Ars Magica 5th Edition: 1st Crusade

Homs II

In the aftermath of the battle Aubert quietly grouped and collected the identifiable bodies of slain Sahirs. Since they typically didn't wear armor and many of them were women, about 130 were identified. (About 140 died, for a loss rate of 70%.)

An open council was called after the battle to discuss the attack of the Sahirs and the Jinn. Aubert had to make hasty arrangements with Bartamaeus to play his "brother," Kaldas, who had to make an appearance to testify in front of the entire Pilgrimage.

The short of it is that Aubert, Bohemond and the two Roberts took turns explaining that there were Frankish wizards on the Holy Pilgrimage. And that these were Christian wizards who wished to have Jesus wash the taint off their magic and forgive them their sins, just like anyone else. And since they defeated the Islamic Summoners (the act of which is clearly forbidden in the Bible), God approved the Wizard's journey in the Holy Pilgrimage.

Some grumbling happened, but the Wizards largely kept to themselves and things blew over for them. Coemgin ex Criamon, however, despite his blatant gift, began to develop a small following.

Not letting an opportunity go to waste or worry about accusations of hypocrisy, Kaldas discreetly and promptly summoned the Sahirs' Ghosts that night. He then Bound them into stones with their name and age carved into them for future reference.

After a day of looting and burying the dead, the Crusade moved again towards Homs. Duqaq escaped during the meeting, which shouldn’t have been possible. Intellego Vim magic revealed a certain non Hermetic residue, and another clue in the form of a 3d circular cut into the tent and through two guard’s dead bodies meant a portal of some sort was activated. Duqaq and other prisoners did not have any rings or other jewelry removed, which could have been a subtly enchanted item.

While frustrating, nothing obvious could be done. Kaldas had not taken an arcane connection for another wizard to try locating Duqaq.

The Emir Ibn Malaeb, however, remained in captivity.

On the way to Homs, Kaldas did some investigating of the Shayzar Sahirs' enchanted items. Bartamaeus provided some helpful advice: that one could simply summon the spirit powering the device and ask what it does.

Compared to the months or years involved with investigating a Hermetic enchantment, Kaldas quickly discovered what he had access to:

  1. Several rings of healing, able to heal various degrees of wounds, and diseases, but once per several years. (A recharge time of in years per magnitude of the effect.)

  2. A couple rings of that restore fatigue levels, with positive penetration.

  3. A couple flying carpets with sentient air elementals bound to them, like in the classic Aladdin film.

  4. 4 scimitars that could produce flames on command

  5. 3 Bows that shot lightning

  6. Several magical quills, some of which could open gateways into Regios, and one that even opened directly and immediately to the City of Brass. (And again, ritual Solomnic effects, have cool downs years in length, so are close to a plot device in usefulness.)

  7. Several great swords with no enchantments. However, contained strange sparkles. After an Intellego Terram spell, they were made from some strange mixture of metals and diamonds. Perfectly, too. Almost as if the Shayzar Sahirs had cast a permanent Muto effect


  8. Interestingly, no bottles, lamps or other containers.

After the battle, a series of spies were found in the camp, as Bartamaeus acted as counter intelligence after the first discovery. Aubert personally executed the spies by public decapitation.

Before investing Homs, the Crusaders tried to negotiate a surrender with the Emir. Unfortunately for them, the Emir’s last words were to “
Never surrender to these infidel sons of mongrel dogs, may God swallow the earth underneath them!” (note: I used this site for insults.)

Suffice to say, after Shayzar, the people of Homs were not willing to surrender.

When the Crusade invested around the city of Homs they soon faced a new challenge. Both day and night, a Ghost in silver mask

Led a small host of ghosts on raids against the crusaders. (below)

achaemenid_chariot

The corporeal enough ghosts raided the supply train, damaging some of the critical water wagons. Aubert made a good counter attack along with the Flambeau’s help, they found out they were oddly resistant to magic and steel, though after a vigorous defence retired from the battlefield, slowly disappearing as they retreated to Homs.

Going through the recently bound Sahirs, Kaldas found out he was facing “Kukras the Persian, Legendary Defender of Homs.” This ghost would attack any army besieging the city of his, and his companion’s burial. (Note: Kukras is not historical at all, I just made this up.)

Again, using the Bound Sahirs, Kaldas found out that whoever controlled the silver mask of Kukras would control the ghost and his followers.

Causing some delay was the open use of Jinn guarding the city. Not many, but having 40 Jinn hovering openly in the air watching the city and the besieging army was a cause for caution.

Using Bartamaeus, Kaldas did eventually find out where to go to sneak into Homs. After that he had the Jinn do some spy work to suss out what the Sahirs of Homs were up to.

Again, invisibly entering the city, Kaldas investigated the burial ground. He found the site already and quite recently looted. Making some extensive and excellent tracking rolls, Kaldas was looking for a petite woman about 5'0" with a slight left foot drag due to a pouch of some sort knocking the left leg.

This description fit one woman, Hero ex Tremere. Silent and observing, she almost entirely kept to herself, with sullen grogs to guard and serve her. Noticeably, there was no Mask to be found, but instead a vigorously trashed burial mound.

The princes of the Crusade planned to wait the time for Aubert's battering ram to be built and assemble the ladders.

This was called into question when Bartamaeus returned a few days later: The Sahirs of Homs were planning on summoning a powerful Marid, the Great Malik, Sultan of the City of Brass to defend them.

Tagging some other users not able to add from last time:
, @AericExMiscellanea , @Ouroboros , @CannedTuna , @DavidCastle

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Infi... what?

which site?

I used this website (and updated my post).

As for the rings, Sahirs can as a regular spell restore fatigue, and therefore they have enchanted items that can do the same. Maybe the name is a bit silly, so I'll edit that too.

Homs III

The Great Malik of the City of Brass, a Marid rumored to be so powerful he could wipe out the entire Holy Pilgrimage himself. Luckily for Kaldas, the Malik required more time than normal to summon.

Kaldas had just over one day to find a way into Homs before the summoning finished. Spurred by destiny, Kaldas searched a circuit of the city. A copse of trees had a slight magical aura, and surrounded by farmland otherwise, struck Kaldas as odd. Further poking and prodding along with some Intellego magic revealed a hidden entrance to a tunnel pointed toward Homs.

