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Sorry this has been delayed, I have been on holidays and I'm still playing catch up on a few things. 276 4E Final Moon The next round is the new year. The Daesin calendar consists of 8, 40 day moons, divided up into 4 tendays by the way. Workers where they have the luxury to do so usually work for four days and rest on the fifth, breaking the week further down into two segments. I'll name these eventually. Octagon (Arrahn, Sicaria) Octagon held the Grand Harpsichord in his hand, the other Keyboards laying before him. At first he had not been sure that they had even truly worked, but he had travelled into the city to clear his mind and seen a single thread vibrating in the breeze. It was connected to others, and through them the vibration travelled. From this inspiration he had gone to the Webway and attached the Harpsichords to it via silken strands. Then they had begun to work! The Keyboards were slaved to the master Grand Harpsichord, but as long as there was a connection to the Webway they could speak without more than a second of delay at the farthest he had tried. Success, but the Harpsichords can't work wirelessly as they operate on vibrations and sound. However you are building a handy underground road network which they can connect into. Theoretically a perceptive enough person might even be able to sense the vibrations in the Webway, but they would need a truly impressive mind to separate and then understand individual messages. It's not impossible but unlikely for a being to be born more than once or twice in a century who could do this. If the master Harpsichord is destroyed, the slaved units will be rendered useless until a replacement can be connected. Wilhelm (Arandia, Minburg) For a full tenday Wilhelm had waited to see if the worms would grow, it had been a slow process but after the tenday had passed he was sure they would. But their growth was slow and it would take time for them to grow to a size where they would need to be harvested. Those whose forms and natures inclined themselves to underground activity would need to monitor the worms carefully, for if they grew too large and were not culled then they would cause the ground to turn so far as to ruin the crops. Those that began to tend to them 'spoke' in the locus of thought that Wilhelm and his people shared in, saying that the worms seemed to share some kind of a hive mind. They had noticed that since new worms had been born, that all of them had been acting differently and had seemed to become more clever. Success, you have your worms of unlimited growth. Of course they need to be tended to lest they destroy your crops. Also they have an odd quirk in their hivemind. The more there are, and the larger, the smarter they become. Edo (Eosia, Southern Eosia) Edo could see the effects of the virus working each time he visited. It was fascinating and horrifically effective, more so than he had anticipated. By the time he delivered the note many in the camp lay lying dead. But the most concerning thing of all, beyond the twisting of his healing art into something deadly and perhaps even perverse was that each time he returned he noticed that the Living Magic had changed. Where once it had been a single and pure strand of magical energy, now it had split into a light and a dark section. Both of them were now threading together in ever increasing complexity. It seemed that the magic had learned the pain of death and some of the less pleasant things in the world. Success, you rolled a 12 in fact, and as a result of your magic the living magic has grown more complicated and sophisticated as it learns more about the world. It is now no longer naive as it once was. Civar (Arandia, Fulkshire) Aideen could not teach the Tia'Cha her arts, or at least not to those without the gift to do so. But what she could teach them was the ways to ward their minds against intrusion and the tricks that one could do without magic to ward off fear and confusion. They would be useful in allowing at least some of them to flee, should a force like Daveron turn its will against them, but as she explained sadly the powers that Civar and the other wielded were beyond that of a mortal. They could not stand against them for long. Later in the trip she dreamed a terrible dream, where fear and darkness, the elements of the worst of nightmares came to people and twisted them into something else. A scaled beast that shone in the night with a sinister lustre. She woke up with a dagger in her hand pointing to the north. Aideen did not sleep again for two days after, when her exhaustion finally took a hold of her in dreamless sleep. Civar for his efforts were much more successful. Not all were suited to the great works, but some could see the patterns and understand that the movements of clouds and air could change the weather. Their results were much slower and less extreme than Civar, who when he turned his will to it could force air to freeze into snow in an instant. Although it would be less use in combat when there was little warning and time was of the essence, rain could flood out an army in a lower position and make their marching slow. Beyond this it would allow the Tia'Cha to ensure they had the best conditions to travel when they needed to. However all of the Weather Callers, as they came to be called after they would throw their voices into the wind while moving their slow and deliberate dance, understood one important lesson. The weather affected all and to tamper with it could cause unpredictable changes elsewhere. Civar's art did not seem to hold this drawback, but for those mortals working with the weather, they would need to be careful and plan out all of their actions ahead so as not to cause terrible storms or drought elsewhere. Succss, you create an order of Weather Callers. They move slowly, but carefully and throw their voices into the air as they gesture to change the weather. The less time and preparation they put into their magic, the more dangerous it becomes. Aideen also senses the creation of the Nightwyrms to the north. Brynn (Arandia, Hope's Fall) Most of those in Hope's Ridge did not even notice the changes at first. It happened from the bottom up, on the eight day of the moon a child was born as a humanoid reptilian creature. It had a kind of sickly green scaled hide that rippled with an oily lustre in the light. Others changed as well in time, those younger children and then later the adults. There were a number of colours that were found, blue, green, yellow, red, white and black. By the end of the moon all of the people in the place had changed and it had gained a new name, Hope's fall. The creature that had once been the mayor of the town cast out all of his servants and family, keeping the wealth of the manor to himself. Gathering it like a horde he lay upon it and slept, as Brynn had done so. A merchant that had been travelling to the town was nearby and had not yet heard of its fate, in his ignorance he went to sleep contented. The mayor lay and sent out his mind as his yellow skinned form breathed rhythmically and matched its breath to that of the merchant. Then the merchants dream twisted, and he found himself trapped within it. Tortured by spectres and other things that scuttled and terrified him he tossed and turned to no avail. The mayor on the other hand, almost in a trance began to consume his horde as he worked. The sleeping merchant was kept asleep all night, and none of his companions could manage to wake him. Then an hour before the sun rose again the man was released and he immediately turned the cart away, never to return again. The mayor on the other hand, having finished consuming his horde was reborn. He crouched down and his form began to lengthen. A tail stretched out from his back and his arms changed to be forelegs. His entire body thickened with new muscle and his back bulged as flight muscles knit themselves before bat-like wings sprouted. Finally when his change was almost complete and his hide had changed to an oily sinister purple, his head sprouted horns and in his face an extra set of eyes came to the surface. Then he opened them and gave a triumphant roar. He was not as large as Brynn was of course, but his form was similar. Thus it was that the first Drakenkin underwent the rite of change and became a Nightwyrm. Success, the majority of the town became Drakenkin which is the larval form of the Nightwyrm. Where the Nightwyrm has the full powers of nightmare, the Drakenkin only has a single one. The colours identify over which aspect they have power. Red for Malice, Yellow for Terror, Blue for Twisted Memory, Green for Sickness, White for Insanity and Black for Emptiness. Drakenkin give birth to only a single Drakenkin, whereas a Nightwyrm will lay a clutch and both will lay their young as eggs. A Drakenkin must accumulate a sufficient horde and then find a weak minded mortal to trap within their dreams and feed upon them while they consume their horde. Once this happens they will metamorphose into an adult Nightwyrm, which looks like a smaller version of Brynn's current form with individual distinctive traits. Farro Kapersi (First; Taeless, Harlakake, then; Arrahn, Sicaria) There were two important things that Farro had learned by the end of the moon. The first one was that Mazir had somehow taken in too much power to himself and he had, for lack of a better word, ruptured and released that power. Nomad seemed to have inherited it and the strange man, whom Farro had seen once or twice. He was not entirely certain that Nomad had not noticed him, but if he had the man, or thing had made no obvious signs or attempts to find him. He was a large man, standing a foot taller than even the tallest men that Farro had seen before. His skin was obsidian blank and seemed to shift as though it were made of sand itself when he moved. His eyes though were filled with strange incandescent green light that also shone through on tattoos covering his entire body. The second important thing was that each day ground around the town seemed to crumble a little and turn into sand. Something was causing the desert to spread outwards from the town and Farro had a pretty good assumption that Nomad was responsible. With this knowledge in hand he returned to Terminus to prepare a portal to the Sicaria that Octago had spoken of. Success, you've learned that Nomad has taken Mazir's power and that something is causing desertification of the surrounding land. It's spreading slowly though, but it is something nearby people might be concerned about. Ilvis (Eosia, Woods near the border) Ilvis spoke with the troops and she could see, even in her male guise, that her words seemed to be sinking in. Well, to most of them anyway. There were still a reasonable number of Daveron's brutish followers in the crowd but they seemed to be keeping quiet for the time being. Had that been all then she might have been happy and they would have gone home, but instead disease struck. The first case was near the end of the tenday and more followed quickly. Symptoms were varied but in all cases increased in severity with shocking quickness. By the second tenday the first soldier had died and a third of the group was too ill to move. By the end of the third tenday almost all of the army was incapacitated or too ill to move far. The force had moved to the southern end of the woods and were about a full tenday's march from the border. But on the last tenday someone reported thinking they saw a figure move among the sentries. You went to investigate and found that one had died of the disease, a sudden acceleration of the symptoms having made him fall unconscious until his heart had simply stopped. On his body was a note. You chose this fate when you broke your word, assassins. Prepare to leave, and I will heal your men. Stay, and you will die here. People were confused and unsure what to do, and you could see that they were looking to you for leadership and guidance. At this point, even those men who had followed Daveron were even desperate for guidance. Success, even if it doesn't seem like it. Edo's plague is affecting your army which has stopped their movement. But they are generally considering your words and that part of your action is successful. It's just harder to illustrate well in a plague. Beltheus The imps he selected to be changed warped, both in form and in nature. They became more brutish and heavy set, their entire frames become as large as a large bear standing on its rear legs. They arms become as thick as tree trunks and their hands become large and could crush a human skull like it was pastry. However they became more subservient and inclined to obey orders, their nature was to labour and to follow instruction. For those imps who were changed it was almost assuredly a dead end in their climb up the demonic hierarchy. Beltheus left Davos and his new charge, Algard, to watch over the fort's construction. The man was beginning to show some sympathy to them, the axe seeming to stir whispers of bloodlust in him, but Algard was still far away from being a convert. He still seemed to hold a deal of respect and loyalty for another man affected by the Starfall, one named Kovar. Beltheus went into the sands at the end of the tendays, when he was satisfied that the fort would be finished much faster. In his wanderings though he came across a strange man who walked to him out of a desert sand storm. He was a foot taller than the tallest man and his skin was obsidian black but made of shifting living sand. His eyes were pools of sickly green light and he had luminous tattoos all across his body. "You are an intruder in my lands." The man said, his voice echoing with a hollow quality. "Your building is unwelcome. Who are you and why have you come here?" Success, you made some labour demons and found Nomad. We will need to chat some time I guess. Rathin At last Rathin seemed to have found the glue he needed to keep Orc society intact. It was amazing how many of the Orcs were willing to put aside their own personal projects to work on the coliseum. They managed to get it finished within the moon, a truly impressive achievement given the size and capacity of it. The coliseum allowed the Orcs to satisfy their need for physical challenge and hardship, and to separate it from their civilised lives. Although it was not a mask that could be taken on and off, they could subdue their more violent impulses for a time and then indulge them in a controlled environment. However the Orcs were not a weak people