Border Princes: Turn 6

Sonnestil (Summer Solstice), 2516 IC

Sonnestil, the Summer Solstice, and those who can stomach it have razed a maypole and are dancing and singing the bawdy ditties of Midsummer.  Few of Malko's youths seem to be sneaking out to cavort in the woods and fields, however.  Many have been swayed by the stern, unflinching zeal of the flagellants, preachers and doomsayers which swarm the streets, and those that remain are probably afeard of goblin scouts prowling the woods, for the Greenskins have crossed the Thunder River to the South East.

Having failed to prevent the orcs and goblins from crossing at the bridge, Young Henri lead his Bretonnian force south to attack the orcs and goblins who were reportedly mutinying after a failed attempt at crossing the river.  Adolphus writes that the Bretonnians once again arrived too late, however.  All that remained of the Greenskin force were the corpses of those who had died in the failed rebellion and the leaders who had been dispatched by the chief Orc warlord: The remainder of the Greenskin force had already put ashore on the west bank with their rickety flotilla of rafts and longboats.

-Gavius Klugge

2nd Vorgheim, 2516 IC

Three divisions of our Imperial forces have marched forth from the lands around the central Blood River and around their fortress in a united battlefront, pressing eastwards into the territories seized by the dead from Nehekhara.  Word is that one division has already secured the woods to the west of their headquarters, while another has liberated the plains south of the Blood River Bogs from their long-dead taskmasters. 

-GK

4th Vorgheim, 2516 IC

Poor tidings, dear colleagues for the Imperial division advancing on the Blood River Bogs has been forced to withdraw after a long and arduous slog through the fetid swamps in the heat of midsummer.  The steam contraptions of the engineers (unreliable at the best of times!) malfunctioned disastrously, and our troops were afflicted with heat, thirst (for the fresh water in the bogs is scarce) and swamp-fever.  

Our huntsmen were able to penetrate deeper into the Bogs than the rest of our forces.  Those who returned reported that many of their comrades were pulled to their death in the much by great serpents.  However, a few especially skilled trackers were able to find their way right to the Neherakan encampment, which was being fortified by great throngs of slaves, both living and dead.

6th Vorgheim, 2516 IC

Dire news!  Word from my lackwit apprentice Adolphus is that Young Henri and his knightly host have been cut off in Greenskin territory by a band of blasphemous warriors and barbarians marching under the banners of the Dark Powers, who have seized the vital bridge over the central Thunder River.  From my ravens I can tell you that the bridge is now adorned by gibbets and stakes and the cadavers of their victims.  What is clear now is that Young Henri's bluster about being 'Malko's Defender' was just that.  Panic is beginning to set in behind our all-too-flimsy palisade.

9th Vorgheim, 2516 IC

Unrest in Malko!  The town was celebrating the the Emperor Sigismund's heroic death with the ceremonial plunging of the lord's sword into a ram skull representing Gorbad Ironclaw's wyvern when news reached the town that a greenskin force has begun marching westwards along the Old Silk Road, looting, burning or enslaving the smaller settlements and inns along the way.  The timing was unfortunate and between Malko's idiot lord and his jumpy mercenaries, the zealots, flagellants and firebrands crying hellfire and brimstone, and a hungry, frightened populace it is perhaps unsurprising that all hell broke loose.  The riots have been (brutally) suppressed, but I fear that agents of the Ruinous Powers continue to operate from the city, and we may be in danger of falling from within long before the Greenskin's reach Malko's palisades.

-Gavius Klugge  

10^th Vorgheim, 2516 IC

I have taken abroad with my ravens once again, esteemed colleagues, to form an accurate estimation of the Greenskin threat and, perhaps, find the slimmest opportunity for Malko’s survival.  I already knew that the orcs and goblins seem to be advancing westward on two fronts: along the Old Silk Road directly east of here and in the forests to the south east, where they have newly managed to cross the Thunder River.

My feathered friends have shown me two more large Greenskin threats.  Orcs and goblins are gathering in huge numbers in the traditional Ironclaw Orc lands around the Idols of Gork and Mork (or is it the other way around?), though I cannot guess at their intention.  The other force is digging in and erecting crude fortifications and defences around their camps along the eastern stretches of the Old Silk Road.  Whether this defensive activity was provoked by Young Henri’s Gallant Companions upon the nearby bridge or by the hordes of Chaos warriors boiling south from the Black Mountains I cannot say.  My hope would be the latter, though my guess would be the former… for there remains no doubt in my mind that the forces of the Dark Powers and the orcs and goblins are working in concert.

Oh, did I not mention the hordes of chaos warriors boiling south from the Black Mountains?  Well there you have it, esteemed colleagues, we have hordes of orcs from the east and every cultist and heretic in the Border Princes from the north ready to join their vanguard at the bridge across the Thunder… and right now there is more or less just ME here to deal with it (probably less, because I have to keep cleaning up the messes my feckless apprentices make of things). 

A little extra support would be much appreciated lest the Electors would rather this lot begins heading towards Black Fire Pass towards their soft feather beds.

-Gavius Klugge, (frustrated) Grey Wizard

13^th Vorgheim, 2516 IC

Alarmed at developments in the East, more and more of the petty lords southeast of Malko are throwing in their lot with the Imperial division claiming lands there. 

Northeast of Malko the Bretonnians hold sway, distributing lands amongst their knights where they are available and accepting the fealty of those lordlings who could not otherwise face the coming onslaught alone.  Bretonnian knights are now said to be patrolling the upper reaches of the South Road.

-GK

16^th Vorgheim, 2516 IC

Fell tidings!  The bridge over the upper Thunder River has been taken by the forces of Chaos! 

With the fall of the bridge, esteemed colleagues, passage from the Border Princes into the Empire via Black Fire Pass is all but impossible.  For our Imperial forces stationed here it means that any hope of reinforcement from the Empire is gone… the opportunity for that has passed.  Rather we must continue to draw upon those Border Princes of Imperial descent to fill our ranks.

Furthermore, there is now scant hope of retreat for our Imperial forces should the situation become untenable here.  If the worst comes to the worst, they may have to fall back south west towards Barak Varr and the mercy of the Dwarfs, perhaps taking passage to Tilea.

-         Gavius Klugge

19^th Vorgheim, 2516 IC

Ill luck for our Imperial forces, dear colleagues!  A legion of undead Neherakan warriors has struck boldly between a gap in our Imperial divisions as they advanced eastwards.  How the long-dead warriors knew where to advance remains something of a mystery, though I suspect the involvement of those carrion birds or other foul sorcery. 

Regardless, this fell turn of events has not only jeopardised our eastward advance, but has allowed the Neherakans within striking distance of our Imperial fortress!  I shall get little sleep this night until I know that our fortress is secure, for if it falls so do our hopes at keeping these lands and their peoples within the safe orbit of our Empire!

-Gavius Klugge

Faction	Normal Territories	Special Territories	Total Territories	Razed Territories	Victory Points	Banners	Alliances
Bretonnians	9	1	10	0	14	4	Empire
Empire	10	1	11	0	15	4	Bretonnia
Orcs and Goblins	10	1	11	0	15	4	Tomb Kings, Warriors of Chaos
Tomb Kings	9	0	9	0	9	4	Orcs and Goblins, Warriors of Chaos
Warriors of Chaos	11	0	11	0	11	4	Orcs and Goblins, Tomb Kings