Using much vis for more Intellego magic, Kaldas found out the tunnel did go into Homs. And that it had many non-hermetic magical effects on it. Deciding it was trapped, Kaldas asked Theodard (one of the Flambeau Perdo specialists), to use vis for a powerful Perdo Vim spell to remove the magic. Over 20 pawns of vis later (I rolled this in the open, it was not a zero which would have been epically bad!) Theodard removed said magical effects. With a combination of sneaking in the tunnel himself, and using Bartimaeus afterward, Kaldas verified that the tunnel had two entrances into Homs; one into the Citadel, and the other into the lower city.

(Note: This is not historical, but based on the extensive tunnels of Masyaf and Salamiyah built by the Ismaili's.)

Bartimaeus also found out that both tunnels had Jinn guarding the entrances. By his estimation, powerful enough to cause problems for mortal soldiers, but that wizards could take them out.

Aubert called a closed council quickly to discuss the findings. The Princes balked at his suggestion of an immediate attack. They barely had ladders ready, let alone a siege tower or battering ram.

In the end, however, none wanted to face a powerful Jinn in the field. That, and all them liked the idea of using the tunnels against the defenders. Three groups would sneak through the tunnels: Robert of Flanders with a group to open the gates of Homs, Tancred to sneak attack the gatehouse of the citadel as a distraction, and finally Bohemond to sneak into the Citadel itself. Each group would be accompanied by a Flambeau to handle any Jinn.

Robert of Normandy would lead a surprise attack on the southern gate to gain entrance to the Homs. Aubert got stuck with the lonely job of launching a spoiling attack in the Northwest as a distraction.

A Perception+Intrigue roll revealed the other leaders felt Aubert was getting too large a share of the fame (leading the way into 3 cities, capturing two VIPs, etc) and needed to share opportunities to build reputation. That and he was getting fat loot and they were jealous.

Sucking in his overweening ego, Aubert agreed and was given command of most of the army and hastily organized an assault on the walls of Homs. He would however, have the Russian Tytali to aid him in their giant form to take the northwest gate.

Kaldas ordered his remaining Jinn to snipe and ambush the Sahirs' Jinn to keep them occupied.

The result was a well coordinated assault that took the defenders of Homs by surprise. Aubert's attack was predicted, but not the process of using the Giants as ladders themselves to gain entry to the City. The surprise attack on the south, combined with simultaneous attacks on the citadel resulted in another win for the Holy Pilgrimage with acceptable losses.

The Sahirs however were not uniformly defeated, and Kaldas's best two Jinn Bartimaeus and Afdal Kathir had disappeared. Some investigating revealed they had gone into the deep desert but no other evidence was found. Using his Bound Sahir ghosts, Kaldas came to the conclusion his Jinn were kidnapped and being held in the City of Brass...

And now needed to be rescued.

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Homs IV

Despite Kaldas wanting to charge off after his two most valuable Jinn, Bartimaeus and Afdal Kathir, patience was in order.

First, Kaldas had to search the Homs Citadel and the remains of the Sahirs’ House of Wisdom for any loot, but found little. Flambeau wizards do specialize in Destruction, and preserving books or items held little interest to them. (There has to be some reason to explain the 5e canon; that the Order of Hermes has not integrated various Solomnic secrets acquired during the Crusades.) Kaldas has also been quiet about their potential value, wanting to keep any discovered Solomnic secrets for himself.

Second, Aubert had to make considerable plans as the Holy Pilgrimage would now Winter in Homs until the weather warmed up. (My historical understanding is that the winter of 1098 in Syria was a rather unpleasant one). As a result of the cold, ice, snow, and sleeting rain the Council of Princes decided they would stay in Homs until it let up, which would end up being for the rest of November, December, and January.

The Holy Pilgrimage did not sack Homs, though did sell into slavery those who defended the city. Having good relations with their new subjects for setting up logistics over the winter was crucial. Homs overflowed with people, and a considerable part of the pilgrimage huddled together outside its walls.

It took little convincing to have Ă†ĂŸelbeorht ex Jerbiton craft many water wagons using his artistic Finesse skills for the Pilgrimage. Kaldas also suggested the Flambeau to create Moon duration heating rocks for the pilgrims, lest they freeze to death over the winter, which they agreed to do.

Third was the issue of Hero of Tremere, whom Kaldas strongly suspected of stealing the Mask of Kukras, which controlled him and his companions. Mysteriously, Kukras had not reappeared to harass the crusaders during their assault on Homs.

Kaldas also bribed Maria, a 12 yr old grog’s daughter to spy on Hero of Tremere, if only from distance to keep tabs on the odd Maga. The girl, Maria demanded Kaldas apprentice her as payment, alas, the girl did not have the gift. Kaldas promised to arrange a good marriage to a magus for the girl as a best offer.

Related to marriage, when Kaldas asked the the Russian Magi, HåvarÔr, Veceslav and Njåll, to come with him to the City of Brass, they had an odd price. Due to Dagne dying, the men were more acutely aware of the family tradition, and asked Kaldas to help find them young gifted women to marry/apprentice. A tall order, which Kaldas accepted.

In his personal preparations Kaldas summoned Razif, the Water aspected Jinn using the creature’s ear, a token of the battle of Shayzar. Kaldas’s remaining water elemental guarded his sanctum, staying in a barrel of water.

Also, Kaldas took one of the large two handed great swords made of daimond-steel crafted by the Sahirs of Shayzar. (It has much better stats than normal.) This also separated the identity from Aubert, known for his giant two handed warhammer.

A few days of preparation later, and after passing some high threshold Guile rolls to create a suitable cover story for Aubert, Kaldas was ready.

The City of Brass I

Using the looted Brass Quill to open a portal to the City of Brass, Kaldas and his companions strode through, ready for anything.

They appeared near the walls, seeing the vast and gleaming splendor of the city. High rises, beautiful buildings made of marble, brass, bronze, copper, and other exotic materials. The streets were literally paved with gold bars. Jinn, in elemental, humanoid, and animal forms or a mix of all three walked around everywhere. The party received little notice, except from Merchants, who rarely wanted vis and often wanted strange or near impossible things like the “first exhaled breath of a baby boy” or “the eyes of an adulterous virgin.”

The first day there Kaldas mainly did some exploration and information gathering. The Malik was rumored to have a new hostage, "the great Bartimaeus," and wroth that a summoner Bound his favorite champion Afdal-Kathir.

In Kaldas’s saunter about the city, he purchased an enchanted brooch for his wife Velkonia. He also met a Sahir. (Note: The example PC from The Cradle and the Crescent.)