and so a number of people arose to make the most challenging environments for the arena that they could find. Some Orcs were even discussing trying to find dangerous beasts to put in the coliseum, to give a real life threatening challenge. Success. You rolled really well so this is basically what the Orcs needed, a way to be partly wild while being civilised. It's also a pretty awesome arena and in time the Orcs will do things with it which will put the Taelesian ones to shame. Leodin & Adam For a moon Leodin and Adam wandered with the Litorian tribe, and for a moon they found no other people. Worse of all though they found no water and by the end of the last tenday all of their supplies had been used up. It was unnatural, they came across many watering holes that had signs of having had water recently. Yet every time they found one it was filled only with mud and plants that were still living off of the moisture in the ground. Then finally they came across a puddle of reasonable size and Unnaya formed forth from it. Even with the water running through her body Leodin could tell she was not pleased. "Know this Lion-faced one. Those who fight against the plains and those who live in them shall find their people as a mirage. Those that wish to live as they have always done so are under my protection. Turn back now and you shall not die of thirst. Persist in your crusade and no succour from the heat and dry winds shall you find." Sorry, you rolled really badly on this one and Unnaya has a powerful weapon against you. She is willing to speak for a while though. Daveron (Arandia, Harvan) In time the crystals would be known as the Stones of Misery. They had a way through the misfortune of others to find their way to a new owner once their old one died. Jewelers, antiques, even the hordes of creatures and people, when any of them found a Stone of Misery they would try to break it or cast it away. Of course the stones seemed to return whole when one shattered them or melted them down, and if they found their way to you the only way you would be free of their misery would be to follow your dreams. They would speak of travel to Harvan, and as long as one complied they would be kept safe and alive, if not always comfortable or healthy. To disobey for too long would inevitably court death. But many who succumbed were the sort who were too weak to resist, and in the coming moons those would liked to prey off of them and found something in common with the mire of misery and misfortune that Harvan was becoming would find their way their. Success, you have created the Stone of Misery. They are a cursed item that always seems to travel and seems to come out safe and sound after any attempts to destroy or lose them. For now they will attract scum and villainy as well as those of weak will, but in the future when those sorts of people generally live in Harvan anyway they will find new victims to lure in. An old Arandian Crypt The man carrying the gems had resisted too long and in the end, when he sought shelter from an awful storm had slipped down a flight of stairs. The man came to land, with broken neck, in an ancient crypt of a forgotten Arandian noble house. By a combination of luck as well, in another plane a god died and his power was diffused. While much of it went to his servant, a small fragment of it mixed in with a shard of strange blue crystal. The Stone of Misery as it would be come to known, also landed against this strange blue crystal shard that had fallen through a large hole in the roof. Something resonated within the stones and one of the bodies, or rather the bones left behind began to stir. With a resounding blue and purple flash the lid was blown right off of the old grave and a figure stepped out. Draw inexorably to the blue shard, it first picked this up and examined it. The figure came to know then, that this shard held the essence of its unlife in it and should it somehow be destroyed the figure would die. Beyond this should another hold this shard, they might be able to use it to channel things into the figure itself. Clearly the blue shard was valuable and dangerous, it would need to be kept as safe as possible. The figure walked over and examined the gem that had lain beside it. There was an ill power pulsing within it, but it seemed to fade at the figure's touch. The gem as it was held little appeal and so the figure unwittingly thought of a new form for it. Light coruscated along its surface and the gem was altered into a bead of solid gold. That was much more pleasing, at least for now anyway. The Lich lives, for a certain definition of living. Also your third Divine Trait is Alchemy [+2], hence how you changed the Stone of Misery into gold. You don't have any specific power against them though, this one's power fading was a narrative freebie.
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Jul 27, 2013 06:29
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The Lich An Old Arandian Crypt The Lich regarded the dead jewel-carrier. “Thief? Likely. I don’t particularly care to raise you or summon your shade and find out. You’ve done me the service of completing my ritual, however unintentional that may have been... Repose in luxury, instead of rotting on the floor of my tomb.” The Lich gathered the various gemstones and the impossibly precious golden bead, returning them to the pouch around the corpse’s neck.  Then the corpse was interred where the Lich had once rested. The Lich found various reagents around his tomb, some makeshift, to fill the vessel with a miasma of Undeath. Any foolish enough to open the Casket would flood the Crypt with it. In short time the inhalation of the miasma would be fatal for a mortal, and cause their corpse to rise as a simple zombie sustained by the very same undead magics that killed it.  Finally the Casket lid was returned, a seal and ancient command runes put in place. Should the seal be breached, a magical geas would command: FOOLISH INTERLOPERS, STAY FOREVER TO GUARD THAT WHICH YOU HAVE SOUGHT! With matters at home settled, the Lich donned a simple disguise to head to Harvan. A being of power wanted to collect the wretched, and that power had an air of Death about it...  Using Undeath +2 and Alchemy +2 to create some basic protections around my phylactery. Might not give a Power much trouble, but would be a deterrent vs mortals or the minions of Powers. Undeath miasma, Geas of Command, etc. Potential for wall-to-wall zombie guardians. Think Draugur. Zombie I’m coming to your hometown! We chat? quote:[url=http://youtu.be/eu-xFvLaE68]The Lich[url]
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Jul 27, 2013 14:39
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Edo, southern mines There was something oddly fascinating about crafting the disease. It was life at its most fundamental, stripped of almost everything save the will to multiply and prosper. The effect it had on the living magic was worrying, but what could be done? The Arandians were masters of war, and Edo could only use the weapons available to him. The key weakness with disease, as Edo saw it, was that it killed the host, rather than making it stronger. If a virus strengthened its host, people wouldn't try to cure it and it would multiply much more quickly and reach further too. And if it violently opposed any other kind of disease from getting in, perhaps it could help protect people at the same time - a kind of boost to the immune system. Edo resolved to consider that prospect more when he had a spare moment. For now, he sat patiently at the quarry near the mines, carving hummingbirds from stone. The birds were small and delicate but made of a rich red marble thick with veins of coloured quartz. Once he was done with each, he used simple spells of binding to accent eyes, beaks and wings in tiny quantities of gold and emerald. He sat there all month, rediscovering his love of carving and waiting for the assassins to arrive. It was restful there, with only the ever-present Val and the living magic around for company. Oh, once or twice the magisters came to practice sorcery, but mostly Edo stuck to his carving and paid little attention to what was happening in the wider world. Strange nightmares, apparently. Not something anyone wanted his help with. On the very last day of the month, Edo took to his feet at last. "I guess they're not coming," he said with a sigh. The ground was littered with little hummingbirds. "At least I've made something that isn't going to harm anyone though, Val," he said. "What do you say we help these birds fly?" Meditating with the living magic, he reached once through his magic for the the font of all life, and sought the spark that would give the hummingbirds a life of sorts. Things of beauty with no purpose beyond art, perhaps they would be a legacy he could truly be proud of. He reached into the carvings and made quartz their veins and heat their food and drink, such that under the warmth of the Eosian sun they would never die or hunger. In all other ways he sought to make them simple birds as he understood them. Creating magical living stone hummingbirds with the aid of the living magic, in part to rebalance it and remind the magic that there is beauty in the world outside of RNA, but mostly to create a neat new species that isn't trying to eat everyone. Relevant qualities are D Magic +2 and D Sun +2 (I'm assuming healing +2 is probably too much of a stretch). Cacto fucked around with this message at 03:54 on Aug 2, 2013 |
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Jul 29, 2013 11:56
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Edit: Rhjamiz fucked around with this message at 17:28 on Aug 3, 2013 |
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Jul 30, 2013 06:13
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Leodin - The Sun Plainsquote:***Leodin stands before at the head of his army, his troops though they are exalted and litorian are looking harried due to lack of supplies. "I had a suspicion that you were the cause of this. I ask you, what are the terms of your protection? Do you prevent war alone or all conflict or attempt to persuade the people of the Plains to embrace a new path?" After leaving Unnaya, Leodin sought out Adam, since the Sun Plains had been closed to their army that likely meant dealing with Taelos, something on which he wished to include his companion quote:***Adam stood, looking down at yet another dried up well, eyes downcast. There was much to be said for warring across a giant plain, but not even his own strange spark had forewarned him the need for a simple drink. He had run out of ale by the first tenday. Sweetwater the second. Wine was a poor substitute but he did his best to drink it in. Now he had to face his greatest challenge - it had come down to simple plain everyday waterskins. And even that was scarce. "What kind of sick joke was this," he said to himself, hearing the footsteps of Kovar - No, that's Leodin, he reminded himself - approaching. The giant lion leader wasn't exactly hard to miss, with the stomps and the proudness in his step. "When a dwarf has only no ale left to drink. I would have sworn I brought a few kegs with me too." With that Leodin left to marshal his troops to march to their new destination. However, before they left he asked for volunteers to travel to the tribes of the Sun Plains and attempt to win them to his worship with nothing but their words and the example of their lives. He did not expect great success, for if Unnaya’s words were true there would be few who wished to embrace such change, but that difficulty was the reason behind his request. He sent the volunteers not to convert all of the Sun Plains, but to determine whom among them was best able to bring unbelievers to his message. For he had stated at the litorians birth, that he would craft a society where power would be apportioned based not on blood or demagoguery, but on talent and ethic. For a follower of the Path of the Lion there would be few more honorable calling than priest, so it stood to reason that the first priests must be the set high ideals for those to follow. Though Leodin did not tell them so, this would be the first of several trials to identify those worthy to form the core of his priesthood. Out among the reluctant plainsmen they would learn lessons that would serve them well upon their return. So, as the volunteers were apportioned with adequate supplies for their journey, leaving behind all weapons other than their fangs and claws so as to comply with Unnaya’s restrictions. Leodin had no doubt they would abide by the water-goddesses requirements, since they were faithful one and all, and no true worshiper would wish to bring the dishonor of betraying their god’s agreement. Old action changed with HiKaizer's permission. I'm keeping the whole sending some volunteers to preach to the Sun Plains people though. Valhawk fucked around with this message at 23:16 on Aug 3, 2013 |
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Jul 30, 2013 08:22
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Rathin Orcshome The coliseum was very quickly becoming a centerpiece of the Orc culture. Rat in was pleased that the Orcs were beginning to become more clever and ingenious. Skills that would surly help them in the new world. As he reflected and watered the crops, Vek approached him, "Well it's good to see some things aren't changing." He chuckled. "Ahh Vek, sometimes the more they do the more they don't. I haven't had the chance to congratulate you on being the new Overlord of Orcshome." Rathin smiled. "Seems weird, it should really be you. This is your city." "I would if I could but it would seem that fate has other things in store for me. I can feel it, Vek. Like I'm rising off the ground. You've noticed too I'm sure. I'm not meant to run a city. The honor goes to you, and to all the Orcs." Vek nodded as Rathin continued, "We have everything we need now to make ourselves strong. The coliseum is the key. I heard that the pit master is going to bring in some large beasts to challenge some of the champion teams. I want to, instead of killing these creatures, tame them. Think of how useful such creatures would be? I want you to implement this Vek, I will be watching but you're in the drivers seat." Appointing Vek to run Orcshome and I want the Orcs to tame large creatures for use as beasts of burden. Orc [+2] The Orcs can easily overcome these beasts. Heart of the Tiger [+2] As Vek works, Rathin will use his powers where he can to calm the beasts and make them docile.
