Warriors of the Empire of the Sun: Session IX

This was a session showcasing the Mass Combat Mini-game from Races of War. It is also the last session for the player of X37, which means the next session may be postponed, depending on scheduling for Tow's player and my ability to find a replacement player. 

Also, out of apathy for the game caused by the prospect of thinking of a new character, Cast decided to keep his character and we had a slight retcon of him taking a celestial hippogriff and arriving two days later. The hippogriff was already established last session, as the Empress had attacked an invading force on the capital, and in her fury a celestial hippogriff got sorta stuck on the Prime; this being the same fight that got Chantico's arm destroyed. Also, he finally got a magic weapon and switched out his sun plate for an adamantine carapace. 

Reconnaisance from Tow revealed that the orcish horde had been calling in the minor camps and consolidating for a larger attack. His attempt at clairvoyance revealed a giant salt crystal wielded by the war chief named The Knight of the Dunes (orc ghoul that looks desert mummified), and his sensor was spotted. 

The party decided to piss off the war chief of the orcish horde into attacking them, so they could intervene before reinforcements from the Wastelands could make the army any larger. They met on the open battlefield, with intermittent squares of light forest. 

Enemy Forces 

20 Orcs: Move 2, HP 3, Damage 3, Morale 1

5 Orc Elite (Warrior 2, Elite array): Move 2, HP 6, Damage 5, Ranged, Morale 1

1 Dustblight Cavalry (Ashworm mounts): Move 2, HP 14, Damage 8, Burrow (open terrain allows +1 Fortification), Morale 7

Player Forces 

12 Human Conscripts: Move 2, HP 1, Damage 1, Morale 0

2 Human Archers: Move 2, HP 2, Damage 2, Ranged, Morale 1

2 Human Pikemen: Move 2, HP 3, Damage 2, Morale 1

1 Undead Archers (X37's): Move 2, HP 6, Damage 5, Morale 2

Notes 
Marshal's warshout (+3 morale atk & damage): +3 unit damage to all units 
Marshal's other buffs: +1 unit damage to personally lead unit 
Marshal's healing aura: heals 2 unit HP at end of round (if they survive, fully healed) 
Tow's Invisibility Sphere: one-use 'first strike' given to unit, cannot be reapplied unless they are not attacked for a turn and move at half speed 
Tow's Major Image: Deals 3 HP to a unit, ignores terrain, only usable once per unit (concentration, so he just smacked a new unit each turn) 

Through judicious use of Set when in the light forest squares, Cast's whirlwind attack on a hippogriff dealing 1 damage to up to four orc units (DR 9 ~ unit DR 2 = 10 damage per orc unit entered, went into Marshal's unit for the healing aura afterwards), Tow's magic, they managed to route the orcish horde. 

They took out all but six orc units, at the expense of 11 conscripts & 1 pikemen. The warchief, who was the leader/commander of the dustblight cavalry, managed to personally escape; which greatly vexed the party. They began to torture the captured orcs, have Tow ransack his tent (teleporting once the camp noticed), and then have him go to the Green Oracle and fork over what money they had to the diviners. All this to find out where he was so they could gank him. 

At this point, I figured I might as well make him more important to the story and changed a few names and moved the timetable ahead. He fled towards a massive underground lake that is the heart of all the wells in the kingdom bordering the wastelands, and he is planning something that threatens the entire Empire of the Sun. 

They move as fast as they can, which takes half a day; except for Tow, who finds the local Elementalist that is the caretaker for the lake and is told the directions through the underground system to get to the area. He even allows Tow to cast misdirection with him as a source, so he will register as the Elementalist to all of the wards. 

Stopped the session on a 'to be continued', but I had everyone ding to level 7.