Epilogue: Kalyustar's Trial
"This vile conjurer has been using forbidden magic, we all have seen him! Summoning skeletal hands from the ground, spreading unnatural fear all around himself, leeching the life essence of the basest creatures!"
A murmur run through the mercenaries of the Gilded Hand Free Companies. Van Toorn's accusations were undeniable.
"Under the benevolent rule of our great God-king, there is only one punishement for such crimes" the Witch Hunter paused savouring his final triumph "Death at the stake!"
Van Toorn stood in the centre of the Broken Circle, Kalyustar in front of him, head bowed, the Skull cupped in his hands.
"That's enough, Witch Hunter" the Aurpards' pikes wavered, as the men parted to let Lord Captain Rodrik step into the Circle. The seasoned veteran took three measured steps, putting himself between the Witch Hunter and the wizard.
"Should I remember you that your Order has lost its powers over Venithya and its people the day your God-king reneged his oaths to protect the Realms and withdrew behind Azyr's Gates, now so long ago?"
Pieter van Toorn hissed in frustration. No matter how many efforts the Order of Azyr and the rest of the Devoted of Sigmar had spent, the Elders of the Gilded Hand and their generals remained reluctant allies to Sigmar's cause. And their grudge towards Sigmar was not entirely unjustified. He knew too well not to jeopardise such a fragile alliance.
"I beg your pardon, Lord Captain. Mine was just a reminder. But if you won't consider it, perhaps you should ponder what has the Gilded Hand gained by the actions of Kalyustar here in the Harrowmark".
"This, I will do" Rodrik turned his one good eye onto the wizard "Kalyustar of the Gilded Hand, by the authority bestowed onto me by the Elders' Council I demand you account for the reward due to the Free Companies gathered here and for your dues to the Gilded Hand's Vault."
Kalyustar remained silent. And so did the Skull.
"You took three Companies, claiming these woods will hold valuable alchemicals and artefacts. I was called here, bringing another Company with me, as this Azyrite accuses you of witchcraft. Respond. Now."
"Was not the Kharadron that the Witch Hunter wanted for their betrayal? Have I not delivered them?"
"This you did. Yet, the men are still awaiting for their pay. You have nothing in your hand to offer to the Elders. And with the orruks holding the Skydock, we are faced with a perilious Realmgate travel to return to Venithya. You have put valuable resources at risk for no apparent gain. Or there is one?"
Give him what he wants, Soulchemist. My Master appreciated your gift. He will reward you richly
"These men, and you too Lord Captain, are still alive because of me. If not a reward, doesn't that deserve mercy?"
"How so? We fought as you hid behind the walls of the Rose & Schyte. You owe your life to us."
Kalyustar paused for a moment, pondering the Skulls's latest words.
Yes, Soulchemist. Power and knowledge like you have never experienced, rather than the scorn of these miserables
"You are so limited in your understanding, Lord Captain. Force of arm is the only thing you understand. But it is souls that will win the coming wars. And I took that of the Kharadron leader, bartering it so that An'sec would spare all yours".
Silence fell over the Broken Circle. Even van Toorn was left speechless.
"It is gold you all want? Well, have it!" Kalyustar tossed a gleaming key at the Lord Captain feet "I hereby forfeit my position within the Gilded Hand and with it any claim on the contents of my laboratories. They are yours for you to do as you please and share with these men."
"So be it" the Lord Captain raised his hammer "Henceforth you, Kalyustar of Venithya, are no longer counted among the Gilded Hand. I accept your payment on behalf of these men which shall receive according to their efforts in your expedition. But for your dabbling with the vile An'sec, I exile you. By the authority of the Elders, you are never to set foot inside Venithya, under penalty of death!" the hammer fell, ringing loudly on the stones of the Broken Circle.
"He must die now!" shouted van Toorn "He's a traitor, a vile heretic!"
"Men, remove this fanatic from my presence" at once van Toorn was surrounded by levelled blades.
"You have no authority here! Nor any claim on Kalyustar's soul . That, is for him to keep."