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Jul 30, 2013 19:10
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Beltheus Beltheus> "You are an intruder in my lands." The man said, his voice echoing with a hollow quality. "Your building is unwelcome. Who are you and why have you come here?" <HiKaizer> Yes. <HiKaizer> I was just about to copy that. <Beltheus> Beltheus bows. "My apologies, sir. I was not aware these lands were occupied. I believed them nothing but empty desert." <HiKaizer> "Then why build a fortress in such an empty place?" <HiKaizer> "Or do you need to wage war upon a desert?" <Beltheus> "I was building this as a shelter. Tell me, do you know what is going on outside of the desert, beyond these sands?" <Beltheus> "There have been strange portents, like none in the history of man. Great nations are warring, empires crumbling. And everywhere, the people suffer." <Beltheus> "I would take the lost, the forsaken, and build for them a new home where they might live in peace." <Beltheus> "I had hoped this desert could be such a home. But if it is not, tell me, and I will leave." <HiKaizer> "That is a nice story, but given the demeanour and appearance of your servants I doubt your intentions are benevolent or selfless." <Beltheus> "Would you judge a man by appearances or by actions? And of course my intentions are not selfless. Where in this world do you find selflessness? But I tell you, I have seen more evil done in the name of 'selflessness' than 'selfishness'" <Beltheus> "The very war that engulfs my land is being waged in the name of righteousness." <Beltheus> "Let me tell you the story of a man. A man named Edo." <HiKaizer> "Where is your land then? What is its name?" The man seems unperturbed and unconvinced. <Beltheus> "My land is Eosia, across the sea. We are ruled by an Emperor, who's family had ruled for generations." <Beltheus> "For the most part, it was a peaceful place, until recently." <Beltheus> "When a man named Edo plunged it into civil war." <HiKaizer> "I expect that suited you quite well though. What with the death and turmoil." <Beltheus> "If I saw opportunities in the chaos and took them, then what of it? It was not turmoil I caused. Indeed, I tried my best to tamp it down, by aiding the rightful Emperor. Indeed, stability would have served me better. Constantly was I made to change my plans; to react instead of acting." <HiKaizer> "What is so special about this man Edo then? Why did the Emperor not have his men seize him and execute him?" <Beltheus> "He tried. But Edo was a wizard who had gained powers beyond that of mortals, as have others walking the land. I know not how he did so, nor do I know the extent of his powers, but they must be considerable." <HiKaizer> "Aaah. Did the Emperor not have such powers or the ear of one who did?" <Beltheus> "He did not, till the prayers of one of his followers came to my attention. I visited him, then, and gave him some of my power, but no sooner had he gotten it, than a knight of Arandia and his companion came to strike the Emperor down in a blaze of self righteousness." <HiKaizer> "Ah, so you wanted to continue the conflict by equalising both parties and creating a stalemate then." <HiKaizer> (He has a reason for saying this btw) <HiKaizer> (He is not just GM meta-gaming) <Beltheus> "I wanted to see the Emperor succeed. I believed, and still do, in him." <Beltheus> "Why do you question me such? Are you also eager to condemn me as so many have?" <HiKaizer> "You are mistaken if you think that I care. The strong rule over the weak, such is the way of things." <HiKaizer> "I can smell the souls of many of the dead clinging to you." <HiKaizer> "Part of you is similar to me in some way." <Beltheus> "In what way?" <HiKaizer> "I am sure you have already worked that out." <Beltheus> Beltheus smiles. "Perhaps." <Beltheus> "But I think in you, there is one who does not make pretense." <HiKaizer> "I outgrew that particular failing." <Beltheus> "And what is your origin? You are surely no man?" <HiKaizer> "I was once two men, now I am greater than both." <Beltheus> "And what do you intend? Have you any goals?" <HiKaizer> "Yes." <Beltheus> "But they are your own? I understand." <HiKaizer> "So what is the true purpose of your Fortress then?" <Beltheus> Beltheus smiles. "It is as I have said." <Beltheus> "Is it hard to believe?" <HiKaizer> "Indeed it is. Especially since there is no country in this land named Eosia." <Beltheus> Beltheus blinks. "It lies over the sea to the west. I was born there." <HiKaizer> "Fascinating. No one that I know of has ever managed such a thing. How do you propose to transport people to your fortress, should I permit it to remain?" <Beltheus> His eyes gleam. "Leave that to me." <HiKaizer> "No. I think I should like to see how you would do such a thing." The man says calmly and implacably. <Beltheus> "And what guarantee do I have that you will not, upon my showing you, use it to your advantage and my destriment?" <HiKaizer> "I do not know who you are,I have no guarantee that you will not simply bring an army into this place and use it as a marshalling point. I could simply have the sands eat your fortress and be done with it. Instead I am giving you a chance to prove yourself to me. If you cannot do so then we are done here and I will do what needs to be done." <HiKaizer> It wasn't a threat, simply a statement of fact. <Beltheus> Beltheus sighs, then he raises his hand and opens a portal to his dimension. "Does this suffice?" <HiKaizer> "Fascinating. I would like to see where it leads to." <Beltheus> "Then step through." <HiKaizer> "Do you intend to follow?" <Beltheus> "I will" <HiKaizer> The man considers this for a moment, and then steps through." <Beltheus> Beltheus follows. <Beltheus> "This is my home. I show you a thing few others have seen." <HiKaizer> Nomad actually smiles once he has had a few moments looking around. <HiKaizer> "Ah, now I understand a great deal more I think." <Beltheus> "And what do you understand?" Beltheus sits down and a chair materializes under him <HiKaizer> "That would be difficult to explain, it covers a number of things." Nomad replies and his body forms a chair which the rest of him sits in. <HiKaizer> It is...awkward to watch. <Beltheus> Beltheus observes. "Please, if you would try. I would understand if I could." and mentally tries to figure how he would reshape himself like that and if it would be easier or harder than creating chairs out of nothingness <HiKaizer> "Well, the nature of this place. The nature of yourself. The nature of why my previous master died. The cause of the transference of his power to me. Also an aspect that will define our relationship I would rather imagine." <Beltheus> Beltheus leans forward, his hand wresting on his arm, his elbow on a table that has just appeared in front of him. <Beltheus> "Oh?" <HiKaizer> "You will need to clarify a little a think. Also a name would be a nice courtesy. You may address me as Nomad." <Beltheus> "You may call me Beltheus" <Beltheus> "What may I clarify?" <HiKaizer> "Oh." <HiKaizer> (As in, oh what?) <Beltheus> (You will need to clarify a little, I think.) (Oh, what may I clarify?) <HiKaizer> "You said oh, in response to something. It would be helpful to know what it was in response to.) <HiKaizer> *" <Beltheus> (I said "oh" in resonse to ""Well, the nature of this place. The nature of yourself. The nature of why my previous master died. The cause of the transference of his power to me. Also an aspect that will define our relationship I would rather imagine."" <Beltheus> "An aspect that will define our relationship". "Oh?" <HiKaizer> "We both take power and strength from souls of the dead. Either we can cooperate or we can compete." <Beltheus> "I see. And which do you prefer?" <HiKaizer> "That depends on which profits me the most." <Beltheus> "A good answer." <Beltheus> "What souls do you take power from?" <HiKaizer> "The ones that I use." <Beltheus> "And how do you decide which to use?" <HiKaizer> "It has currently mostly been a matter on how useful they will be to the task I have at hand." <Beltheus> "And what is your current task?" <HiKaizer> "I do not currently have one." <Beltheus> "And do you have a master, or are you your own agent?" <HiKaizer> "Is that what you propose?" <Beltheus> "If you would serve me, then I could increase your powers and support you. You might do better under me than on your own. I think you will find I am neither unreasonable nor demanding." <Beltheus> "I merely ask that you succeed in your endeavors" <HiKaizer> "Serving you does not sound like an equal position." <Beltheus> "That's because it's not. But if you don't like it, what's your proposal?" <HiKaizer> "I do not necessarily have one, but if you are more interested in cooperation than in competition I may have a more well thought through and valuable alternative for both of us." <Beltheus> "Oh? Please, what is your proposal?" <HiKaizer> "Our area of competition lies in the souls of the dead, were we to pool our powers and resources to take control of this then we would need only to divide them amongst each other." <HiKaizer> "Besides, Beltheus, you do not sound like you have many allies and you have many enemies." <Beltheus> Beltheus smiles <Beltheus> "This much is true" <HiKaizer> "It is up to you to decide then, whether to treat as an equal or whether you wish to compete." <Beltheus> "Then equals." He holds out his hand for the other to take <HiKaizer> Nomad considered it, then took Beltheus' hand. <HiKaizer> Nomad's was as cold as stone and kind of grainy. <Beltheus> Beltheus licks his lips slightly as he tries to take the measure of the other creature <Beltheus> (Can I sense his power?) <Beltheus> (And power level?) <HiKaizer> (Not really) <Beltheus> (Ok) <HiKaizer> (What did you want to do?) <Beltheus> (I was just checking if I was strong enough relative to him to destroy him) <Beltheus> (That's all) <HiKaizer> (Hahahaha) <HiKaizer> (You have no idea) <HiKaizer> (You CAN always try something if you want though) <HiKaizer> (After all he didn't try to aim for being dominant either) <Beltheus> "Agreed, then. I look forward to you as an ally, friend." He smiles broadly. "Please let me know of any help you need." <HiKaizer> "Very well. Now. Perhaps you would tell me the true purpose of your fortress then?" <Beltheus> The smile leaves his face. "I need a bolthole, in the even that I'm defeated elsewhere. I need someplace defensable where I can regroup and recover." <HiKaizer> "Hmm, a prudent strategy." <Beltheus> "I was hoping the desert would be would be empty. It was not" <HiKaizer> "Very well, as long as you do not move against me I will permit it to remain for as long as our agreement does." <HiKaizer> "Should we formalise this in some manner?" <Beltheus> "What do you suggest?" <HiKaizer> "I have not been in such a position before admittedly. I am unaware if there is a way of doing such things." <HiKaizer> "Hmm, since we are sharing the dead, and I am giving you some of my land, you might give me something in return. Some of your power perhaps?" <Beltheus> "You can keep the land. I no longer require it. But I will give you some of my power. You would perhaps share some of yours with me?" <HiKaizer> "As you wish." <Beltheus> with that, Beltheus radiates power out of his palm into Nomad's.