In another market, a strangely garbed woman with one breast quite visibly cut off, had young men for sale. She spoke a strange language reminding Kaldas of Greek, but not quite right. In Greek she mentioned these young men were a waste of Magical talent. The PC later acquired 1xp in a “mystery language.”

As for the Sahir, a young man named Arkhaman, was quite unaware of any enmity with Franks, having been in the city for some time. He was very curious to speak such a strange foreigner who was an obvious summoner. Arkhaman even tried to recruit Kaldas to the "Summoners of Solomon" which at first confused Kaldas, thinking them an Order.

Passing some easy Guile and Intrigue rolls against the naive Sahir, Kaldas spent an afternoon learning much about the eastern organization and giving away little about the Order of Hermes.

Among other things, Kaldas learned Damascus, Cairo, and Baghdad were major centers for the Sahirs. Also, he learned some of how the Malik’s court worked, and the Marid’s near eternal boredom.

Critically, Kaldas learned that Arkhaman had summoned and Bound his father, an Infernal Jinn. Yes, the Summoners of Solomon merely consider consorting with the Infernal "a bad idea" and "not recommended" but far short of being a verboten death sentence in the Order of Hermes.

Another was that the Summoners of Solomon do not forbid court wizards, and often act as Viziers or “Advisors” to various Caliphs, Emirs and Sultans. Nor did they have a strong restriction against mundane interference.

Musing on the implications of these discoveries, Kaldas eventually slipped away, thanking the young Arkaham for his generosity. And silently, total gullibility.

Soon, Kaldas found his way to the Malik’s court. Now, for those without the book Tales of Power, the Malik is huge, and part animal. (See the picture below.)

The party spent a day observing the process and talking to the other Noble Jinn and various petitioners. Kaldas did not spot an obvious Summoner of the Malik, and presumably the great Marid had not been summoned. Few Sahirs were in the city or court ‌and most simply gave Kaldas a broad berth, and seemed to leave him alone.

Once ready, Kaldas approached the great Malik to bargain for the return of his Bound Jinn, Bartimaeus and Afdal Kathir. The proposal was simple, Kaldas and his companions would fight the Malik in the Arena for the return of the Jinn. If he could force the Malik to surrender, they would be returned. If not, Kaldas would die.

The Malik was amused but also angry at the audacity, visibly wavering from accepting to rebuking Kaldas for the temerity. In the end, Kaldas argued that fighting a larger mortal such as himself and his companions would be fun and original.

Of course, the Malik added “friends” to the Arena in the form of several of his guards to tilt the odds further in his favor.

The fight began with the Russian Tytali turning into their Giant form and proceeded to engage the guards while Kaldas fought the Malik. Kaldas concentration on the fight led to failed lack of awareness to note the arena’s audience reaction, when he pulled out the strange Diamond-Steel sword from the Sahirs of Shayzar. If he had noticed, he would have caught that the cheering died down some and even an odd moan emerged from the crowd.

Kaldas and the Malik exchanged several blows, with Kaldas taking a couple light wounds. In his frustration, the Malik began to simply try and immolate Kaldas. The player, realizing I was serious about him potentially losing, risked casting his “Leap of the Wizard” spell, which has him physically leap 50 paces. The player wanted to make a fast casting and finesse check to teleport behind the Malik and gain a massive attack advantage for the maneuver.

It failed, not only that
 One must note that in the Magic Realm, botches are far more mechanically likely. The player double botched, meaning a twilight avoidance roll. The player botched that roll as well! Spending confidence points to comprehend the Twilight, the duration was “momentary” as well. Another 6 warping points later for a total accumulated of 8, the player passed his comprehension roll. Mulling it over, I decided to award the “Spell Mastery” for an additional 50xp. Also, that the Twilight revealed a new form of mastery for this specific version of the spell only (which has +1 magnitude to account for Kaldas’s Giant Virtue).

So far as the audience witnessed, Kaldas leapt in the air to attack the Malik, and then moved in super slow motion, yet in real time. Then, Kaldas appeared to accelerate also in slow motion (ala Star Wars ships going into hyperspace for a reference), Kaldas appeared behind the Malik like an Anime Ninja and chopped off the Marid’s arm.

The fighting stopped soon after that, with the Russians holding off the guards, dealing them some wounds, but taking little damage in return. Kaldas demanded Bartimaeus and Afdal-Kathir returned, which the Malik grumbled about these two requests, but didn’t push it. He seemed strangely put off about the removed arm.

Upon receiving Bartimaeus and Afdal-Kathir, the smaller jinn pointed at Kaldas’s strange diamond steel great-sword, and asked, “Master, why do you have a sword made to slay spirits, the Sword of Woe?”

Notes:

  1. I'm only 9 sessions behind now instead of 12, so there's progress!
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City of Brass II

Kaldas asked for Bartamaeus to explain - a group of "strange" Sorcerers in the middle east of no clear name were known for making such weapons. Kaldas had a well known weapon, 'Woe-bringer" in Arabic, infamous for its ability to damage Jinn and Spirits. When Kaldas explained he chopped the Malik’s top right arm off, Bartamaeus suggested they not tarry in the City of Brass, for if Malik’s arm did not grow back soon, Kaldas would be captured and put to death.

Upon exiting the Arena, the group was approached by a Dog-Lizard human hybrid Jinn announcing its name as Azkal, and a member of the Bronze faction.

Now in Kaldas’s time in the Malik’s court, he put together the following relationships between the 5 factions in the City of Brass.

(Note: I did not pull out my graduate text on Stochastic Processes to map out these relationships to see if this would result in a steady state system, or if it approached multidimensional 0 or infinity as time moves on. Tales of Power implied various factions in eternal gridlock, so it made me wonder about that.)

Azkal gave an invitation to a Salon the Bronze faction was hosting, if he was so inclined to appear. Shortly after Kaldas had invitations hinting at more from all the factions, Copper, Brass, Gold and the Red Carnelian. The last faction represents support for the Malik, and the other four with their own eternal agendas.

Kaldas knew they approached him to upset the balance in their favor. He attended Salons from all of them, but after making various perception rolls (which I rolled for the player, only letting him know when confidence points would make a difference) decided the Brass faction would make the best offer.

The Brass faction were the weakest by a hair, and desperately wanted Kaldas to steal for them a specific series of Brass Bottles of Solomon in the city. The Copper faction currently held 5 of the Bronze faction's Bottles. Note that possessing these bottles would give Kaldas complete power over the Jinn bound to that bottle.

