armor. Heavy units are those that have 2 pts of armor. Unarmored units are considered Light Units and those few with 3 pts of armor are considered Heavy Units.

Resolving Large Scale Battles
Military engagements are resolved the same way we resolve conflicts between characters. Each unit in the engagement is treated as though it were a character.
    The default Light Infantry Unit has a Wound Capacity of 3, Average Speed, 1 pt of armor and a weapon with which they may attack once a round for 3 pts of damage.

Approach Phase: The Approach Phase is just as important in military engagements as it is man to man combat, if not more so. Special units such as cavalry and archers and units with scouts have special abilities that allow them to exploit the Approach Phase.

Attack Tests: Military Units can only be led by characters with the Tactician Subskill of Warrior. When a unit attacks it’s leader uses his Warrior Skill Rank to resolve the Attack Test. An Uncontested Failure can be retested if the leader is a Master Tactician.

Defense: The rules for Default Defense, Encumbrance, Parries and Shield Blocks are ignored. When a units Attack Test scores a Contested result the Skill Ranks of the leaders are compared to determine if the attack is successful

Healing: Most of the time a unit will heal between sessions so if it is wounded during a Between Time engagement following Session Five it would be at full strength for another engagement following Session Six. There is a Healing Archmagic that will heal an entire army during battle, a rare and wonderful thing.

Defeat and Death: A unit that takes wounds that equal or exceed its Wound Capacity is defeated. A defeated unit cannot be used during the following session because the wounded are resting and you are still recruiting new fighters to replace the fallen. From time to time your unit may engage an enemy willing to Killing Combat, which is effectively a ‘fight to the death’ that can ‘kill’ your unit.

Building a Better Unit 
When your character becomes a Mercenary Captain he is assumed to command a basic Light Infantry unit. An Elite Unit is distinguished by buying special advantages with ‘unit points’. An Elite Unit gets a number of unit points equal to the leader’s Warrior Skill Rank.
    If your character has a Warrior Skill Rank of 6 or better he can buy additional unit points with character points at a cost of 2 character points per unit point. The maximum number of additional unit points you can buy is equal to the his Warrior Skill rank minus 5 (a Captain with Warrior 7 could buy 2 more unit points for 4 character points).
    Normally, a standard Mercenary Unit doesn’t get any unit points but they can take disadvantages or the Captain can spend character points to buy some (as long as he has the prerequisite Warrior Skill Rank of 6 or better).
    The unit advantages are as follows;

Cavalry (3 pts) - A Cavalry Unit is one step faster than the Speed dictated by its armor. A cavalry unit can Charge into combat, allowing it to make a close combat attack in the Approach Phase. A Cavalry unit with Scouts has the equivalent of the Outrider Advantage, which will allow the unit an additional Approach Phase unless the enemy also has Outriders. Cavalry units cost more 5 gold a session to maintain than Infantry units.

Heavy Armor (2pts) - This advantage gives a unit 2 pts of armor but reduces the units Speed to Slow which can be a serious disadvantage in and of itself.

Heavy Weapons (2 pts) - Units with this advantage use large weapons such as battleaxes, spears, polearms or pikes that do 4 pts of damage. You can’t give a cavalry unit heavy weapons but you can use this advantage to give them lances, which will give the unit a damage value of 5 any time they are able to Charge into battle (they will still do 3 pts of damage on subsequent rounds).

Large Unit (1 pt) - A unit with this advantage is larger than normal, which gives it an extra point of Wound Capacity (this is cumulative with bonuses from the Tough and Veteran advantages, if any). A large unit costs an extra 5 gold to maintain each session (a large elite cavalry unit costs 20 gold a session to maintain).

Loyal (2 pts) - Most units will abandon you if you fail to pay them for several sessions in a row. A loyal unit will never abandon its leader. They won’t fight when their maintenance cost isn’t paid but they will never disband, no matter how long it has been since their last payday.

Retainer (up to 10 pts) - A unit with this advantage has an ongoing contract that you can use any time you don’t have a better assignment for your unit. The value of the contract is 3 gold for every 2 unit points spent on the retainer (with a maximum value of 15 gold a session). If your character is a Commander with two or more units this contract is for all of the units in his command but it is worth 2 gold pieces for every unit point spent (for a maximum of 20 gold).