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Jul 31, 2013 03:58
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Civar Kit'An (Eosia, Daveron's Army) [quote="AideenChat" post=""""] Jul 31 18:03:55 <Civar> Can you tell me anything else about your nightmare? Do you think what you saw is happening somewhere? Jul 31 18:48:06 <Aideen> "There was a terrible beast, stretching out into any dream it could touch. Its reach is not so far yet, but I can feel it. It has already happened Civar, I know this with both of my second sights." Jul 31 18:50:19 <Civar> "That must have been terrible for you. I see why you do not wish to risk dreaming again. Your dagger was pointing North when you woke, do you know where this beast was? It would be nice if we could nip one of these problems in the bud." Jul 31 18:51:28 <Aideen> "I am certain it came from there. Yes. Although I do not relish the thought of meeting it more closely." Jul 31 18:53:52 <Civar> I hate to ask you to dwell on what you dreamt, but do you think you could locate where more precisely? Jul 31 18:55:41 <Aideen> "I...would need to dream. And get closer." Jul 31 18:55:50 <Aideen> Aideen does not seem very happy about the idea though. Jul 31 18:58:51 <Civar> "I won't ask that of you. But I will think on this some more. That plant over there, with the six leaves. Chewing its stem will help you stay awake" Jul 31 19:43:00 <Civar> "I'd like to borrow your dreamcatcher, I'll return it tonight" Jul 31 19:47:05 <Aideen> Aideen nods and does not complain. Jul 31 18:59:01 <Civar> *** Some Weeks Later *** Jul 31 19:00:22 <Civar> "What do you think of the training you've been giving the Tia'Cha? They seem to be coming along well, and to trust you. Do you enjoy teaching them? Is helping people like this something you would like to continue to do?" Jul 31 19:06:08 <Aideen> "It is more peaceful. There seem to be so many things that have arisen that prey on the emotions of people, to give them a measure of protection helps me feel calm." Jul 31 19:12:29 <Civar> "I'm glad you find peace in it. There seems to be precious little of it anywhere these days. Do you think we're doing. I'm doing the right thing by falling back to lands as yet untainted? Or should I be doing more? I shudder to think of what Harvan will be like in a few more months. Those soldiers might have been better off if I'd kept them and their families with me. I only wish I'd thought of that earlier." Jul 31 19:19:02 <Aideen> "I find it interesting you would ask me to question your choices, when I have made so many poor ones myself." Jul 31 19:23:50 <Civar> "You may think that is true, but your recent choices have been no worse than mine. You're right though, this isn't like me. I never used to have such doubts. Life was much simpler two years ago. But now, with so much power I find myself questioning everything I do." Jul 31 19:25:52 <Civar> "And I value your thoughts. Not only are you a good friend, you're the only one who has seen everything I have, since the very beginning last year" Jul 31 19:39:27 <Aideen> "All I can offer Civar, is this." Jul 31 19:39:43 <Aideen> "All of us are fated to die, one day in one place it will happen." Jul 31 19:39:56 <Aideen> "But not you." Jul 31 19:40:09 <Aideen> "You are moving into a time deeper than we move in." Jul 31 19:40:46 <Aideen> "Even though it may seem harsh, in time you may need to think about the fortunes of a people longer than the life of a single person." Jul 31 19:41:22 <Civar> "That may be, but I intend to give as many people as I can the chance to defend themselves. A chance my parents never had." Jul 31 19:41:38 <Civar> "Even if that means defending themselves from one such as me" [/quote] I borrowed Aideen's dreamcatcher and made some minor modifications. Preparations for something I hadn't decided if it was necessary or not. Shortly after our last conversation, I determined to part ways with Aideen and the Tia'Cha. Traveling with them, she'd have many opportunities to teach new people. But what I was looking for was unlikely to be found in their company. It was time the Hammerites had a full time mentor. Someone like themselves, but moreso. Who by his example could show them everything they could be. I was confident that by the time I'd found him, the first converts would be filtering down from Harvan and into Southern Arandia. Especially as no devotee of Order would wish to stay in such a place if they had any choice and Arandian culture is free-flowing enough that skilled tradesmen would have a choice. I created a lodestone for my search by pouring my power and sense of order into a simple rock bound round and hung by slender copper wires. Like would attract like and the lodestone would help lead me to those with a strong internal order, I was hoping for a smith, given my own tendencies, but I would settle for whatever I could get. Even the greatest smith would need some teaching and moral strength and swiftness of mind would be more important in the candidate than current skills anyways. I intended to find a man who could serve not as leader, for each Hammerite is a Master in his own right, but as mentor and exemplar. To this man I would entrust my greatest treasure, the hammer hanging by my side as well as all my knowledge and intuition for the inner workings of metal. Looking for a suitable person to appoint "Bellows." The bellows will be a mentor and inspiration for the Hammerite cult. I'm hoping for someone who can inspire innovation and encourage orderly behavior. His primary task will be to fan the flames of the cult, thus bellows. Smithing +2 - for to find/train a super smith Order +2 - dude's gotta be devoted to order, so using an order lodestone to help find him
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Aug 1, 2013 03:57
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Octagon - Arrahn, Sicaria Octagon was satisfied with his progress with the Harpsichord devices. Not perfect, but certainly approaching it. They would serve his needs for the time being, until they could be improved upon to allow for a wider dispersal. In the meantime, Octagon had been giving thought to housing and living arrangements for the new (and future) spiders. Human accomodations were passable, if cramped and certainly not built for a spider anatomy. He would need a new, more appropriate solution. Something easily set up, without the need for resources they may not have access to (yet). He was on his way to see the queen when he spotted a small mushroom, growing in the dank recesses of the crypt. Reaching down to pluck it, he examined the fungus for several moments. Perhaps the answer to his question could be found here... And perhaps Farro may be of some use, finally. In the meantime, Octagon dispatched a messenger to the Spinners; as the leaders of Arrahn and the Arrani people, it was time they saw to the education of his children. The rampant illiteracy would certainly not do. P-P-P-P-Pantheon Action!: We are creating Mushroom Buildings and then spending the month teaching the Arrani how to build them! I shall be providing Transformation [+2] for both creating the initial Mushroom species and the power for directing its growth, Toxin [+2] due to it's exceedingly lethal toxicity, and Spider-Lord [+2] because only Arrani will be capable wielding the Shaper's power (initially). Conferring with Farro, he will provide his Domains in his post. We will call this new mushroom species Amanita achrinae. Mushroom House Qualities:
Basically, think Telvanni Towers. The group who will build them are the Guild of Shapers. They are a combination of gardeners and architects, learning the secrets of mushroom care and design! Joining requires taking both taking an Oath to the guild and fealty to the Spider-Lords, after which they are granted their Shaper power. So long as they remain a Shaper in good standing, they can use it any way they wish. Expulsion means losing it. I am not opposed to their "secret" leaking out in the future and having Rogue Shapers building mushroom towers in places other than Arrahn. But not yet! Narratively, I am making the Temple of the Silk Road responsible for educating the Arrani and teaching them to read, among other things. Rhjamiz fucked around with this message at 20:31 on Aug 5, 2013 |
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Aug 3, 2013 17:28
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Farro Kapersi - Arrahn, Sicaria Update 21 (2:15:35 PM) ***Octagon hardly stands on ceremony. "Hello." (2:18:24 PM) ***exFarro looks Octagon up and down. "You got more legs out of the deal, I see." (2:22:08 PM) ***Octagon is indeed an enormous spider-bodied monster. He gestures vaguely. "Yes, I was more perfectly formed. Undiluted, I suppose. I trust your little excursion was a success, as was your... tour of our fine city." (2:26:53 PM) exFarro: "Success in a way. Mazir seems to have bit off more than he could chew. Apparently he exploded, but his second in command took some of that power. Large, black skinned mannish thing. Big guy, at least 7 foot. Hard to miss." (2:27:40 PM) exFarro: "And he's doing something to the land outside of Harlakake, drying it out. Spreading the desert, I assume." (2:30:55 PM) ***Octagon makes a mildly disapproving face, as if at a dinner party. "Sounds unpleasant. Though I am sure his death will delay their advance. No doubt other powers mobilize to counter his threat." He smiles pleasantly. "And how did you find Sicaria. To your liking, I hope?" (2:33:45 PM) ***exFarro shrugs. "A city is a city. It's just a pile of organized rock and wood. What goes on inside is the important part." (2:33:51 PM) exFarro: "That takes more tie to judge." (2:35:19 PM) exFarro: "In any case, you had something in mind?" (2:40:49 PM) Octagon: Octagon nods. "I did. I thought perhaps you would like to have a hand in shaping this city... this nation. I have a need, you see. These human structures of stone and wood will serve for the time being, but they are hardly suited to our... unique physiology. I'm of a mind to create a new form of housing. A new form of architecture. Adaptable. Quick. Minimum resources. Something..." He holds up a small white-capped mushroom. "Like this. (2:45:19 PM) ***exFarro looks nonplussed. "So what, mushroom houses?" (2:49:45 PM) ***Octagon nods. "Correct. Easily grown, easily maintained, easily changed. They can be quite resistant to the elements." (2:53:26 PM) exFarro: "How do you plan on feeding something large enough to live in? You only have so many corpses." (2:55:14 PM) Octagon: "They can be adapted to feed upon the minerals in the soil. They are abundant enough to serve." (2:58:11 PM) ***exFarro shrugs. "If you say so. Growing things ain't my specialty. So what's the plan, then? I assume you've got a bigger resume than Spider Lord, unless there's some kinda spider I don't know about what tends fungus." (3:09:18 PM) Octagon: "I possess the power of Transformation, which shall make the task of adapting the mushrooms trivial. However, we still must create the Guild of Shapers. No doubt many Arrani were former gardeners. Farmers. Architects. They will no doubt be excellent students for this new form of... horticulture." (3:17:48 PM) exFarro: "That is something I can work with. I do Contracts. I can grant them some power, provided they agree to do something in exchange. Whether it will work for something as self-serving as "grow mushrooms for me," I cannot guarantee." (3:18:58 PM) Octagon: "I imagine granting them the limited power to Shape and Transform this new species of Mushroom is boon enough in exchange for their fealty and worship." (3:22:43 PM) Octagon: "So long as they do not betray us, or the Guild, the shall remain in good standing." (3:24:14 PM) ***exFarro sneers in disgust. "Worship. As if any man alive or dead deserves such a thing. The only thing separating you from scum like Mazir is you're killing less people to get what you want. I don't trade in 'worship.' " (3:26:14 PM) ***Octagon raises an eyebrow. "You've never experienced it, have you? Goodness me, you do not know..." He shakes his head. "We are not men, Farro. We are nascent gods. I have felt the power of worship. I feel it, even now. Surely you must, as well? It is intoxicating. It is invigorating. What else would feed upon worship but a god?" (3:39:53 PM) exFarro: "A maniac! A narcissist! Someone with more power than sense! How can you propose to change a world for the better when you place yourself on a pedestal as some ideal?! Listen well and know this, "Spider God:" I am assisting you because I can see some good in it, and because some part of me is compelled to do so. That is my burden to bare in exchange for this new power. But I will not debase myself or those who stand with me my claiming to be some damned holier-than-thou lunatic!" (3:40:18 PM) ***exFarro turns and storms off. NO, gently caress YOU DAD! Assisting in mushroomings. Spider Lord [+2] because I'm working with spider people, Contracts [+2] on the following terms: The Guild members will be granted the ability to properly tend to the mushrooms as well as increased endurance so they can perform their duties with less required rest; in exchange they must only work for Octagon and Farro and must regularly report all progress in mushroom growing to Octagon and Farro.