Over several rounds of bargaining, Kaldas retained the right to keep more Brass Bottles if he found them, a provided exit from the City of Brass within 1 hour's walk to Homs, and a promise of 3 Gifted but untrained young women of marriageable age (15 to 20) brought to him in the mortal world within two years.

Suffice to say, the deal worked well in Kaldas’s favor.

The missions to break in and steal the bottles went well overall, but Kaldas did botch his spell "Eyes of the Eagle", and again went into Twilight, and 12 warping points later obtained the Major Virtue "Shapeshifter" for his troubles. Naturally, his first form is an Eagle.

In addition, Kaldas was able to nab another 5 Bottles of Solomon for himself over a period of a couple days.

With that, they returned to the mortal world near Homs, laden with ludicrous amounts of gold bricks nabbed from the roads of the City of Brass.

The exploits of Kaldas in the City of Brass earned him a few unusual reputations. Based on a later discussion with his master Hyperiax, Kaldas discovered a terrible secret: Not all of the Unholy Consult's secrets are infernal in nature. Many of them are in fact, natural, advanced discoveries in Hermetic Theory, all the better to reel in naive wizards into their Infernal powers steeped with Death.

Wielder of the Sword of Woe 1 / Unholy Consult
Fearsome Wizard 1 / City of Brass
Powerful Foreign Summoner 1 / Summoners of Solomon

Homs V

Velkonia, Aubert's wife, appreciated the gift of a magical brooch which styled and cleaned her very long, high maintenance hair with simple commands, saving time for her.

In Kaldas’s sanctum where he deposited much of his fat loot
 A rotten smell greeted him. His water elemental showed him a “present” in the form of Hero ex Tremere's drowned and bloated dead body hidden in the barrel of water.

Not only that when Kaldas went to summon her ghost
 It did not appear, instead the rictus of a deathly cackle from the corpse telling him, "No, I don't think so."

Thus required immediate action with the other Hermetic Wizards. Kaldas announced Hero ex Tremere's death at his hands, "from a trap I left in my sanctum for intruders."

The various magi present understood, and their esteem rose. (+1 XP to his Hermetic reputation.)

While Kaldas he suspected she was a diabolist or necromancer of some sort, he couldn’t admit to being a summoner. (And has maintained that secret so far.) Instead, he made the mostly baseless claim that he was owed damages by her violation of his sanctum, and therefore could inspect and seize her property.

Curiously, after some quick checking, her servants and guards (a dour and tight lipped bunch) had absconded with much of Hero's supplies. While finding the Mask of Kukras, Kaldas found a bound and caged human headed owl in Hero’s sanctum - which Kaldas kept the caged demon shrouded in his own sanctum for a larger reveal with all hermetic wizard’s present.

At this point the player and I had some discussions on what would happen next. I had a list of 10 adventure ideas for Wintering over at Homs until the weather cleared. The player mostly wanted to focus on the military campaign itself and not get bogged down in side quests. So, we completed several adventures using the Solo Play rules in a single session, then focused on a couple items to RP out in person.

The next write up will focus, however, on Arqa, which we RPed out
 rather explosively.

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Really enjoying this. I appreciate how you're exploring the interrelations within the crusading forces, as well as the multifaceted nature of the sahir community.

Historians of the crusades have been increasingly seeking to emphasise the many agendas and ideologies that characterised the various groups involved in the events of the crusades, moving away from a "crusaders vs. Muslims" binary, and what you're doing really matches that well.

Book recommendation: The City of Brass and its sequels by S.A. Chakraborty.

:slight_smile:

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Great to hear. I sort of exploded my player's mind when he realized Sahirs could be members of the Unholy Consult, having thought of them purely in terms of the Order of Hermes.

And yes, I have tried to play up the various personalities and agendas of all the factions. One area I'm weak on understanding is how the crusaders interacted with and took orders (or didn’t) from the various papal Legates and vs local Bishops involved in the Pilgrimage. Nor do I have a clear idea of what the Pope/Catholic church expected to happen.

On an alternate history forum someone suggested that the Pope wanted Jerusalem to become an independent Holy City of some sort. But, I have little idea of the veracity of that assertion.

The novel City of Brass looks fascinating and I have ordered a copy from my local library. In case you haven't read it, Bartamaeus is from a trilogy named after him.

As far as I know, this is only accurate for powers that aren't magical in nature.

What did you make up?

As far as I know, this is only accurate for powers that aren't magical in nature.

My read was for spell botches you include add the value of the aura to the number of botch dice.

What did you make up?

Oh, I see that something gotten eaten by google docs between going from my phone to PC. It's a ninja-anime kinda power that lets him move in the same round and still make a melee attack bypassing defense unless the opponent passes an awareness check. Really useful for oneshotting his opponents. :wink:

I would never allow this in a group game, as it's overpowering, but in a single player game, the balance is whatever we want it to be.

Found under Realm Interaction p.183: "Auras also affect the number of botch rolls for an attempted supernatural act in a foreign realm." Emphasis mine. Incidentally, this means faerie auras are safe for Merinitas, just as Divine and Infernal Auras can be safe with the right virtue. :slight_smile:

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Huh, so it is. It's a house rule I'm using then, that magic auras also add to botch dice.

Heh. Depends on the crusader, the legate and the pope. Some legates were very influential (as seen in the so-called Fifth Crusade when - according to some - the legate turned down the offer of Jerusalem from the sultan because he didn't accept the idea of negotiations with infidels), while others were just there for symbolic value. In the Kingdom of Jerusalem and the other Latin states, once they were established, the nobility very much called the shots, with the clergy usually being under their control.

Likewise, the popes didn't usually have very specific plans for the crusades apart from "take or keep Jerusalem and the Holy Land for Christianity, and defend Christians from the Muslims." Independence wasn't an option for the city, though, as cities were expected to be ruled by their bishops and nobles. Some popes were involved in the planning stages, but the practical decisions about the achievement of crusading goals were left to the nobility, mostly, since they were the experts, though they were expected to obey the clergy's commands too. As you undoubtedly know, the question of whether the nobles or the religious class were in charge in society was an ongoing issue in most places where the church existed in the middle ages. That was also an issue in the Muslim world, too.

So you have a pretty free hand there, depending on how you want the story to unfold.

Thank you for this. Stroud, right? I've had this on my book pile for a while, along with far too many other things...