Scouts (3 pts) - A unit with scouts can prepare and spot ambushes for all of the units in your command. If your unit had time to prepare and was in a position to set up an ambush there isn’t an Approach Phase and during the first round of combat your opponent doesn’t get an attack unless one of your enemy’s units also has Scouts and the enemy leaders Warrior Skill Rank is higher than yours. In this case there still isn’t an Approach Phase but the first round is resolved normally (the enemy spots the ambush before your men are able to spring the trap).

Spartan (up to 5 pts) - For every unit point spent on this advantage the cost to maintain the unit is reduced by 1 gold a session. You can’t reduce your maintenance costs by more than 5 gold but if you command more than one unit you can buy this advantage for each of them. It is possible to reduce the maintenance cost of a standard Mercenary Unit to 0, but you would need to come up with 5 unit pts to do it.

Support Weapons (2 pts) - A unit with this advantage can make an attack during the Approach Phase with a support weapon chosen from the following list; bow, crossbow or throwing spear. Regardless of which weapon you choose the support weapon does 1 pt of damage.

Tough (2 pts) - The unit has an extra point of Wound Capacity, giving it a Wound Capacity of 4. If the unit also has the Large advantage it has a total Wound Capacity of 5.

Trusted Lieutenant - Normally, using the Mercenary Captain (or Commander) Advantage requires a Between Time commitment. Units with a Trusted Lieutenant can be sent out on their own, which frees up your character to do other things. The Warrior Skill Rank of the lieutenant is equal to the number of unit points assigned to this advantage (it has to be at least 3 but it cannot exceed the Warrior Skill Rank of the units leader).

Veteran (3 pts) - This advantage may only be taken for Elite Units. A Veteran unit has an extra point of Wound Capacity. They also have a reputation that can get them better contracts. A Veteran unit with the Retainer advantage gets 5 gold for every 2 unit points (which gives you a maximum contract worth 25 gold). If your character is a Mercenary Commander and all of the units in your command are Veterans your Retainer is worth 3 gold per point (with a maximum value of 30 gold).

It is possible to buy Advantages that aren’t on this list for your unit but they will cost you unit points and character points. These Advantages will usually come from the weapon Master Advantages list. A 5 pt Advantage costs 2 unit points and 1 character point, a 10 pt
    Advantage costs 4 unit points and 3 character points and a 15 pt Advantage costs 6 unit points and 6 character points.
    You can earn extra unit points by taking one or more disadvantages from the following list.

These disadvantages are the easiest way for a Mercenary Captain who isn’t a Veteran to create an exceptional unit.

Light Weapons (1 pt) - This unit carries ? This is often taken by units with Support Weapons Advantage (archers often have little more than daggers as ?).

Mercenary (1 pt) - A unit with the Mercenary Disadvantage has very little loyalty to its Captain or Commander and will abandon him unless they are paid every session. For obvious reasons this Disadvantage cannot be taken for units with the Loyalty Advantage.

Small Unit (2 pts) - Some units are smaller than others of the same kind, which will reduce their Wound Capacity by a point. Small Units can be Tough, which will ? The only reason to make this tradeoff is for effect (in a lot of ways a small, tough unit is cooler).

Unarmored (1 pt) - Units with the Toughness Advantage can go into battle without armor. This will make them vulnerable but it will make them Fast. Archers, Scouts and some Barbarian units go into battle unarmored but this Disadvantage us rare.

Marcus is a Mercenary Commander with two units and a Warrior Skill Rank of 6. He gets 14 unit points to spend on his units and can buy two more points for a point each.
    He decides that one of his units will be heavy infantry and the other an archery unit that can do scouting and support. Marcus assigns the Heavy Armor, Heavy Weapons and Large Unit advantages to the first unit, a combination that costs him 5 pts. He assigns the Scouts and Support Weapons advantages to the second unit, which costs him 4 more points. He looks over the disadvantages and decides that the archery unit has Light Weapons, Small Unit and Unarmored, which gives him 4 more points to spend.
    Marcus is an adventurer and needs his Between Time so he decides to buy a Trusted Lieutenant to lead them in his absence. He has 9 pts so he gives the Lieutenant a Warrior Skill Rank of 6, the best he is allowed. With 3 pts unspent Marcus takes another pass through the advantages and decides that his heavy infantry unit is Loyal.
    Commander Marcus will have to cough up a total maintenance cost of 25 gold a session (2 elite units at 10 gold each plus 5 gold for a large unit) but in return for the expense he has the following forces at his disposal;

Stormshound Dragoons - Speed: Slow, 2 pts of Armor, Wound Capacity 4, Polearms (Damage 4) – Loyal

Stormshound Archers - Speed: Fast, Wound Capacity 2, Bows (Damage 1), Daggers (Damage 2) - Scouts

The Grand Grimore

New Spells and Adept Advantages

Wizards

Having half a dozen of you ask about Wizards in the space of a week seems to suggest you would like a look at the rules necessary to play one. Since I promised to give you whatever material you asked for I sat myself down and churned this stuff out. I hope you like it.