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Aug 5, 2013 01:45
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Adam - The Road to Harlakake The March into Taelos was no real problem - the roads had extended enough to reach the outer sun plains and made the journey a little easier. Stopping by the constructed colloseum in the orc fortress was a much needed break for him - he told himself when he got more time he could come back and give the place the respect it deserves. For now though, he was at war. Going on ahead of the troops, he asked Kov - Leodin to take his men towards Harlakake, paving the way for them through his trade routes so not as to spook the locals. He himself had his part to play - gathering the men of Taelos and bringing a decent sized army to Harlakake. It wasn't to start a raid, for as Leodin said, there was nowhere near enough information to give them the advantage, even with higher numbers. It was to show them that they were there. Alright. We are gathering an army outside Harlakake. I am bringing all the dudes and dudettes that I have seen and recruited over the course of last two months to meet Leodin's lion people outside Harlakake. The nation should be able to fend for itself for a while, and if something suddenly decides to raid us from the opposite end, the guards we left behind will be enough to hold them back till we got there. The main point of this is to first find out what is going on in there, as we still have no idea. Also to meet with whomever is leading these people, assess him, and get him to get the hell out. Even if it means a one on one duel to the death while everyone watched, I would do it. Leader +2: "I will not sit idly by and let my people suffer. come with me and let's retake our land" War +2: What is it good for? ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING! Trade +2: I have to keep my men resupplied and ready for the battle to come. So I will do my best with what I have. Druggeddwarf fucked around with this message at 20:17 on Aug 5, 2013 |
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Aug 5, 2013 17:37
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Leodin - Harlakake, Taelos After resupplying at the Orcish fortress, Leodin lead his people through the mountains towards Taelos. They would join with Adam's group outside of Harlakake, hopefully with more information in hand. Either way, it would present a chance for the Sun Plains Litorians to meet their brothers in Sellos. Already the Litorians were showing their skill, for among them were a number of talented scouts, for whom the changes both physical and cultural had only served to elevate their craft. They ranged ahead of the main formation, ensuring they did not run across any outsiders until they arrived, and once there they would make sure that no attack could surprise Leodin's army. As they travelled Leodin was always among his people, both enjoying his status as god, and acting as the father to his pride. If Litorians had questions about the Path of the Lion or the arts of war or strategy, he was all too happy to inform them what he could. At night he regaled them with tales of his past and of the legends he had learned as a child, other times Lehoi spoke with the lion's characteristic manner telling of his own life in the mountains near Sellos. Leodin had taken on a new name for his new life, and he was embracing his new role with gusto. For he had come to see the litorians not just as his soldiers or his followers, but as his children. He knew that in the days to come, some might die in the fires of combat, and he accepted it, but that did not diminish the bond he felt with them. A bond, unlike anything he had felt before the change. This bond only redoubled his resolve to ensure that his strategies and generalship were as flawless as possible, for the litorians deserved nothing less. Assisting on setting up the forces outside Harlakake. Strategy[+2] - To devise the ideal location to set up the forces and plan for various contingencies. Strength[+2] - To bolster the assembled troops in case of attack. Lion[+2] - Enhanced senses make for excellent scouting, also if it comes to a fight being a predator doesn't hurt.
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Aug 5, 2013 21:51
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Bryn - Bryn's Cave, Hope's Fall The Dreameaters spun madly around Bryn, humming as they swirled in interlocking patterns around the great beast. They had grown in number since he gave birth to them, but not as much as he would have liked; there was some flaw in them, something that left them weak and sickly, forced to drain the life of others to reproduce themselves. It would not do. In the town below, the Drakenken noted the absence of the Dreameaters, and the strange lights, and horrifying screeches that emanated from the foreboding cave above town. It continued like that for a month, and then the Dreameaters poured out in a great swarm. From behind them, the Nightmare Beast's monstrous roar followed, commanding them to spread across the land, and to multiply. Attempting to modify the Dreameaters, to make them stronger, and less dependent on others for reproduction. Endurance +2: To strengthen them. Monsters +2: They are, well, monsters. Nightmares +2: Nightmare monsters, to be specific.
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Aug 6, 2013 06:55
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Ilvis (Eosia, Woods near the border) "Right, and I'll just abandon everyone here to hare off into the wilderness and beg for forgiveness from a necromancer then?" Carrying the last scout back towards the main body of the camp, I heaved him carefully onto a pallet besides the others. By now they were all infected and the strongest of them was too busy alternating making GBS threads and puking his guts out to get up and carry water. I sighed as I drew another clean rag from the bucket and wiped the unfortunate man's mouth clean. "This is what I meant about lack of discipline being your greatest downfall. Clearly the necromancer has infiltrated the camp and poisoned, and he had the gall to leave a signed confession! And this, after the first disaster where we got snuck up on." He groaned and I leaned back, tilting him so that the worst of the effluence sprayed into the narrow trench Rickard had managed to dig earlier. I glared down at the folded ransom letter in my pocket. "It is not unheard of to use poison or plague as a weapon, nor is it unheard of to threaten worse or offer a cure if those you poison submit. But you know what? It's not right. Teeth gritted beneath my helm I stood and looked out at the assembled army, too weak to move forward another step and by virtue of their virulence a danger to the very people they were meant to protect. I was no woodwife or leech, and it was clear that unless something drastic was done their deaths would be imminent. "I will not stand for it. My faith and the rightness of my cause protects me against the vagaries of evil magic and disease, and in the same manner it can protect you." I stood over him and leveled the Sword, concentrating the flame of my will along its blade. "Do you swear to hold true to your vows of Charity, Justice, Temperance, and Valour? To strike down evil wheresoever it may be found?" I nodded back in response to his assent, and laid the burning blade across his brow. "Then be troubled no more by this meddlesome plague." Later in the aftermath I sat atop Avenger, overlooking the camp as the last screams and flames died down. Thinking on what events had brought us to this point, I motioned for Rickard to climb aboard behind me as I clutched the Raven's Claw pendant and sent off a message through the aether. "Civar. We need to talk." Welp it sounds like Ilvis' speechifying has had the desired effect, but they're too busy making GBS threads their guts out to go home or otherwise be useful. Can I physically change the lot of them, like how everybody else has been making horrific spider/dragon/dwarf/orc/demon monsters only instead of twisting them into something horrible and inhuman I'd like to wind up with something more along the lines of D&D paladins (i.e. divine health, braver than normal blokes, instinct for going after evil?). These powers should only apply as long as they stick to the aforementioned vows of being a Good Dude, although I guess if they break the vow but want to seriously seek atonement that's fine too. Free will and making the right choices is important, but so is penitence for screwing up. +2 Sacred Sword: Miracles, of the holy variety coming forth from a sacred sword. Who'd have guessed? +2 Justice: To bring succor to the just and those sworn to eradicate evil, normally maybe used to blight the wicked (or something). The strength of your convictions and righteousness of your cause will shield you. Then I'll call Civar over the thing. LLSix you out there?
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Aug 7, 2013 02:11
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Civar Kit'An (Southern Arandia) "It's good to hear from you again Eisner. Your friend Daveron has gone mad and made a mess of things in Harvan. The Royal family is dead and there's a succession war raging."
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Aug 7, 2013 02:46
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Daveron (Harvan Castle?) Daveron speaks briefly to the Rag Man, as he calls him, before turning to a groveling servant. "Bring the newly dead. I want the bodies that were charlatans and brigands, cutthroats and purse-thiefs." The man shakes as Daveron leans his face to him, and growls, "If there is but one body in that pile undeserving of those titles, I will hang your guts from the castle walls." Daveron kicks the man in the face. Turning back to the "Rag Man," Daveron waves to another servant, and has him bring forth a barrel of poorly aged ale. "The taste is rotten, but it is the best this pathetic place can offer," Daveron grumbles. "It's yours." As a body gets dropped off infront of the castle, Daveron adds, "These be the bodies of the unfortunate and unworthy. Do what you want with them." After dismissing himself, Daveron walks the City, stopping frequently to quench his firey thirst. There must be more left of his blood, though if they survived was another matter. "My Kin is the Right to Rule Arandia," he mutters, almost in a chant, socking a passer-by in the face. Down the street, he repeats the chant, and breaks the next mans jaw... He then sends his voice to Ilvis, "My neice, or nephew, or whatever you possibly are now, our family's time has come. I'm drawing the sick out of the world, the corrupt, the weak, and eliminating them. The poison that corrupts society will slowly be rendered stale and insignificant. We started that day with the bandits...now it has blossomed into something new.." First off, ordering the servants of Daveron to get a corspe crew, get every body of a terrible person in a pile infront of the castle. Then, using godly powers to instill Daveron and Ilvis's bloodline as the rightful (and divinely-backed) rulers of Arandia. Using +2 Truth to enforce it, +2 Death (the death of the bloodline renders it moot), and +2 Bad Luck (The way I'm thinking, it would be probably awful for any surviving bloodline members that aren't divinely gifted to head back to Harvan for any reason...though surely with bad luck those reasons would manifest themselves).
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Aug 7, 2013 06:45
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Ilvis (Eosia, Woods near the border) "Ah. Well things have been pretty dire here too. I'd managed to round up the last of the former invasion force and was marching them back when they were struck down by a supernatural plague. Apparently either Beltheus or Edo is responsible and is offering me the lives of my men in exchange for... the ransom note didn't make a lot of sense. Where are you right now? I'd like to discuss this in person." Locking the Sword into position atop Avenger's brow, I toyed with the demon-finder ring on its strap momentarily before slipping it on my finger anyway. "I'll be honest with you Civar, I'm willing to trust that you're not a demon. We are after all dealing with malign forces which revel in sowing dissent and chaos, and for whom lies are a favoured tool. I'm trying to purge the troops of their illness right now, both to save their lives and to eliminate the risk of infecting others but it's still a tenuous thing."
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Aug 7, 2013 07:18
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Wilhelm - Minburg Exclusion Zone The worms are in his head now, mumbling their wormy thoughts. It is something unusual for Wilhelm, and the fact that they were becoming smarter and smarter was rather disconcerting. How could he rightly tell his people to slaughter and consume something that shared their thoughts? Inhumane would be the wrong word, as he and his people were anything except for human. Ethics do not change when a man puts on a carapace and a pair of wings. Wilhelm halts the order to cultivate the worms, and instead has his herders bring them together attempting to have them reach a level of intelligence capable of communication. His fellow Minburgians work for days to do the task, before tinges of functional thought tickle them. Foreign, odd, and alien, but cognizant thoughts all the same. They had to be taken care of just like the rest of Minburg, and so they would be. Using Earth +2, Hive Mind +2, Insect Lord +2 to partition off fields that the worms can rotate the earth and feed off of, and after the harvest these fields will be rotated. It's like crop rotation except it will keep everyone, including the worms, fed, and will keep the earth fertile!