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@niallchristie thank you for the info about the Popes and the Crusades. I'll have to mull it over and see what kind of research I can turn up.

And yes, Stroud is the author. Highly entertaining when I read them about 15 years ago!

A couple of other thoughts sprang to mind, though they're maybe not directly related to this saga:

The crusades were arguably more important to the popes for their impact on Europe, rather than their impact on the Muslim world. Successfully launching a crusade was one way for the pope to assert his legitimacy and get recognition of his authority. Even Urban II, when he launched the First Crusade, had one eye on the European impact, as he was involved in a dispute over who was the rightful pope at the time, and launching the crusade was one way for him to prove that he was the real pope and assert his influence in Europe.

It's also striking that by the 13th century we see a diversification (and in the eyes of some, delegitimization) of the crusading effort, as crusades were launched not only against heretics (especially in southern France) but also against political enemies of the popes. The 12th century had also seen a diversification of the theatres of crusading war, to include Iberia, eastern Europe, and other places. So while the general aim of the Middle Eastern crusades remained relatively uniform, I should probably qualify what I said previously with the fact that the goals and targets of crusading activities quickly became very varied. :slight_smile:

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Arqa I

Aubert and the other Crusader Princes from Homs soon made contact with the coastal arm of the Holy Pilgrimage. The other crusaders had a mostly historical experience:

The coastal Holy Pilgrimage led by Raymond conquered Latakia in September 1097 with the help of Anglo-Saxon mercenaries from Crimea in the service of Alexios. Raymond took the tribute from the town of Baniyas, and bypassed the nearby Fortress of Marqab. The siege of Tortosa was successful in short order. A brief siege of Jabala lasted for a couple weeks, abandoned when a (non historical) large storm erupted, sinking the Anglo-Saxon ships blockading the port in the aid of the siege. Worse, when moving on, a flash flood from the storm carried many supplies. (Also non-historical.) Finally, Jabala paid a tribute to make them go away, while Maraclea surrendered under terms. Then Raymond’s lieutenants convinced him to lay siege to Arqa. (Historical)

By the time Aubert came in December, the coastal Holy Pilgrimage had been there for two months and gotten nowhere. (Also somewhat historical.) A host of calamities afflicted them, drought, snakes, rats, diseases, extreme cold, and a beginning desertion problem due to lack of food. The resupply fleets from the Alexios were mauled by Arab Corsairs, causing resupply issues. (Former somewhat historical, the last point non historical.)

The arrival of the inland Pilgrimage's leaders and their men was a happy sight to the siege of Arqa. Raymond and Bohemond pretended they didn't hate each other, congratulating their successes so far.

The Red Star cast a long shadow, with the coastal Crusaders believing it to be an ill omen and a sign they had lost God’s Favor. Peter Bartholomew, a dissenting voice, claimed a vision from the 3 Wise Men who found Jesus, that this was a special star to guide them to Jerusalem. Meanwhile, the inland crusaders have Peter the Hermit claiming it is a sign of the coming apocalypse and the return of Jesus doing battle with the devil. The multitude of opinions is causing mild (so far) factionalism on what to believe.

Meanwhile, the full council of Princes had a long discussion on what to do next:

Godfrey and Hugh argued that they should unite and proceed via the coast, for strength in numbers would protect them better. Aubert heavily argued against that, saying the goal was not just Jerusalem, but keeping the Holy City in Christian hands after the fact. That without taking Damascus, Jerusalem would be forever in danger from the Muslim led armies from it.

Raymond argued for conquering more cities such as Tripoli, Byblos, and Beirut. Tancred argued against that, saying garrisoning them would take too many men away from the Crusade. This led to (justified) recriminations of hypocrisy because Bohemond and Tancred had left men behind to garrison Aleppo, Kafartab, Apamea, M'arra, Shayzar, Hama, and Homs.

Another complication was the natural result of the supernatural. The coastal crusaders were horrified to hear of armies of Jinn assisting Saracen armies, not to mention the Saracen Summoners. Raymond and Hugh demanded that Bohemond share "his Wizards" and Aubert share "his Giants." Stephen of Blois was horrified by the suggestion of using magic at all, saying it would pollute the Holy Crusade.

Raymond argued they should join together to take Arqa and Tripoli, and then separate again. Papal legate Adhemer of Puy, argued against that. A significant amount of divisiveness afflicted the council. Aubert’s player had to make numerous Folk Ken, Guile, Intrigue, and Leadership rolls to try and make sense of it all.

This led to private discussions with Raymond and Aubert after the fact in Raymond’s tent, with most of his servants expelled and standing watch outside. Due to Silent and Still magic, Aubert unnoticeably cast a silencing spell on the tent so their words would not leave it.

Raymond begged Aubert to come with his “Nation” and help take Arqa. The coastal pilgrimage had built the necessary siege equipment, but the poor morale and afflictions the army was facing meant Raymond was hesitant to deploy the siege towers and lose them. At Nikea and Antioch Aubert built a strong reputation as a siege breaker, and his successes at Aleppo and Homs meant the arrival of his forces would be a huge boost to take Arqa. The same equipment could be used to take Tripoli, and Aubert agreed to help at a later date, and convinced Raymond to bring it for Jerusalem.

Aubert haggled, demanding Raymond’s future help to take Byblos at a later date. Not only that, but Raymond would politically support Aubert in maintaining the split of the Crusade, and Aubert’s ambitions to be Prince of Damascus. A nearly unspoken promise was that Kaldas would get wizards to fight for Raymond and assist in taking Arqa.

The deal was struck, Aubert would soon depart and bring much of his nation to break the Siege of Arqa. The weather on the coast was still rather miserable, and no one wanted to fight over Tripoli in such a cold winter. Raymond would pay a substantial bribe to Aubert for his help.

Naturally Kaldas also brought the Wizards, as an ad hoc meeting seemed in order.

Once Aubert brought his nation to Arqa, the siege was over in a day. Using his many magical tricks, Kaldas and the Flambeau ensured victory. However, they were not able to convince the Briseis led Tytali to fight.

The results in the Crusader were a rough sack of the city of Arqa in jubilation and glee. Kaldas was able to control his own men to merely loot but not commit more atrocities, but the other coastal Crusade leaders (Raymond, Stephen, Hugh, Godfrey) didn’t bother.

Aubert's fame grew even more, getting the moniker of “Aubert the Siege-breaker” (or Gate Crasher, Wall Crusher, etc) and his reputation increasing to a score of 4 with the Holy Pilgrimage.