Wizard 
10 pts
Prerequisite: Magicians with the Greater Gift who have Mastered at least 3 Magic Skills

To qualify for this Advantage a magician needs to be the Master of at least three Magic Skills.
    A Wizard gains access to the Restricted schools of Chronomancy, Metamagic and Translocation. Wizards who are Grandmasters of one or more Magic Skills may also learn the Archmagics for those schools. Archmagics are unusually powerful spells that cost 10 points apiece.
    NOTE: I intend to introduce the first of the Archmagics after I have given you the spells for all three Restricted Schools so expect some of these spells in Chronicle 8.
    There are several special Advantages that are restricted to Wizard characters that give them additional abilities. These Advantages include Apprentice, Familiar, Immunity, Manna and Sanctum.

Apprentice 
5 pts
Adept Advantage / Wizards and Magisters Only
Prerequisites: the Teacher Advantage and the Thaumaturgy Subskill of Scholar

Wizards are expected to pass along what they have learned and most are comfortable assuming the role of Mentor at least once in their career. Some find the experience so rewarding that they become Mentor to a succession of gifted pupils.
    The Apprentice Advantage is the flip side of the Mentor Advantage. A Wizard with an Apprentice can spend his Between Time teaching his non player character student, for which he receives 2 pts of experience.
    By the time a Wizard has spent 5 Sessions in this way the apprentice is ready to strike out on his own and the Advantage is lost but it can be purchased again.
    If you want to play out the Apprentice/Mentor relationship between two player characters don’t bother taking this Advantage. The Wizard should take the Teacher Advantage and his PC apprentice should be Indentured or Obligated to him. Both characters gain a point of experience if they spend their Between Time together.

Familiar 
5, 10 or 15 pts
Adept Advantage / Wizards Only

Wizards are able to form a special bond with certain creatures that allows them to use the creature as a conduit for the magical energies they manipulate to cast spells.
    If the Wizard fails to cast a spell and would normally take a wound from the default Backfire his Familiar will channel away the excess energy, diffusing the Backfire. Having a Familiar is like having a permanent Backfire Ward but the Familiar won’t be able to diffuse special Backfires specified by many of the more powerful spells.
    5 pt Familiars are small creatures such as cats, ravens, ferrets or black squirrels that have a Defense of 3, a Wound Capacity of 1 and are useless in combat.
    10 pt Familiars are larger creatures which have the same abilities as 5 pt Animal Companions (see the Outdoorsman Advantage of the same name for details). 15 pt Familiars have the same abilities as 10 pt Animal Companions.
    All Familiars have the ability to make themselves Invisible, which has the same effects as the Illusionist spell of the same name but it doesn’t have to be maintained so it has an unlimited duration and won’t limit the Familiar’s actions. When a Wizard with a Familiar comes to the Inn he will usually insist that the creature keep itself hidden.
    If you really feel your character should have a Familiar that other characters can see and interact with you should use a puppet of some kind. Live animals can’t be taught our ground rules so they aren’t welcome at our events (unless of course you have a talking dog or something but if you do you have better things to do than play our game).

Immunity
5, 10 or 15 pts
Adept Advantage / Wizards Only

A Wizard can buy this Advantage to make himself Immune to one of the spells he knows. Immunity to a 2 pt spell costs 5 pts, Immunity to a 4 pt spell costs 10 pts, and Immunity to a 6 pt spell costs 15 pts.
    There are some restrictions on this Immunity. First off, it only works against spells cast by magicians (a Wizard’s Immunity Advantage won’t do him any good against a miracle cast by a priest, even if the miracle is a spell of the same name as the magician spell his is Immune).
    Second, the Immunity is only as strong as the Wizards Skill Rank with the Magic Skill he would use to a cast the spell in question. A magician with a higher Skill Rank will be able to overcome the Immunity.