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Aug 8, 2013 08:07
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1 5E First Moon In places where it is appropriate for it to occur, the new year begins with a feast and celebration. Of course many of you may have new traditions you want to start, or old ones you wish to end. But this is how things have been in the past. The Lich (Arandia, Harvan) The Lich wove his power into a skin that covered the Vessel of his Essence. It would trap the souls of those that died around it and bind it into the service of protecting it, their bodies being sustained only enough to serve that purpose by the Lich's power. Around the crypt he placed a number of canisters with lethal substances in them, mercury, lead, arsenic and the such. Finally he woke the remains of those other sleepers in the crypt. Their souls had disappeared or passed on to wherever they might go, if even such a place existed. But even without their souls, his power could bind their bodies to a simple purpose. To slay all that did not bear his power that came into that place. So it was that the Lich left his second birth, or the undoing of his death and walked out into the world. He found a land that was slowly falling into misery and misfortune. There were plenty of bodies for him to work with, some fresh enough to keep their souls mostly. In the distance there was a city, presumably the centre of whatever power caused this to happen. Success, you manage to raise some basic skeletons, create a necromantic field in the immediate vicinity of your Phylactory and also make some nasty chemicals to kill explorers. Then your stuff with Zombie happens I guess. Edo (Eosia, Southwest mining region) Again Edo touched something deep and ancient, something that turned and rolled with the waves of eternity. This time however he was not so cowed as last time, nor was he made giddy by its immensity for he touched only a tiny sliver of its nature. He sensed a certain consent and came away with a strand of something that was not literally, but metaphorically warm and vibrant. The Living Magic had been his channel to it, he had not deliberately chosen for it to be so but his meditation had left his mind and being to wander through it to...elsewhere. With the strand in hand Edo coaxed it into the birds, each time it slowly diminished as it brought each of the birds to life but there was enough of it for all the ones that Edo had carved. The birds flew around and fluted a strange kind of sound, something that was produced by magic instead of by voice or lung. They flew and lived the simple lives of birds, until the sun began to set. At that time they found out of the way spots that faced the sun and went to sleep, becoming seemingly lifeless stone again. But in the morning when the sun struck them, they were brought back to life. Each spring they would all find their way back to this very quarry, forming mating pairs and cutting out their offspring from the rock to begin life anew. Success, you have created a new species, the Quarrybird. They are a little hardier than an average bird, but keep them out of the sun for too long and they do not awake until they are struck by sunlight. They live an average of two years worth of days, but if they are kept out of the sun they go into stasis. Rathin (Sun Plains, Orcshome) Finding large creatures to tame immediately meant one thing, tigers and lions. Although there were plains lions, of which some were captured within a week to find tigers Orcs would need to scout and trade into Konwey. The people there reacted badly to the Orcs and Rathin's people were forced to defend themselves. From what they gathered, the country was being invaded by some kind of monstrous spider people and the people they had met with thought the Orcs were related to them. It would make trading difficult if they could not resolve the difference. For the time being, if the Orcs wanted tigers, they would need to sneak through and raid them from Konwey. Vek for his part was slowly adapting to having to run a town. It was like trying to juggle four daggers he said, you needed to keep an eye on where each one was, where it was going and remember to catch the others. Otherwise all the daggers would stick into you like a piece of cooked meat. It was an amusing metaphor, and Vek seemed to be managing with only a look of tiredness and a bit more grouchiness than he had once had. Your action was a success, but I tried to make it a little bit more interesting for you. Beltheus (Beltheus Demesne) There is a moment of shock as Beltheus' power surges into Nomad, and it rewrites part of his essence. Gone was the aspect of evolution, now replaced with the the aspect of Demonic Earl. However the look of shock from Nomad's face passes quickly and he smiles again. "Ah yes, this will do nicely for the time being." He mentions, looking at his slightly changed form.  Civar (Arandia, county of Fulkshire) With his stone in hand, Civar let his intuition guide him. For two tenday he wandered the country until he found a forge in a town nearby to Fulkshire where a new smith had come into the town. Curious as to why he had been lead here Civar watched the man for some time. From his appearance he was clearly a smith, he was as broad as he was tall, covered in lots of shiny burn marks and didn't have a lot of long flowing hair to catch on fire. He watched a younger smith who seemed to be learning the trade intently. The younger smith was nearly done with his task and once he finished he brought the horseshoe over to the older man. "I did a good job this time, if you have a look ser." I said earnestly in clear desire for the elder's approval. Eventually when the younger smith was beginning to look concerned the elder simply asked him. "Why?" As Civar watched the scene, the older man asked the younger smith a series of questions which all served to get the younger smith to examine his own work himself. Eventually the younger smith conceded that it was a serviceable horseshoe but that he had quenched it a little too early and so it was more brittle than it could have been. The elder smith smiled and told him that he would know next time to leave it longer. At that point he turned to you and asked what you thought, to which you would have to mostly agree with the younger smith's assessment. The man's name was Jerund, he had left the east of Arandia after things kept on changing and there was turmoil. He talked about a town that had disappeared only to be replaced by man sized bugs that acted like people, and also of a man that matched Daveron's description who seemed to rally people by directing all of their hate onto a single thing. He didn't care for such things and had decided to pack up and leave, when he had felt a pull to this part of the world. The next day you spent getting a handle on Jerund's skills, which were formidable but mostly centred around practical things. For example he did not have a lot of practice forging a long blade even though he was capable of doing a decent job of it. He also did not tend to embellish or decorate his things much, because such fine details would be worn off by their repeated use. Jerund had a habit of watching others and then getting them to see what they needed to do, instead of telling them himself. "I don't know every man in the world, but most men know themselves. As long as they listen to themselves, they can usually find the right answer." Civar had reports of strange and monstrous creatures that had sprung forth from the nightmares of people to menace them while awake. They seemed to be clustered around an area to the north, in the direction that Aideen had pointed to last month. Whatever foul presence she had prophesied lurked in that place, it seemed no longer content to remain in obscurity. Octagon & Farro (Arrahn, Sicaria) Octagon was likely pleased by the result of the Shapers Guild, although Farro might have been in a different mind regarding them. The action was definitely successful, and some of the old run down structures in Sicaria were being replaced by new Shroomhouses. However the new Shapers guild took their responsibility of reporting back to Octagon and Farro in the form of prayer. They abased themselves before their lords when they reported on the growth and progress of the houses. Largely it was good, the houses were growing quickly and they intermingled well. Unfortunately an unforeseen consequence of the rapid growth of the mushrooms was that they depleted the soil of nutrients making it hard for plants to grow there for some time. Including other Shroomhouses. This was only hindered further by the poisonous spores that the Shroomhouses tended to release, which were fine for the Arrani who seemed to posses a natural immunity. However for other creatures and plants the spores were highly deadly, inhaling it resulted in a quick death as the fungus grew and choked the inside of the body. Already some of the more enterprising Arrani were creating gathering webs to collect and store it. So far none of the original charter members of the Guild had failed their duties, so all remained in good standing. So far with careful management it seemed like the Shroomhouses were a success, and Octagon and Farro should be pleased by it. Before this however Farro had been feeling a sense of power and a whispering in the back of his head, but now with the direct prayers and obsequience of the Shapers to him he understood it better. Although he had a context for what Octagon would be referring to as 'worship', it was still debatable whether it was actually power going from 'mortals' to their 'god'. He could not deny that the worship felt good, he had felt a glimmering of it with the Procession of Arrows, but there had not been enough for it to register the way that the power coming from Octagon's people did. When they worshipped him as their god he felt a thrill of power that ran through him, and to part of him it did feel good. But there were other ways of approaching this than worship. It might be a transaction unlike the principle of Farro's power of contracts. Through serving him the people gave him a power, which he in turn harnessed to serve them. It might even be something to do with magic or mental energies, he had heard of such things mentioned and studied by scholars. Unfortunately much of the college of Val Setin had been lost in its transformation to Sicaria and so he could not consult that knowledge himself. But there might be ways. Towards the end of the moon there came news that many parts of Konwey did not take well to the news that the Arrani were actually man eating spider monsters. In Haikan someone had slain one of the Mimic Councillors and put their corpse on display in main square. A grisly message had accompanied it, warning that if you had lost loved ones or people you knew, that the man had eaten him. It was of course a lie, but there had been some people eaten and so the Arrani position in Konwey was compromised somewhat. The only clue as to the responsible party was a broken arrow tied to the corpse. Success, read the post for the details. Adam & Leodin (Taeless, Perulinke) By the time Adam and Leodin arrived at the nearby village of Perulinke, the desertification effect had spread nearly halfway from Harlakake to the town. For a moon it seemed to have stopped, but this moon it had resumed its expansion. Three farms had been abandoned due to it, as well as the monstrous creatures that lurked around Harlakake. Creatures that seemed to once have been human but were now something hideous and completely unlike a human in any meaningful way. The town itself had some pretty lousy wood palisades erected around it, so the first task that the pair had was to refit it to be a defensible position. The resources being moved in helped them to erect better fences, while workers dug out ditches and placed stakes in them. All the while this occurred a command centre was erected and a city of tents housing all of the soldiers sprung up over night. Adam handled much of the practical logistics of the army, making sure that supplies were coming in and also to ensure that their position was defensible. Although the army would advance to a further staging point beyond the town, for now they worked on making their current position defensible and safe so that they had a fallback. When Adam was not handling this he moved among the troops, giving random spot training exercises and overseeing mock combats. His touch helped to keep the edge of the combatants and drive in the notion that this was a war, the troops here would need to seriously try to kill their opponents, where many had never done so before and found the thought of doing so to be strange and difficult. Leodin instead spent his time with the leaders of the army, discussing tactics and getting reports on the lay of the land. Harlakake itself was about two days solid march from their present position and partly built into the mountain. It had a natural degree of defensive positioning and the approaching land outside of the road was difficult. Beyond this the land around it was slowly becoming sandy and desert-like, which would make marching even harder. There were however some steps that they could take, because for all of its natural strengths and the monsters in it, Harlakake was not built for a siege. Cutting off the enemy supply lines would likely be impossible, but if they could box them in to the city itself then they would also have trouble moving past it. The enemy also would have trouble moving in flanking groups, so the Taelesian forces could focus on their frontal assault and strategies while giving only a light guard to their rear. The real decision would be in what manner the forces would siege the city. If nothing else starving the enemy out was not going to be a viable strategy and word had come that the enemy were erecting some kind of solid sand wall, which would probably be resistant to fire based attacks and making sapping it difficult. Bryn (Arandia, Hope's Fall) The Dreameaters did go forth and multiply, but the result was not what Brynn had foreseen. The new breed of the Dreameaters where not emphemeral, nor were they tied to dreams. They were instead stronger and grounded in the physical world, but there was a trade off for it. These new Dreameaters could not really be called that because they no longer could affect the dreams of other. They could awaken terror in an awake person, but this was due to them taking the physical form of the nightmare they had been born from. They could not change their forms, nor were they particularly intelligent. They were strong, brutish and direct but beyond this were more