You were right, Soulchemist. His understanding is so limited. We both know to whom every soul belongs
The Dead Shall Bar the Way
Pieter van Toorn had lost count of the days passed since An'sec misteriously left him for dead. He had tried to return to Wörtbad, only to find himself lost in the Harrowmark. He had started to wonder if he had died and his soul had been trapped for ever in that dreaded wood spanning 10,000 leagues in all directions. Then, one morning, he stumbled upon Karol. The Cuirassier had been searching for him. Even stranger, he had been sent by Kalyustar. Pieter kept trying to make sense of the wizard's actions as Karol led them toward Leechminster and from there to the Soulbridge Realmgate. With An'sec gone, Kalyustar seemed to have turned away from the dark path. Yet, the Witch Hunter could not bring himself to trust him. Only by trial, he could be sure that Kalyustar was free from taint.
Thick, dark clouds run over the pale Harrowmark sun as they reached the outskirts of Leechminster.
The Soulbridge was on sight when a cluth of Deadwalkers emerged from the woods, shambling towards them.
The two men felt the chilling touch of a dark shadow passing over the forest and lingering behind a crumbling mausoleum. The forest was filled with moans and creaks, deadwalkers emerging everywhere around them.
Pieter and Karol opened fire at the nearest Deadwalkers and barged past them to slam into the next. Suddenly, they were surrounded by the shambling undead.
"Split!" ordered van Toorn as single swipe of his Zweihander decapitated three zombies.
"Whatever is controlling them is behind the mausoleum, we must cut its ways out!"
Karol slashed another undead down, trumpled over the last one and made it through a copse, only to find his way barred by more zombies.
Skeletal hands erupted from the ground around Pieter, grabbing his legs as another wave fell on him.
More Deadwalkers emerged from the woods. Behind them, a stooped figure surrounded by a nimbus of amethyst light left the shelter of the mausoleum. They lurched towards Karol.
Pieter hacked at the zombies and skeletal hands still grabbing at his ankles. But more zombies were coming.
The largest group of zombies reached Karol and dragged him down from his saddle. Cackling madly, the Necromancer slammed his staff on the Curassier chest.
Pieter saw the man fell. "He fought valiantly, Sigmar will surely rescue his soul".
With this words on his lips, the Witch Hunter barged through the zombies barring his way and made it for the Soulbridge.
Aurelian's Aurpards
The Aurpards were founded in the Age of Myth by the first Venithyan merchants that joined their resources to establish the Gilded Hand cartel. They were the only company to include both the red and yellow of the Gilded Hand heraldry on their own shields and were known as the Gilded Guard. At that time, aurpards, pack felids that prowled the gold-rich Glimmerpeak, posed the gratest threat to the Venithyan convoys on the first leg of their land journey to the Mercurial Gate. It became customary for the Gilded Guard to don the striped pelts of the beasts they killed during their journeys and to depict the aurpard on their shields and helm crests, thus earning them a new name among the Venithyan populace. Expert pikemen, they remained the foremost Free Company as the Gilded Hand turned into an alchemist guild. Through the Age of Chaos, the Realmgate Wars and the Season of War, they continued to unflinchingly serve their masters and to protect Venithya. Their current captain, Aurelian, has reintroduced the practice for parties of recruits to kill an aurpard before they can formally join the Company. Having to work together to separate the beast from the pack, corner and skewer it on their pikes, they develop a spirit of camaraderie the like of which is not seen among other Free Companies. Rightly proud of their skills and heritage, the Aurpards have recently been claimed by Lord Captain Rodrik as his personal bodyguard. Ever since, Aurelian has proven to be an excellent second-in-command and many in Venithya are sure he will succeed the hoary veteran at the head of the city armies.
Aurelian's Aurpards are the last human Free Company I'd planned and wanted to be a tribute to the pikemen introduced in the Dogs of War Army Book. There were many pikemen companies, but I've always favoured Leopold's Leopards, in no small part because of the great illustration that featured in their profile page.
On the other side, I found that the original models didn't quite capture the feeling of that illustration, in particular the nobility conveyed by the helms and their crests.
So, my objective was to have models that more closely reembled the fighters in the picture. To achieve that, I had avoided using the armoured Freeguild Guard bodies for my other companies. Once combined with the Empire Knights' arms, helms, shields and pelts, I had exactly what I wanted!