Manna 
5 pts / lvl
Adept Advantage / Wizards Only

A Wizard’s Manna points can be used in place of Wound Capacity when casting Strenuous spells or Major Magic. Manna Points are only recovered between sessions (the character starts each session with all of his Manna points).
    A Wizard is limited to a number of Manna points equal to the number of Magic Skills he has Mastered and/or Grandmastered (a character who is a Master Alchemist, Grandmaster Enchanter, Master Incanter and a Master Metamagician can have up to 4 Manna points).

Sanctum 
5 pts
Adept Advantage / Wizards and Magisters Only
Prerequisite: a Wealth of 20 or better and the Thaumaturgy Subskill of Scholar

By the time a most magicians becomes a Wizard they will have reached a plateau where adventuring won’t do them as much good as time spent lost in study, perusing ancient tomes for fragments of forgotten lore.
    When a Wizard establishes a Sanctum his Wealth is reduced by 10 pts. The materials a Wizard needs to further his studies are very expensive. He also acquires the Slow Learner Disadvantage and receives no points for it. If he already a Slow Learner he earns 2 less points a session instead of the usual 1 pt penalty.
    The advantage to having a Sanctum is that it allows a Wizard character who isn’t played to earn 5 experience points for the session. In addition, if you Judge or play a GM character you can assign your special award to your Wizard, giving him a total of 10 pts for sitting out.

Metamagic

This is the second of the three schools of magic which are restricted to mages with the Wizard Advantage. The first, Translocation, was described in Chronicle Four and the last, Chronomancy, will be described next month.
    Metamagic deals with spells that manipulate magic itself. Some of these spells make Wizards what they are. Wizards with Metamagic are the only characters in the game who have the ability to Disenchant, to Memorize their spells or to cast Counterspells to foul the spells of others.

Counterspell I
2 pts / Difficulty (special)

Any time the mage sees another magician successfully cast a 2 pt spell (on himself or another) he may abort his next action to cast a Counterspell (aborting an action works the same way it does for aborting to a Dodge). The Difficulty of the Counterspell is the same as the Difficulty of the spell the mage is trying to counter.

Counterspell II
4 pts / Difficulty (special)
Prerequisite: Counterspell I

An advanced Counterspell which affects 4 pt spells.

Counterspell III
6 pts / Difficulty (special)
Prerequisite: Counterspell II
Restricted: Magisters and Specialists Only

An advanced Counterspell which affects 6 pt spells.

Disenchant
6 pts / Difficulty 8
Strenuous

Knowledge of Metamagic can be used to ‘unravel’ enchantments. Once a Wizard learns how to pull on the ‘threads’ of magic it is much easier to to undo a spell than a novice would expect. The danger is pulling on the wrong ‘thread’ which causes the power invested in the enchantment to ‘feed back’ on the Wizard, causing a Backfire that will rob him of his spellcasting ability for the rest of the session.
    Disenchant can be cast as Ritual Magic in between sessions as a safeguard against the debilitating effect of the spell’s Backfire. Backfire Wards are also an effective preventative. Few mages will Disenchant without one.
    Disenchant can be used to destroy just about any enchantment in the game, including those on magical items and those that animate magically created beings such as zombies and golems. If used in combat Disenchant has a Difficulty of (+ 6). You can’t use Disenchant to destroy magic weapons in combat but you can destroy the enchantments on magic armor and shields.

Drain Orb
4 pts / Difficulty 6
Prerequisite: Tap Orb
Cannot be learned by Cabalists 
Ritual Magic: cast during Setup / Major Magic

This spell is used to drain an Orb of Power of all of the magical energy it contains, all at once. The Orb is destroyed but the mage gains more experience points than he would by Tapping it. These points can only be used to buy magic skills, spells or adept advantages.
    The first time this spell is used the mage gains 10 experience points. Each time after the first the mage earns 2 pts less (8 pts for the second Orb, 6 pts the third and so on). Once a mage has Drained an Orb he no longer gains anything from Tapping them which means he is limiting himself to Draining 5 Orbs for a total of 30 pts.
    Cabalists cannot learn this spell because they are dedicated to finding and preserving relics of this kind and are ethically opposed to destroying them.