inclined to simply injure or kill people than to keep them alive and in terror. The Eldest, as the mayor of Hope's Fall had taken to calling himself now, was in clear disdain for these new creatures. His personal opinion was that they should be culled. However if they could be held in check by another, then the Dreambeasts might have a certain value to them. They were certainly much quicker to produce and physically more durable by nature of having a distinct physical form than the Dreameaters, but in truth the result was almost as much a separate type of creature. The Dreambeasts were spawned by Dreameaters, so without the Dreameaters in time the Dreambeasts would all die off, unless Brynn could alter them slightly such that they could at least reproduce themselves. Brynn would need to decide what to do with them. What you wanted to do was difficult for me to reconcile with the original Dreameaters. They were smaller in number and ephemeral because of their ties to dreams. To make them more numerous and hardier, as well as physically having more of a presence requires a tradeoff. You can give them the ability to invade dreams to create new ones if you wish, if you were to destroy the Dreameaters and take that aspect from them and to give it to the Dreambeasts. Ask me about it if you have any questions. Ilvis (Eosia, woods near the border to Harvan) The sword of Ilvis touched the man's brow lightly and it glowed softly. The man sighed and closed his eyes for a moment as the light enveloped him as well. The laboured breathing of his chest slowed and began to rise slowly and steadily. The man opened his eyes and stood up looked around. "I feel better, better than I have in years." He said in surprise and he looked slightly younger as well. So shall the passage of years not touch ye, nor the ills of the world touch ye. A voice rang out in the air, a clear and clarion call of a voice. Many of the surviving people in the camp swear similar oaths and they too experience the same voice and change in appearance and health that came with the first. But then eventually two men begin a fight and draw blades on each other, with the intent to ignobly slay the other and both fall down coughing and vomiting blood before dying seconds later. Such was the cost of the blessing made clear. While man or women under divine oath swear, body nor soul shall they beware. But should they break their godsworn word, the passing of the years and the ills of the world shall catch up to them in but an instant. The Oath of Virtue was thus not to be made lightly, for while its effects were strong and valuable, should it be broken the consequences were dire. Okay, you have the Oath of Virtue, which any man or woman can swear to you. They must uphold the four tenets that you have mentioned, and while they do they will not physically age until they die of natural old age, nor will they become sick or weak from natural causes. Poisons with magical or divine components will still affect them however. While there is a degree of leeway with the oath, if a sworn man or woman seriously fails their oath everything that would have affected them will affect them retroactively. This will often result in death. Think a monk's ageless body from DnD with a bit of Paladin's Divine Grace thrown in. Daveron (Arandia, Harvan) Daveron brought his powers to bear and cursed the throne of Harvan. So long as a descendent of he or Ilvis lived, if another took the throne they would suffer misfortune and death. The throne would know intrinsically if one on it was a pretender or not, and further more it was bound to the idea of the throne of Harvan. If the throne was somehow destroyed and another made, or whatever object was declared the seat of power of Harvan, it too would bear this blessing and curse. The Divine Right applied only to the descendants of the cousins however, none of their family aside from them and their children and descendants would be recognised so long as their bloodline continued. The throne itself changed to suit Daveron's demeanour as well, recognising the current authority in it. Later generations would speak of a spirit in the the throne, that seemed to watch and judge those who sat on it. It also changed to reflect the nature, or sometimes mood of its owner as well. Word came from the west of monsters that were preying on the dreams of men and becoming alive to haunt them. Somehow, even worse than this if one could imagine, were rumours of a terrible winged lizard that flew the skies and brought misery and despair where it went. I tried to make it a little more interesting than just 'it succeeds'. Wilhelm Wilhelm turned his divine power, even if he did not call it such a thing, to the task he had in mind. In the earth around the new home of his people he instilled a kind of calling, one that operated on the mental wavelength that the worms operated on. It would call worms to those fields where it was safe for them to move and eat in and then in turn calling them to the next fields when it was time. As the worms ate the earth and moved it, they took a part of this aspect into themselves. In future they would be able to feel the call of fields that needed tending themselves, although without attentive watching when the local collective was too small this might lead to worms wandering off. For his part the insect lord could hear the thoughts of the worms, which grew more sophisticated and reached out towards self awareness, but only when he turned his mind to it. The worms tenders on the other hand always heard the thoughts in the back of their heads. They were an odd sort, even among those from Minburg, for they had two sets of voices in their heads and never quite seemed to be in the same place as everyone else. Success, your action wasn't strictly a divine one the way you described it, so I worked with it to make it more appropriate for the power you were using. I hope you don't mind, I tried to make the result thematic and in line with what you wanted. HiKaizer fucked around with this message at 05:50 on Aug 20, 2013 |
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Aug 8, 2013 08:16
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The Lich - Arandia, Harvan, Burial Grounds The Lich surveyed the various decaying monuments to the dead, stopping thoughtfully here and there. An observer would have noted that he once tapped twice on a former ruler’s plaque before moving on, but there was not a single living observer to do so. Finally he rested before the tomb of a Judge of some esteem based on the monuments before it. “Arbiter Daniker! Rise! There is much work for you among the dead.” The seal of the tomb broke as Daniker rose from the grave.  “Well-preserved. The wealthy make my work so much easier. Come, Death is apathetic but amenable to my craft. He seeks to import the damned to this area, to make it a quarantine for the scum and villainy of the land. But what shall it export?” The Lich covered the piles of the dead in crackling green necromantic energy. Those souls that could be called back to their corpses were bound to them.  The Lich issued his first order unto them: “Form a line, and reveal your deeds to Arbiter Daniker.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ao-Sahfy7Hg The procession began. With some coaching Daniker was able to quickly extract each of the damned’s list of deeds and judge each accordingly, imposing a sentence of undeath until the Lich’s terms were met. By day’s end, each of the Damned had been judged. Some had been found “not despicable”, and so had their souls released and their bodies crumbled to ash. The rest assembled before the Lich. The Lich issued his second order unto them. “You lot are to go out into the world to do good works. Your scales are unbalanced, you owe the world a debt before you are to leave it. Until your total deeds become neutral you are doomed to walk this world seeking redemption. Now leave Harvan. Do no more ill, only good.” The Lich spied one of the Penitent Damned attempting to loot an old crypt.  He seemed to almost explode with fire, falling immobile to the ground. Burning slowly and in agonizing pain. “Should you fail to meet the most basic of expectations your souls will burn to fuel my power. Now leave Harvan, earn your rest, and let all who benefit from your deeds know it was I who sent you.” Using Undeath +2 and Knowledge +2 to create my Arbiter and the Penitent Damned. Arbiter Daniker is to be the main part of this action, he is authorized to raise and judge the dead of Harvan. Should their deeds/Karma be negatively unbalanced they are to be bound to undeath until such time as they balance the scales. They are prevented from doing evil deeds, this cannot be a way for an evil being to be immortal and continue immoral acts. In that case they will just suffer and I eat their souls. So Undeath to raise and bind them, and Knowledge to pull the list of their deeds and keep a record of them in perpetuity. I would like for the Arbiter at least be able to raise dead to add to the ranks, if not also adding evil mortals slain during the redemptive acts of the Penitent Damned. JamezBfod fucked around with this message at 03:23 on Aug 23, 2013 |
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Aug 10, 2013 20:47
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Farro Kapersi - Arrahn, Sicaria Update 22 (3:38:28 PM) ***Farro is absentmindedly pacing in circles on the ceiling. (3:40:57 PM) ***Octagon watches this for a moment before speaking up. "Something on your mind?" (3:42:08 PM) ***Farro stop pacing and mutters something very rude under his breath. (3:42:45 PM) Farro: "In my mind, more like it. Your groveling servants won't stop talking into my skull." (3:43:08 PM) ***Farro shakes his head a few times. "We need to talk about how to handle Konwey." (3:44:42 PM) Octagon: They are your groveling servants, as well. But yes, Konwey is the more pressing matter. (3:47:10 PM) Farro: "I never asked them to grovel, don't put that on me. It's disgusting." (3:49:44 PM) Octagon: "I can see it's going to take quite some time for this all to sink in..." (3:56:06 PM) Farro: "Whatever. Your thoughts on Konwey?" (3:58:11 PM) Octagon: "All things considered, I think it is progressing quite well. Admittedly visitation between the two countries was a bit premature, the fact that there is disagreement among the populace about our presence is a good sign." (3:59:34 PM) Octagon: "Many do not seem to mind the Arrani at all, though obviously there are those that do. The murder is unfortunate, however. In my mind, propaganda is the answer to this problem." (4:01:40 PM) Farro: "Better the man eating spider-people you know than the monomaniacal sand wizards you don't? (4:01:51 PM) Farro: "Sure, should go over just fine." (4:04:18 PM) Octagon: "I doubt Konwey is even aware of the sand-wizard. And please, we would be downplaying the man-eating part. Rather than crack down on this resistance, I imagine the best course of action would be to kill them with kindness. Unless you have some... other idea?" (4:09:25 PM) Farro: "How familiar are you with Konwey? Are you aware just how conservative the national mindset is?" (4:10:24 PM) ***Octagon raises an eyebrow. "Go on." (4:20:18 PM) Farro: "The Konnish put their country above everything but their family. Putting the blame of missing or dead family on the Arrani? You're going to need a silver tongue. And they've got some of the best military minds this side of Daesin." (4:21:05 PM) Farro: "This is going to require a VERY deft touch. I have a potential solution, but it's not going to be a painless one." (4:21:42 PM) ***Octagon tilts his head. "And that is...?" (4:26:02 PM) Farro: "Pull your agents out of Konwey. Don't try to undermine the resistance; empower it and use it to your own ends. When you control the ones fighting for their homeland, you control the fate of the nation." (4:27:45 PM) Octagon: "While that sounds all well and good, given the positioning of my agents, I would need something more concrete than that to justify simply undoing it all." (4:29:31 PM) Farro: "I'm not sure how much more concrete you can get than playing both sides of a fight at the same time." (4:34:08 PM) Octagon: "Pulling my agents out would mean only playing one side of the fight; the Resistance. I'm afraid I don't see this will eventually allow for the absorbtion of Konwey." (4:34:45 PM) Farro: "Because it's MY resistance." (4:36:56 PM) Octagon: "I'm not surprised. Seems it finally came to fruition. Still, you would need quite the silver tongue to turn what is currently an anti-Arrahn movement into a pro-Arrahn one." (4:40:57 PM) Farro: "You focus too much on immediate results and the small scale. Konwey is not a nation you are going to absorb overnight. Not without drastic measures like you took with Val Aman. When I formed the resistance, I made a contract. I told them I'd drive the Arrani from Konwey in exchange for their assistance. And such contracts are inviolable. So no, Konwey will not immediately turn into a puppet state. But mark my words, even without my direct support, the resistance is too deep rooted for the resources you have in Konwey now. You will lose this fight. But I can take it back, and I can keep it from open war with Arrahn. And if a common enemy were to appear? Then perhaps the tides might be turned." (4:45:39 PM) Farro: "This is not information I surrender lightly. I'm afraid you're going to have to trust me. You shouldn't, but you don't have a choice as far as I can see." (4:46:54 PM) Farro: "I can at least offer the survival of your current assets." (4:48:07 PM) ***Octagon snorts. "I think my assets can extricate themselves. So, you're suggesting that the entire Imperial Senate simply vanishes, and allows the Resistance to... what, take over? In the hopes that at some point in the future a mutual enemy appears so that we may.. become friends?" (4:50:04 PM) Farro: "You replaced the ENTIRE Imperial senate? No wonder the relations with Arrahn changed overnight. You're as subtle as a brick to the face, Octagon. That does complicate things." (4:51:07 PM) Farro: "We ALREADY have a mutual enemy. Do I have to drag you to Harlakake and rub your nose in it?!" (4:57:14 PM) Octagon: "I think your idea of subtlety is confused. As for Harlakake, so far as we know he has made no further inroads into Taeless, and he certainly does not currently threaten Arrahn and absolutely does not yet threaten Konway. We cannot count upon him to do so, either. We are not the only three star-touched in existance." (5:01:20 PM) ***Farro is visibly irritated. "I am TIRED OF ARGUING SEMANTICS. His former master literally made a loving speech about world domination. He's turning the