For Aurelian himself I used the last head from the Freeguild General, the one with the helm sculpted as a felid head with a laurel. I also wanted his pike to look slightly different, so I combined the Empire Knight banner bearer arm with the pike from the really old Unded Chariot (think it was a 1992 model!).
The musician and banner bearer required some additional work to give them armoured left arms with weapons, which I made by combining Empire Militia and Knight of the White Wolf arms with spare blades from the Freeguildguard. The banner bearer has a machete-like blade, which was a way to link to Leopold's original model.
As always, I tried to give a tribute to the colour scheme of the original models, hence the white trousers. However, since I kept copper or gold armour for my heroes, the Aurpards were given a dull iron armour. As always, the red and yellow tie the models with the other Free Companies, but they are more prominent on them as the oldest Venithyan Free Company.
For the pelts, since I'm not good enough of a painter to do leopard spots, I went for an easier striped pattern. And I have to say, I'm rather pleased of
how they actually turned out!
And with them, my time with Freeguild is over! This project started with the release of Age of Sigmar and the Empire Batallion going on Last Chance to Buy. It feels right that it finishes before the second edition comes out.
But do not be fooled, I'm not done with the Free Companies! There are still non-human Regiments of Renown that I want to replicate!
Lord Captain Rodrik
Rodrik Harlsjen has never shown any inclination for the subtlety of magic and politics, although he could count a score of ancestors in the inner circle of the Gilded Hand. And yet, he now sits at their inner councils as their foremost military advisor. He rose to prominence at the head of his own Free Company, Rodrik's Valiants, during the final stages of the Season of War. In a series of running skirmishes, the Valiants hunted down the plague-ridden servants of the Horned Rat that had infiltrated the Pen, the shanty town were merchants grots, mercenary orruks, maneaters and other unsavoury but useful types are confined by order of the Gilded Hand. Over the following months, Rodrik's men one by one fell to unknown diseases. But their captain's skills at inspiring a rowdy bunch of militiamen recruited from the populace of inner Venithya did not go unnoticed. In the years to follow, Rodrik was tasked to lead both small and large armies and has secured new trade routes, cleared pockets of Chaos worshippers and repelled marauding orruks more than any other general in the payroll of the Gilded Hand. As the Season of Woe begun, the old veteran was quick to realise that the unquiet dead were the real threat and made sure that all men under his command were ready to fight such an unnatural enemy. It was this foresight, and his unparalleled skill to inspire the soldiery by fighting in the first line, that earned him the title of Lord Captain and his position within the Gilded Hand. As magic itself seems to be dying in Chamon, the alchemists of the Gilded Hand trust that Rodrik will keep their mercenaries as an effective bulwark against any force menacing Venithya.
The inspiration for Lord Captain Rodrik comes from both the cover of the Dogs of War Army Book and the model of Roderigo Delmonte, Captain of the Alcatani Fellowship.
The body of the Freeguild General on foot was already perfect to represent both the model and the illustration. The kit also comes with a nice head with an eye patch. For the arms, I used one with hammer from the old Empire Knights of the White Wolf, while the one with dagger is from the Empire Militia with a hand swap and a dagger from the Freeguild Handgunners. Finally a pelt, again from the Knights of the White Wolf, and a pistol from the Duardin Thunderers completed the base model.
Of course, the pelt is of a wolf, while I wanted to have a lion, and the head is bald, while I needed long flowing hair. That's where the Green Stuff came handy. The hairs were easy. The lion's head required trimming down the long snout of the wolf and then resculpting the details. In the end , the lion looks like one of those you see in Buddhist temples, but that's fine! All kind of animals exist in the Mortal Realms, right?
When it came to paint the model, I kept the dark copper of Roderigo, but turned it into burnished gold. together with the red on the clothing, this ties Rodrik with my other Freeguild Captain, Aldrik Tarsyn. From the illustration, I kept the streak of blonde hair, but turned it white. I reasoned that, together with the beard, this would be a nice hint at the time that has passed for that character. Think of it, that illustration is now twentyone years old and the World-that-Was is no more...it would be strange if the character still looked the same.
Because of the golden armour, painting the lion pelt in natural browns will have created no contrast, so I went for a black and white striped pattern. This also allowed me to differentiate between Rodrik's hair and the lion's mane.
