The Emperor paused briefly as he swallowed the soft flesh of the nectarine.
"Proceed."
"My Emperor, we have defeated them and driven them back. Our domination of Mangu will soon be complete. They have fewer places than ever to retreat and their army is in disarray. Victory will soon be ours. My scouts also report that Altengard has lost ground to both Treyine and Tereken. The jackals fight among themselves and make our next task easier. They will be easy pickings once Mangu is disposed of."
The Emperor nodded, the nectarine in his hand forgotten as he envisaged ultimate victory.
"There is one thing more, my Emperor. The general commanded me to bring this to you."
He waved his two companions forward to join him with a large shrouded package.
The Emperor looked warily at it, but the captain of the palace guard knew what to do without instruction. He ordered two of the guards to take it and open it. When they did so, the court wizard's eyes widened. He strode forward from his place at the left hand of the Emperor and examined it.
"My Emperor," he declared, "This appears to be genuine. This is the third artefact. We now possess all three: the Amulet of Sorbrowane, the Brazier of Durmun and the War Horn of Naz-Goth. Our victory is assured for the prophecies all foretell how the world shall bow before you when you present these artefacts to the gods on the peaks of Gorath. It is fortunate that you had the foresight to conquer that land so far in advance. That will make our task so much easier."
The emperor's eyes widened.
"So, it is true then? I shall rule this world? Make the preparations. We march to Gorath as soon as you can organise our forces. This world shall be mine!"
And so, the campaign ends with all three artefacts in the possession of Mirish and the Emperor of Mirish soon to declare himself God-Emperor of Talomir. The End of Days is here. Prophecies foretell that the owner of the artefacts cannot be defeated and will rule all Talomir. Other prophecies declare that the final battle between the Red Sun and the Black Moon will happen when the artefacts' power is invoked on the peaks of Gorath, and the Creators will walk Talomir once more, but I don't think that the court wizard told the emperor those ones.
So, that is this chapter of Talomir Tales complete. We only used the north of Talomir for this campaign, and found that a little unwieldy at times; too many nations and not enough players. Still, it has been great fun, and I think it is quite the achievement keeping a campaign going for eight years. Even with occasional breaks that is still better than any other campaign I have tried. There is still room for a game or two in this campaign. We could fight out the last battle as an epic gods and heroes game, or we might have sneaky spies trying to steal the artefacts in Warrior Heroes skirmish games. It's a fairly long trip to Gorath from the Mirish capital, and there is plenty of room for extending the campaign at a later date with these additional games. I'm not going to do that immediately. It is time to let Mirish bask in its victory for now.
ALL HAIL THE NEW GOD-EMPEROR OF TALOMIR!
