The army assembled...
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The passing week throughout the city as recruiters seek volunteers, and less fortunate are press-ganged into service. Those who can buy a pass from the army can, others find themselves whisked from their drunken stupor in streets into army camps outside the city, where raised palisades prevent the escape but of the most brave and clever. Many people complain of the tyrannical measures taken by the king to fill his ranks, and the shoddy equipment- bar the equipment donated by Tanya Vorrune - which finds its ways into the hands of a few veteran soldiers and officers- indicates the King is more concerned with numbers than quality.
When quality is spoken of, the King's Ghosts and Royal Guard- the former, long companions whose expertise in wilderness and guerilla tactics was hardened over long decades in the woods, and the latter veteran mercenaries turned royalist bodyguard of House Vaylan. Together, they make up the loyal elites of the army, meant to spear head a thrust- or, if rumors are to believed, mop up the remnants of a battlefield, and be preserved to fight the real fight at the end.
House Iverlesk, represented by Adrian Iverlesk in the city, seems to be proudly strutting its stuff, of the minor houses of the realm, they emptied their coffer in support of their son, his father taking a shine to the ambitious wizard whose efforts have given them the patronage of one of the Realm's Three Great Houses, Mossmere. With their support, it's rumored the Iverlesk heir himself is leading the paltry handful of House Knights, newly equipped with runic and magical equipment to win glory for the House. It's rumored the King wishes to grant the House new lands in the Eastern Marches should a certain plan come to pass....
Gallica, however, is nowhere to be seen, turning a cold shoulder to their wayward daughter as she serves Cormaeril and abandons her dreams of cementing their house in the Capital. Gallica has ignored the call to Banners, her father, as it was rumored to say, "Let the bitch die and be buried in Cormaeril lands, if she is so keen to defy her father," the cold shoulder is noted by the Crown, and a number of rulings have been handed down by the Palace that have curbed Gallica holdings and profits- the once middling family on the rise becoming little more than wealthy peasants themselves, forced to sell off holdings and trinkets to maintain themselves.
Cormaeril, however, underneath the leadership of their Son in the North has taken notice, and a flow of banners comes from Cormyr, the main house, to support the foreign king in which their son serves in this War against Misrim. Cataclysm has been claimed and it would appear that the new Heir-Apparent has been chosen by the Current Lord, even if undeclared as such. How the house will handle the landholdings in both the young Kingdom of Arabel and Cormyr is anyone's guess- noble families serving two masters have never ended with heroic footnotes, but Cormaeril seems bold enough to try, and underneath Cataclysm, the House cements itself around the rallying cry of his person. Warmly regarded by both Monarchs, rumor begins to spread that ancestral Cormaeril holdings in Crown territories may be bequeathed after the war.
The Obsidian Skulls have also taken into their care the wife and heir of Obyn Misrim- 'rescuing them' from Tilverton at the start of the declarations. Rumor and opinion is split that they are raising the heir to have legitimacy over the North of the Kingdom, installing a puppet Duke to control as they spread their Zhentarim ties throughout the nation, or a hostage to keep Obyn from unleashing truly terrible means to fight off the King, for a pyrrhic victory may well cost him his son and wife. Further, unsettling rumors spread by the Transcendence's Herald, Phillipe have cast their loyalties into doubt as a number of their mercenaries hold faith in the Black Chalice- a rogue reformation of Siamorphe's already disparate faith- as heretical, untrustworthy, and spies. A notion the Crownguard Asher Swiftfoot took to heart as he placed the accusation of treason on Skull Domink. The two, seeming allies, have caused great disruption in the Obsidian Skulls operations, once eager mercenaries becoming reluctant, embittered, and aggrieved soldiers.
War brings chaos, and the gods have already cast the dice of change upon the Kingdom.
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The war drags on with deaths mounting on both sides. Every victory seems pyrrich. Recruitment for the war remains strong and the will of the Duke to the north seems firm.
Has Tempus deemed neither side deserving of a victory?
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In the early dawn a number of riders, garbed in the armour of the royal guard, bloodied and exhausted, are seen heading towards the palace. In their haste they nearly trample a few early risers under foot.
Some time later rumors of the war begin to spread.
"The king is dead......no that was the duke...he was killed by the king"
"The king is dead....killed by Myrkyr...no the druids and spirit lady came to whisk the king to safety"
"Tempus be thanked, the battle ended in victory... bloodbath don't you mean. Always the small folk paying for the great victories ain't it"
"Did you see the Skulls? Who where they fighting for?"
"Sir Mordecai is dead, killed by Dame Saga"
"Dame Saga was seen killing a number of her own troops to protect the traitors in Tilverton"....and many more as people wait for official word from the palace. By late afternoon the entire city and beyond anxiously waits...