Afterwards, there was a rather tense meeting for the Hermetics. Kaldas noted with his Second Sight the presence not only of owls with human heads, but an overly high concentration of regular demons as well. Bringing the Sword of Woe on purpose, Kaldas wanted to see who paid attention to it (on the advice from his master Hyperiax) as those would be likely members of the Unholy Consult.

Two Tytali in particular couldn’t keep their eyes off it - Maeve, a middle aged Maga and her graduated apprentice, Christios pretend to not notice but totally notice.

The meeting started with the surviving Flambeau accuse all 13 Tytali including 5 Archmagi, (Briseis, Mala, Ragan, Milka and Kenrick) of being completely useless cowards. The Tytali, taking umbrage, essentially argued the importance of their schemes to the very survival of the Entire Order of Hermes.

Kaldas, the Russian Tytali, and the Flambeau were less than impressed. Deciding to change the subject of discussion, Kaldas announced he had slain Hero ex Tremere for violating his sanctum.

This caused a pause, and Kaldas explained she set off an Aquam based trap. Some questions came from the Tytalus about Kaldas's proof, which is that she was found dead and drowned in his sanctum.

At this point, one of the minor demons Kaldas saw with his Second Sight a small prancing and dancing obscenely around, it bumped to Archmaga Milka ex Tytalus's outstretched hand –

AND MYSTICALLY VACUUMED IN THROUGH HER HAND INTO Milka ex Tytalus!

Who abruptly burped, by the way.

Kaldas did not hesitate and using his "blip" combat casting Spell Mastery of Wizard's Leap and cleaved her in half horizontally through her stomach in an epic spray of human viscera, splattering many of the wizard’s present.

The entire impromptu Tribunal stared at Kaldas, wielding the strange and sparkling Sword of Woe, and then at the Archmaga Milka’s cloven corpse


Which in an abominable mockery of birth, each half gave birth to half of the demon Kaldas saw her absorb.

Kaldas mentioned he ex post facto had discovered Hero ex Tremere of being a diabolist, and dramatically revealed her human headed owl demon familiar!

Suffice to say, pandemonium ensued and everyone started casting spells!

Later, when Kaldas woke he was tied to a large cross, in his under clothes, with his feet and hands bound. (No, a fire was not lit underneath him, but he got the sense some may have argued for that.)

4 of the Briseis led Tytalus were dead,. Reagan (one of the Archmagi, 121), Maeve (74, Christian (24), and Bruno (59). Many of the apprentices were slain. Many had injuries before things had calmed down. Of the 33 magi who started the journey, now only 23 survived, with many of the rest claiming injuries and two brief spells of Wizard's Twilight before things were calmed down by Ă†ĂŸelbeorht.

Surviving are: 13 Tytalus (3 Archmagi - Briseis, Kenrick, and Mahlah), 7 Flambeau (1 Archmage - Caiside ), 2 Jerbiton (1 Archmage - Ă†ĂŸelbeorht), 1 Criamon, and about 10 apprentices.

Kaldas faced several questions while being under the effects of Frosty Breath of the Spoken Lie. Briseis, the senior Archmaga led the questions, with Ă†ĂŸelbeorht acting as Kaldas’s legal advocate in the very ad hoc Wizard’s Council, (*note: see The Wizard’s Grimoire from 4th edition).

The questions focused on why he did it, how he knew Milka was a Diabolist, which revealed his Second Sight. Kaldas largely exonerated himself until the line of questioning came to more
 Speculative questions such as if Kaldas was a Summoner. This was a dangerous line of questioning and could reveal Kaldas’s various dark secrets such as being of House Seswatha or being “Aubert”.

Making an excellent Guile roll, Kaldas changed the subject. That the Summoners of Solomon did not have a blanket ban on dealing with the Infernal. And how they commonly acted as advisors to the Emirs in the middle east. (A convincing Charm, Intrigue and Guile roll later, along with some good RPing from the player) Kaldas spun the words of the young Sahir Arkhaman as hard as he could.

Kaldas won unanimous approval from the surviving Magi
 The ad hoc Wizard’s Council agreed that they were declaring War on the Summoners of Solomon until they rescinded their policy of consorting with demons and acting as court wizards, thereby possibly allowing Infernalists to corrupt the ruling class of the Levant. (Not that anyone bothered to think of telling the Summoners of Solomon any of this.)

The ad hoc Council also agreed; that in facing such a unique enemy the Code of Hermes was never designed for
 They could not sit idly by and let the Crusaders do all the fighting, that in fact they would be much more active and overt in helping the Crusade! That now since "all" of the Diabolists had been slain, a young Tytalus Maga, Aeliana, was elected to travel back to the Thebes Tribunal and send a message to the rest of the Order. It will be the last time anyone sees the young maga ever again. She never does make it back to Constantinople.

That evening after Kaldas slept, he dreamt of watching Briseis cast the first spell, with a human headed Owl on her shoulder...

Notes:

  1. On the aims of Urban II, I recently read a paper “Urban's Crusade--Success or Failure, A. C. Krey, 1948” where the author contends the major goal of the First Crusade was to reunify the Greek and Latin Churches under the Bishopric of Rome. This is probably mentioned in other books I’ve read, but it’s a large and vague goal, so not what I picked up on in the past. In fact, some of the sources say Urban II was quite surprised by the response, so it’s not clear to me he had any clear goal for Jerusalem at all. Perhaps rejoin it to the Byzantine Empire?
  2. So the Viscount of Avranches was a title I made up after looking at the map in the Normandy Tribunal book. Recently I looked it up
 It turns out there really was such a man. Richard Goz, who was awarded the Earldom of Chester for helping William the Conqueror. Not only that, his son Hugh d’Avranches was known for having many bastards, and had a young heir (Richard) born in 1094 from a recent marriage. All things that my player and I decided entirely independently on our own, which are corroborated by history. Wild.
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Some historians have suggested that Alexios Komnenos had offered to reunite the Greek Orthodox Church with the Catholic Church, but that remains debated. In terms of Urban's goals for Jerusalem, we really don't know, partially because all the various sources disagree with one another about what he said. Thus you have a pretty free hand to decide what was intended.