Memorize I
2 pts / Difficulty (special)
Ritual Magic: cast during Setup

This Ritual allows a mage to ‘store’ one or more 2 pt spells during Setup for use at any time during the session. The Difficulty of storing a spell is equal to the Difficulty of the spell in question but like most Ritual Magic no Casting Test is required - if your character’s Metamagic Skill Rank is equal to or greater than the Difficulty of the spell it is automatically stored successfully.
    Stored spells can be cast in any Phase and no Casting Test is required to cast them (but they still take an action to cast). When a stored spell is used it is no longer stored but you can store the same spell more than once and having a spell stored has no effect on casting it normally.
    Mages with this spell have a Metamagic Ritual limit just like Alchemists and Enchanters. They can store a number of points worth of spells equal to their Metamagic Skill Rank (a character with a Metamagic Skill Rank of 6 can store three 2 pt spells). All three Memorize spells count against the same Ritual limit (a character with a Metamagic Skill Rank of 6, Memorize I and Memorize II could store three 2 pt spells or a 2 pt spell and a 4 pt spell).

Memorize II
4 pts / Difficulty (special)
Prerequisite: Memorize I / Ritual Magic: cast during Setup

The second of the Memorization spells allows the mage to store 4 pt spells.

Memorize III
6 pts / Difficulty (special)
Memorize II / Ritual Magic: cast during Setup
Restricted: Magisters and Specialists Only

The third and final Memorization spell allows the mage to store 6 pt spells.

Redirect I
2 pts / Difficulty (special)
Prerequisite: Counterspell I / Strenuous

Any time a Metamagician sees another magician successfully cast a 2 pt spell (on himself or another) he may abort his next action to cast Redirect.
    The Difficulty of the Redirection attempt is 2 points higher than the Difficulty of the spell the mage is trying to Redirect. If the Redirection is successful the Metamagician may choose another target for the spell, even if the distance from the original caster to the new target would violate the range restrictions of the redirected spell.
    For example an Elemental Armor spell could be Redirected to protect one of the Wizard’s companions, even though Elemental Armor is a ‘caster only’ spell that can’t normally limited to affecting the caster.

Redirect II
4 pts / Difficulty (special)

Prerequisites: Counterspell II, Redirect I / Strenuous

An advanced Redirection that affects 4 pt spells.

Redirect III
6 pts / Difficulty (special)
Prerequisites: Counterspell III, Redirect II / Restricted: Magisters and Specialists Only / Strenuous

An advanced Redirection that affects 6 pt spells.

Tap Orb
2 pts / Difficulty 3
Ritual Magic: Requires Between Time to cast
Major Magic (causes the temporary loss of a point of Wound Capacity)

The Orbs of Power are artifacts so ancient that no legends remain which would give some insight to who created them, or why. It is known to those who study such things that similar devices were constructed by the Magister Kings of U? to store the energies they drew from other dimensions but the Orbs are more efficient and are capable of gathering magical power on their own.
    Tapping one or more Orbs is a time consuming process that requires the magician’s Between Time. The mage gets a number of experience points equal to the number of Orbs in his possession when the spell is cast (if he has 3 Orbs he gets 3 points). These points can only be used to buy magic skills, spells or advantages restricted to magicians.
    An Orb of Power is a self renewing power source and will never run out of magical energy unless the Drain Orb spell is used to draw power out of it at a rate that consumes the Orb.

Onward and Upward

Help Wanted: Costumer
On several occasions I have ended up putting new players into costumes. I don’t mind doing it but it seems like having a resource as a group for this kind of thing would be a good idea, especially if we continue to recruit players who may not have access to fantasy garb.
    I have a trunk full of costume pieces I would be willing to contribute. We need someone to look after this stuff, collect more and bring it to games.
    If we had a decent collection of basic costume pieces we could tell newcomers not to sweat a costume and hook them up onsite.
    Assuming we are able to find someone willing to keep a ‘costume trunk’ and haul it back and forth they will need help filling out the motley selection of scraps that have gathered in my attic over the years.

Help Wanted: Armorer
Players who don’t have garb are unlikely to have a weapon to go with it so we will also need someone to gather a selection of weapons we can loan the curious. I seem to recall a couple of places we could acquire simple blades very inexpensively. It might be a good idea to get a few wooden weapons as well. These weapons could be made available to anyone who needs them.
    The armorer should also keep a list of players with weapons in their personal collection that they are willing to loan out. .
    Our armorer will need to know how to take care of weapons properly . If you have never oiled a blade this probably isn’t the job for you. .

SET IN STONE: A SOLEMN OATH