With him, my Free Companies are almost done. There is just one more companies on the painting desk. Stay tuned, as I want to finish them before the new edition hits us!
Messages in the Rain
The rain had been falling for hours, its hammering accompaning the rise and fall of voices as the three men argued in the shelter of the derelict barn.
"We've been sitting for days here!" shouted Karol, repeating his point for the humpteenth time "We must move! What's happening needs fixing. And those damned orruks deserve to taste some iron and gunpowder!"
"Well, my friend" interjected Fernando, the usual sardonic smile on his lips "we don't want to go out in that, don't we? That's the last decent mantle I have, would you wish to ruin it in that hellish rain?"
"Karol has a point, though" came the reply of Lucius "How do you explain that fear that gripped us all... and the duardin acting mighty peculiar?"
"I'm still alive, and that's all that matters. I'm not going to risk my skin against something that's best left to wizards..."
The hammering of the rain filled the silence as the three men looked sideways at Kalyustar, huddled in his mantle in the far corner of the barn. He knew it would have come to this.
"I am as blind as you are as to what is happening. Something happened after the soulstorm. My powers of foresight fail me now."
"For Sigmar's sake!" Karol voice boomed over the noise of the rain "We should have listened to the Witch Hunter and handed you over!"
Kayustar teeth clenched behind his mask. His staff started to lean forward, corposants running around its brass top.
"That's it, Karol!" Lucius' voice froze Kalyustar on the spot "We find van Toorn. He will know what to do!"
'Yes! Let them find the Witch Hunter. And then...'
The Skull was speaking to him again. Instantly, Kalyustar knew what to do.
"I will pardon your rushness, Cuirassier, for you are right. We need Pieter van Toorn's guidance in this. You will search the woods for him. We will move into Wörtbad and keep duardin and orruks away from you."
"There it goes my mantle! And I was hoping it would have lasted me a few days more!" Fernando drew his sword and made for the barn door, calling his Fencers around him.
As the Free Companies of the Gilded Hand approached the village under the constant rain, a clutch of Skywardens and Endrinriggers bobbed into view. Their course was set for the Sky Dock, and the Rotmoons clustered into the Chapel courtyard.
The duardin moved at full speed to take position at the feet of the Sky Dock. Their shots cluttered harmlessly against the walls of the Chapel yard. With a laugh, the Rotmoons jumped the wall and prepared to charge.
Karol wispered something to Yuri the trumpeter and spurred his steed towards the woods.
Slowed by the rain, only two orruks made it to the Sky Dock courtyard and felled an Endrinrigger. With consummate skill, his companions serried ranks and stopped the orruk advance.
Kalyustar could have not asked for a better situation and turned to his men. "Forward, but hold your line! As long as they fight each other, Karol can make his way out of the village!"
Admiral Gunnerson charged past his crew, his hammer making short work of the two orruks.
Kalystar could not figure why, but then the Raidho Othalas poured all their fire onto the ogor at the back of the Rotmoons' line.
The ogor survived the volley, but then a screaming gheist dragged him away. Howling in frustration, Kapitán da Leeva ordered an all out charge.
The rain suddenly stopped. Raising the trumpet to his lips, Yuri blowed a single, long note. The Curaissiers responded with a cry of 'Vengeance!' and spurring their steed forward opened fire on the orruks.
Let the fools go! came the wisper of the Skull. "Hold your line! Marksmen, loose!". A hail of bolts fell on the rearmost orruks.
The Cuirassiers slammed into the fighter massed in the courtyard.
Kalyustar turned around to see Karol skirting around the edge of Wörtbad and disappearing into the woods.
Da Leeva slamming a Cuirassier and his horse on the ground was all that it took to convince the men that it was time to fall back.
'Well done, Soulchemist! Your man will bring you the Witch Hunter... or his corpse. But that matter little to us, doesn't it?'
Kalyustar jarred. What was the Skull hinting at?
'Beware tough! The duardin are no fools! Look! One of them makes it to the Sky Dock.'
The wizard turned to see an Endrinrigger floating through the Dock side door. In his hand, he clutched what seemed like a scroll.
'Trust no one, Soulchemist!'