In any case, it's pretty clear that what actually happened was rather more than what was originally intended... :slight_smile:

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This is great and a very useful link to actually read all five different versions of the speech, thank you! The frustrating part to me is clearly that beyond the speech, there are no other surviving documents clearly indicating what his plans were. I've read some other analysis of the types of legal contracts were signed by nobles with churches and monasteries ahead of them leaving the crusade... The findings were essentially that "yes, they really were planning on making it to Jerusalem." But not much beyond that.

However it's useful to know that overall that as a StoryGuide I have a relatively free hand. One of the bigger ripple effects is simply the faster pace of the timeline - if the PC can help capture Jerusalem before August 1098, Adhemer Le Puy will still be alive... And he was a big ally of Raymond. Another will be that Robert of Normandy returning a year earlier means a much bigger chance of becoming King of England. Among many other minor ripples! :grin:

Homs VI

So it was at this point that the player and I used the Solo rules to quickly adjudicate what happened for the rest of the winter, without running a dozen sessions and doing them all in one. (The player rolled and was unfortunately bored by the end of it, but at least we bypassed many further adventures he didn't want to do... While also being at least somewhat realistic about the difficulties of wintering in a foreign city with a massive Pilgrimage.)

Several issues arose that need regular attention:

  1. Maintaining supply networks for the Holy Pilgrimage. While the coastal crusaders could be supplied by sea, those in Homs had to make deals with local merchants and peasants to maintain supplies.

  2. With lots of supplies going into Homs, and being paid well in gold, came bandits, and raiders. Aubert worked with the other leaders to set up regular patrols to kill and ward off such bandits, along with making deals with Merchants and guarding their caravans. As a sidenote, almost all of the gold Kaldas brought from the City of Brass was spent just to purchase food for the Pilgrimage over the winter. (+1 Crusader reputation for generosity.)

  3. The local surviving Emirs had soldiers also tried to raid the Crusade. Aubert assisted diplomatic missions with his fluent Arabic to make at least mutually beneficial temporary truces. This helped develop his reputation with Syrian Nobles as Honorable. (+1 to Syrian Noble reputation.)

  4. With the extreme cold, waiting around causing boredom, bandits and illness, the issues of deserters arose. Aubert worked hard to capture them and bring them back. He then had to make arrangements with the clergy to have the deserters do a public penance, while also humiliating them so badly no one else wanted to desert.

  5. The Red Star. Aubert declined to investigate it further.

  6. Aleppo: Aubert and "Kaldas" supported Bohemond's trips back to Aleppo. Kaldas made more deals with the Flambeau who remained. He also searched out, killed and strung up bandits harassing the city. (+1 Crusader rep, +1 Hermetic rep)

  7. Boosting Morale of the Holy Pilgrimage throughout the cold winter. This meant arranging more spelled hotrocks from the Flambeau, but also making arrangements with clergy in the crusade to lead prayer processions, as well as arranging Holy Day celebrations.

  8. Dueling from a distance with the Sahirs willing to attack the Pilgrimage. Using auguries, proxies and Jinn, the Sahirs caused great difficulty for the Crusaders until Aubert rooted them out more directly. The player had a critical success in one of his rolls, and made the discovery that Sahirs can foretell the future with high accuracy


But, and a big BUT, that casting lots of spells and a high use of magic messes up these same auguries. And a name of the Sahir organizing the opposition, Koltara, a survivor of the river battle north of Homs where the Sahirs suffered heavy losses. (+1 Hermetic Rep, +1 Sahir Rep)

  1. A scouting expedition along the planned route to Baalbek and options where to go afterward to Damascus. Aubert made deals with villagers and tribesmen in the north of Baalbek, and flying as an Eagle bypassed many of the standard difficulties faced.

  2. Rooting out spies from nearby Emirs and Turks - Aubert used Bartamaeus and his other Jinn to help identify such people to great effect. He arranged public execution of them to discourage spying and to sow poor morale among the Crusade's enemies.

  3. Aubert declined to raid nearby towns and villages for supplies.

  4. Attacking nearby Emirs and taking their castles - Aubert declined.

  5. There was a series of large mystical meteor shoes, Kaldas declined to investigate.

  6. Uncovering local legends, lost or currently known about ruins and investigating to discover magical treasure - Kaldas declined.

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Arqa II

Spurred by the lightning fast crusader conquests in September, the Fatamid embassy arrived in early January. Mudrik Al-Hussein*, a middle aged Armenian man of particularly calm temperament, introduced Abu al-Qasim Shahanshah bin Badr al-Jamali, or as the Fatamid Vizier prefers "al-Malik al-Afdal."

(Note*: Historical sources do not name the ambassadors, so I made it up.)

The ambassadors visited and negotiated at length with the leaders of the Holy Pilgrimage. With Aubert speaking fluent Arabic (5) he was fairly involved in the negotiations. The idea of allying with each other against the Seljuk Turks went well, and the ambassadors made noises about making a transit agreement through Fatamid territory on their Pilgrimage to Jerusalem. The diplomats did not quite catch due to cultural differences that Jerusalem was the target for invasion. However, given the size of the force and their rapid conquests of Antioch, Aleppo, M’arra, Shayzar, Hama, and Homs, with the recent siege of Arqa, and other smaller towns submitting (Tortosa, Apamaea, Kafartab) - did not want to see Fatamid held coastal cities taken.

Unfortunately for the pilgrimage, Al-Hussein was particularly concerned about the massacre of Shayzar, to which Aubert went to great lengths to convince him otherwise, netting a critical success (24 charm roll). Al-Hussein admitted he believed Aubert’s story, that the crusaders truly did not massacre the Muslims of Shayzar, but the poor treatment of their bodies afterward (thrown off the side of the citadel) solidified in popular Muslim opinion that the crusaders did it. Not only that, but Al-Hussein did not believe he could convince Al-Afdal otherwise.

Mechanically, Al-Hussein botched his Guile roll, and Aubert made a solid Folk Ken roll. Aubert discerned that war was coming with the Fatimids sooner than later, and the agreement made was a delaying action until an Egyptian army could be deployed in a few month's time to attack (and destroy) the crusader army.

Aubert did his best to convince the rest of the crusader Princes of the Fatimid's true intentions, but most did not believe him. While Aubert had done well as a seige breaker, his youth and inexperience worked against him. Instead, Al-Hussein's cunning words of peace were easier to believe. And while they appreciated Aubert's caution, they still saw him as a significant junior versus their long-term experience. (Note: Aubert’s intrigue failed by a wide margin to Al-Hussein’s.)

