Goeting rushes forward (as much as his Heavy Armor lets him) and throws his sword at Junatan's back.
He's a little too far away and doesn't manage to give the sword the extra range it needs, so the throw falls short.
Goeting then turns to Xalen. Though not a mage, as grand master of the Crimson Order he knows a couple of tricks. He channels dark magic, and the blood flow subsides.
The black swordsmen go to help Belen. One can't reach combat, the other fails to kill.
Green Dragon Knights - bertinator
The holy water reaches the cactus, animating it.
The knights drop their weapons and pick up the fallen palm tree. Combining their Power, they turn it into a makeshift bludgeon and smack Junatan with it, the Momentum of the strike sending him flying.
... into the path of the charging cactus. For the purpose of this I treated the cactus as a Heavy Weapon, and the Charge barely overcomes Junatan's armour. The mage is impaled on the spikes.
Xalen, stabilized by Goeting's Heroic Feat, witnesses the mages' end.
Green Dragon Knight: "The land itself rejects you, Junatan!"
Not enjoying being bled on, the cactus throws Junatan off into the sand, where the mage utters a final gasp:
"Fools... The High Elves will destroy you... Cales will conquer you... I tried... to save us."
With that, the final desert golems collapse into inanimate heaps of sand.
Epilogue
After tending to the wounded and ascertaining that there is no remaining threat, the survivors gather.
Belen: "Justice is served. Junatan talked of 'saving us', but it was clear he would've sacrificed each and every one of us for his own gain. He almost did!"
Falcon Knight: "That much is clear. We received reports that the golems were attacking all over the city until we stopped him."
Cactus: "Mrrrpppp!"
Xalen: "Nevertheless, his final threat should concern us. The high elves know we're aware of them now, and they'll dispatch Cales and his imperials to destroy us if we don't act."
Goeting: "We are hardly in any shape to wage an all out war against Cales' Empire by ourselves. We need to come up with a plan of action. Our first priority should be filling the power vacuum left by Junatan and his sycophants. This starts with appointing new grand masters to the knightly orders who currently lack them. We shouldn't waste any time doing this. The Battle of Kerrat is over. The battle for Westeron is just beginning."
-
Thanks to everyone for playing! It was a pretty close game, with the desert golems causing more problems than anticipated (I had more threats standing by to jump in but so many of them kept reviving), but some creative tactics from you guys won the day. If Junatan hadn't lost his staff early on I think he would've done a lot more damage (he almost killed Goeting in the first round, and then what would've happened?).
Finishing this battle also gets the story to a point which I've been working towards for years... so I'm eager to continue it. Keep an eye out for the next battle!