The Fatamid diplomats left laden with gifts, which Al Afdal would ultimately burn in a symbolic act to galvanize his army to slay the foreign interlopers. Meanwhile, Aubert became more and more aware of the extreme time limit the Crusade had.

Baalbek I

Finally in early February the weather cleared up enough that Bohemond, Tancred, and the two Roberts were ready to march on Baalbek.

Aubert had many strange and terrible dreams throughout the winter.

In one, Aubert saw through Seswatha's eyes as he marched through the deep desert. Seswatha held the Heron Spear, followed by several companions, magi of his house. In the distance they approached a massive and rusty decayed metal cylindrical object sticking out of the ground. (Note to the reader, we would recognize it as a space ship.) The sand in the distance shifted, and that's when Kaldas realized it wasn't sand.

Sranc, millions of Sranc.

Creatures that came with the No-God and His arrival to This World, from the Beyond the Lunar Sphere.

Seswatha's companions began casting spells, while Seswatha himself prepared the Heron Spear


Only to end there.

The march to Baalbek was beset by constant issues. Wagon axles broke, pack animals fell lame, miserable rain during the day followed by chilly winds at night. Guards fell ill and bandits attacked them.

Kaldas had to work with his Bound Jinn, and also use his Bottles of Solomon to control the powerful ifrits and Jinn they summoned. (All commands had to pass a Communication + Arabic roll vs 15 to get the desired result.)

Shortly thereafter, Kaldas with his Second Sight and using the Jinn found the Holy Pilgrimage beset by a multitude of minor infernal Jinn and had to discreetly drive them off and kill them. Asking the Hermetic Wizards for help, they did their best to patrol and watch out for nefarious Jinn. Then it rained, and the stone road turned to mud in a clearly magical feat. The Wizards could detect nonhermetic magic at play, but had trouble countering it in any meaningful way, as they soon realized the rain itself was magical and would undo any counterspells to stiffen the road.

Kaldas had to use his new Air Ifrit to counter the weather, as the two Flambeau couldn't easily counterspell a non Hermetic ritual effect. Then, he used a new Earth Ifrit to spell the former road to stiffen the mud into packed dirt so the pilgrimage could make headway.

This largely worked, but instead of taking a few days to Baalbek it took well over a week.

Then when Holy Pilgrimage arrived, they found out that the field around Baalbek littered with thousands of camouflaged pit traps of varying degrees of lethality. After several deaths the Holy Pilgrimage ground to a halt, refusing to leave the safety of the road.

Again, Kaldas had to use his Bottled Ifrit creatively. The air ifrit created a large storm to rain down on the area, while the earth ifrit filled in all of the holes. During this, Kaldas ordered other Jinn to scout around for more trouble.

Soon, when news came back, Aubert had to spend an exhausting night hunting bandits and Bedouin hiding in the area ready to take advantage of the Holy Pilgrimage spread so thinly along miles of road.

A day later, the armies were finally invested around Baalbek, blockading the small city. Aubert brought out a pre-built battering ram, dragged and hauled all the way from Homs. (Ă†ĂŸelbeorht used magic to subtly help move it in one piece.)

In an agreement with Bohemond, Tancred and the Two Roberts, since Aubert would get this city, they would make a plan but let Aubert take the lead with his forces first.

After some scouting himself as am Eagle, Kaldas felt the city would not be hard to take. The number of Sahirs were few, and while they had several ifrits, Kaldas had powerful wizards who could kill them. Since Aubert wanted to take Baalbek whole, he declined to ask the Wizards to go in and neutralize the Sahirs.

In a helpful sign, the local Eunich Emir of Baalbek, Fakhr al-Dawla GĂŒmĂŒshtegin al-TājÄ« rode out with a large party of men under a white flag. He said against the advice of his viziers, he wished to negotiate a surrender.

Aubert and him began to talk

And Al-Tājī's head exploded - NSFW Link!.

Then the Emir's bodyguard, followed by one of Aubert’s men, until they all had the good sense to run and get the fuck out of there. Each side blamed the other for breaking the truce.

Aubert later explained to the Crusader Princes that both sides had heads exploded
 And that he felt the Devil was trying to stop them from succeeding. Surprisingly to Aubert, they believed him.

The attack started with the trusty old battering ram, built, deconstructed and rebuilt since Antioch. The defenders poured a powerful purple fire like nothing seen before that bypassed the vinegar and urine soaked hides protecting it. Special anti ladder magics were deployed to cause the ladders to disintegrate.

After ordered a retreat, Kaldas asked the Flambeau for help for a counter spell to the Greek fire when they attacked again the next day on both the southern and northern gates

It worked.

But.

On that so very cloudy day, the ground turned into quicksand, half swallowing the battering ram, and again the ladders were pushed back. Aubert didn't let that stop him, using his Hammer and a mighty shout to smash the North gate open. (While passing a diff 21 to concentrate and cast a Perdo Herbam vis enhanced spell.)

All hell broke loose. Just about literally
 the sky began to Rain Fire :fire: outside of all Baalbek.

Powerful Ifrits, far more than Kaldas thought possible emerged and began casting powerful area attacks, vaporizing hundreds instantly.

While Aubert had Parma Magica, most did not. He looked around in despair, then heard it - the Lord's Prayer. Tens of thousands praying all at once, Aubert fell to his knees and joined in as the fighting stopped.

The clouds parted and the light of Heaven shone down. The rain of fire stopped, and the Ifrits recoiled from the level 10 Divine Aura. The Flambeau used this moment to snipe the Sahirs controlling the Ifrits, who fled.

The recently dead (humans and animals) came back to life, entirely uninjured. Aubert had taken many wounds by this point and found himself healed.

(Note: I explained to the player that miracles like this are the primary reason the Order of Hermes has not taken control of Mythic Europe. When Wizards interfere too hard, God gets involved. Not only that, the Holy Pilgrimage had Holy men capable of miracles.)

In the aftermath, the Emir of Baalbek's son, Ibrahim, negotiated a surrender with Aubert. In return for some supplies, (the miracle did not unburn their burnt supplies), and letting the defenders leave alive but unarmed.

This final choice did not go over well with Bohemond and the two Roberts, who argued Aubert should have had the defenders killed. However, since Aubert was taking the city, he had the final call. Not only that, Aubert's player wanted to cultivate a positive reputation for (1) honoring deals and (2) mercy for cities that surrendered to him.

Despite the supplies of Baalbek, the Holy Pilgrimage was about to starve on their march to Damascus.

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