land around the town into an inhospitable desert. He's god a damned ARMY. HE IS NOT HERE TO TRADE SPICES." (5:02:48 PM) Farro: "I am GIVING YOU A GODDAMNED OPTION. I cannot hinder the resistance. I cannot break a Contract. So either you're going to have to spend months pouring more resources into Konwey, or you're going to lose it." (5:03:30 PM) Farro: "And then they're going to act, because for gently caress's sake your agents were EATING PEOPLE." (5:04:25 PM) Farro: "And while Arrahn and Konwey are at war, Nomad and whoever the gently caress else has delusions on grandeur in this loving world are going to carve up the rest of the continent like a loving CAKE." (5:05:14 PM) ***Farro is jabbing Octagon in the chest/thorax whatever while he makes these subtle points. (5:05:38 PM) Farro: (with a finger or whatever it is I have) (5:05:44 PM) Farro: (not violently) (5:06:05 PM) Farro: (well, not with intent to wound, at least) (5:06:22 PM) Farro: (It probably feels really uncomfortable though) (5:07:06 PM) Farro: "AND WOULD YOU ALL STOP TALKING IN MY HEAD WHAT IS WRONG WITH EVERYONE IN THIS drat COUNTRY" (5:19:00 PM) Octagon doesn't seem at all perturbed, though he does eventually grab Farro's hand in order to stop the mildly bothersome thumping. "Control yourself." He gives Farro a look. "The rest of the continent does not concern me at present. If I am to pull my agents out of Konway and give up that most... advantageous position, I will need to know exactly how you intend to prevent war. Because from where I sit, you are asking me to exchange the possibility for war in the future for the possibility of war -right now-. I tend to favor my odds in that uncertain future." (5:27:02 PM) Farro: "You are dangerously overestimating your tenuous grasp on Konwey. I spent months building up the resistance. Making connections. Scoping out supply lines. Learning the schedules of suspected infiltrators. Garnering public support. (5:27:16 PM) Farro: Have you done ANYTHING other than replace a handful of politicians? What's more, you only have agents in the capital. You ARE aware there are other cities, right?" (5:34:23 PM) Octagon: "Before the divinely-inspired resistance, things were going quite smoothly, thank you very much. There was no need to involve myself further. You are asking me to trust you, that everything will go swimmingly if only I just release Konway into your hands." (5:36:15 PM) Octagon: "In order for you to gain this trust, I need to be convinced you are going to be acting in the best interests of Arrahn. Be aware, I am not opposed to merely conquering Konway. For all their vaunted military expertise, they have never faced a being like me." (5:36:56 PM) Octagon: "But! Conquest is messy, tiresome, and bloody. I would far prefer things be smooth as silk." (5:37:22 PM) Octagon: "No need for swords when words will do. You get the idea." (5:49:10 PM) ***Farro slits his eyes and all other emotion drains from his face. "I will tell you this only once. There are things in Konwey very dear to me, indeed. Much more so than anything in this shithole of a nation. Or what it used to be. (5:49:22 PM) Farro: I was born here. Did you know that? Born and bred, right in Val Lichett. If I recall, you call it Delena now. You can have all of it. But I swear on every rock on the ground and cloud in the sky, if you so much as give her a nightmare... (5:49:30 PM) Farro: You'll wish I really WAS a god. Then you might reasonably expect me to have an honest to god damned shred of mercy in me. (5:49:38 PM) ***Farro vanishes. (5:49:47 PM) Farro: (poof! stealth magic!) Following his very diplomatic and not-at-all-mentally-compromised exchange with Octagon, Farro retreats to Terminus for some time alone. After some time, and a conversation he still wasn't sure had actually happened, he set to work on his plan for the Procession. He moved over to the Plinth whereupon the Arrows left their Keys containing intelligence reports, and marked his own Key with the following message: "I apologize for my hiatus, it has taken some time to adjust to the new circumstances. In any case, the message is received. I would have preferred a less public venue, though. I'll keep it brief: I consumed a concoction we took from an Arrani caravan in the hope that I might be able to better infiltrate into Arrahn and learn more about what exactly is going on up there. It worked, in a sense, but the effects were much more pronounced than I had expected. Long story short, I'm connected to this Octagon fellow now. Key points there: notice that I said "I," not "We" and that I also said "Connected," not "Controlled." Nothing's changed other than I'm a big whopping horrible spider now. Luckily unlike the Arrani I am able to resist the man-eating part of the deal. For those concerned about my motivations: I have and will continue to honor my Contracts. The fact that what power I can share with you still remains is evidence enough of that. I am still pledged to remove the Arrani from Konwey. But you must remember that our ultimate goal is to bring Order into the world to better it; if we can enact that change with methods other than bloodshed and chaos we should attempt to do so. With that in mind, I am currently proposing a unilateral withdrawal of Arrani agents from Konwey to Octagon. He was less than pleased at the idea, but I believe in time he will understand that it is his best option. To that end, I must maintain a neutral position in this conflict for the time being. I will neither directly support or hinder your actions, so long as Octagon does not move to take an action that contradicts our established goals. We have all made sacrifices in pursuit of Order, and we will make many more. This situation is a sacrifice of mine, not a betrayal. I will bear this burden for even the small hope that the situation can be resolved in the best manner possible. Stay safe." When he had finished with his message, he reached into the Plinth and again focused his power. The Keys were no longer sufficient, with Arrows all over the world, many without a nearby Gate. So he would bring the Procession closer together still, and his message would be heard by all. Upgrading Arrow communications abilities: they will now be able to speak with each other telepathically, instead of needing to rely on word of mouth or leaving Keys with messages. General Arrow to Arrow telepathic range is limited to, say, the size of a large city. Farro is an exception; he and another Arrow can communicate regardless of distance. Contracts [+2] to draw on the power of the Contract to created and maintains the Procession; Love [+2] because he needs to mend this between himself and his followers, who he cares about more than he is perhaps able to admit to himself. Stealth [+2] arguably applies because it will facilitate a more sneaky way of communication as the Arrows won't need to leave Keys everywhere to have secure communications.
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Aug 13, 2013 04:57
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Edo, Eisos, Eosia With no response or reaction from the Arandians forthcoming, Edo decided they had probably all died. Certainly the disease should have burnt itself out after two months in such a busy camp. A somewhat disappointing result on some level - even now a part of Edo daydreamed of glory and excitement, and a pitched battle would certainly offer opportunities for that - but it did mean no more Eosians would have to die just to push the Arandians out of the woods they'd fortified. Leaving the quarry and the birds to their own devices, he headed north, stopping by the military command tent on the way. The only advice he gave the generals was to avoid engaging any Arandians in close combat, as they may still carry the plague. And, of course, to let them flee back home, if they were still alive and wanted to leave. He also borrowed one of the magisters' communications trinkets, so that if he was needed they could reach him before too long. He also left behind his two magister friends in the camp, asking them to keep an eye on things. The assassins were fast, but Edo had faith in Katikos, Ajikan and the army's war magisters; even if they couldn't win one-to-one, they could rescue a great many people and probably even get away before anything truly bad happened. And then he returned to Eisos. His return was subdued. Most people recognised the glowing figure riding into the city, Val and the Magic by his sides, but there were only a few cheers and mostly a lot of careful silence. Many remembered the riots and the rise of demon dust. And there must be tales circulating now of what happened in the throne room - there were too many nobles present for it to remain secret. After visiting the University, the Valamnite Order and the Emperor's Palace to find out if anything interesting had happened during his long absence, Edo made his way to the river. He pulled his fishing rod from his bag and began to fish. The water was murky; barges and a large population meant the river had never really been clean, but the dust and filth from the reconstruction of the poor quarters didn't help either. And at that moment, sitting in contemplation on the side of the river, he decided to do something about it. The filth poisoned the fish and made the poor sick and weak. Disease - now a matter on which Edo had become expert after the Arandians - could, however, be cleansed. The heat of the day killed most diseases of water and perhaps with magic it could be made to purify the river itself. Over the next few weeks, Edo spent much of his time by the riverbanks just upriver of the docks, experimenting with different methods - meshes of stone and steel, chains of magical light and other mechanisms, until at last he decided upon a solution. Drawing on all his powers, Edo threw out an insubstantial magical net into a small inlet. The net was designed to reflect and distribute cleansing sunlight throughout the inlet and possibly further afield, destroying disease-causing particles, bacteria and virus. Rather than boiling the water, it was designed to purge it with the sun's cleansing light. What better way to show the power of Valamnis than by bringing His light to the one thing everyone depended on? Long post, but the key thing is Edo is trying to purify the river going through Eisos. While the whole thing would be awesome, he's starting with just a small inlet and then if that works I'll leave it up to you what the various levels of success might be. The effects I'm looking for are (obviously) the completion of the rehabilitation of his character for the bodged roll all those turns ago, a healthier city, and much less disease in the place. Relevant qualities are Divine Sun +2 and Divine Magic +2 Maybe Divine Healing +2 if you're feeling generous, although I'm not explicitly going for the river actually having healing properties - I'm guessing that would make the roll even harder than it probably already is!
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Aug 13, 2013 09:34
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Adam and Leodin - Outside Harlakake, Taelos ***Leodin looked over the reports one more time before he went out to meet Adam. They’d been setting up outside Harlakake for nearly a month, and the reports back from scouts confirmed Leodin’s worst fears. This would be a difficult operation, occupations were costly and if this being had an effect on the people similar to one he and Adam had, the people might prove resistance to any outside change. Leodin had little doubt that if someone were to try and occupy Sellos both the dwarves and litorians there would fight them tooth and nail. He could only hope that this strange desert-man had engendered less love from the populace than the godlings of Taelos. “Walking into the tent where Adam had taken up residence he greeted him, “Adam, it’s as I feared. Unless I’m greatly mistaken, I don’t think we’re going to be greeted as liberators if we invade Harlakake.” ***Adam sat facing a table, a replica of Harlakake etched in stone before him. Tokens were placed along its edges, indicating movements of armies and possible attack positions. Not that he was an expert of the subject, he mused bitterly. He just wanted it all done with so he could go home. Except his adversaries had more of an advantage than he originally thought. “It doesn’t matter. It’s still our town. And They’re still there against there bloody will. Sand or no sand I’m taking it back.” Leodin: “I’m not so sure the people of Harlakake are acting against their will any longer. My scouts have reported that the townsfolk have changed. Will you still go through with this, even knowing that people want nothing to do with Taelos?” Adam: “I quite frankly do not care, Kovar. Have you seen the sand? Seen how it’s spread? If I don’t put a stop to this monster’s path right here, right now, we’re going to be covered in dirt and desert, and that will piss me off to absolutely no end. This bastard stops here.” Leodin: “I know, I just wanted to make sure you were prepared for what the consequences of this might be. This will be no liberation, this will be an occupation, where the possibility exists that the people may fight us to the last. You have a strong emotional tie to this land, are you prepared to cut down your former countrymen in the hopefully unlikely case that it becomes necessary?” His tone is serious, almost solem. Adam: “Kov... Leodin. Don’t talk to me about consequences. Nor talk to me about war. I know what I am signed up for, and I don’t like it anymore than you do. But this is serious. Even if I didn’t want to charge, unless I can find another way to stop this land from being corrupted, I don’t have a choice.” Leodin: “I merely wanted to hear your resolve. I hope that it will not be necessary, but if we are to ask our men to fight and die for us, it is our duty to be prepared for what will come. It is the burden of command, and it is one I have carried for many many years. I have fought with you, I consider you my friend and brother. Even so, I had to be sure, for I could do no less and still call myself a general.” Adam: He paused, flashing a rather dark look at Leodin, before it softened and his calm eyes returned. “Aye.. I know lad. I know. I just... “ he leaned back, eyes closed. “I’m just a wee bit tired. It’s been a bloody month of marching and setting up a bloody base and now I have to kill my own bloody people who may or may nor be sand monsters and the land is being corrupted and I cannae do nothing about it except charge headfirst like a loon until something brakes. Then I have to hope it ain’t me.” He opened his eyes, staring at the top of the tent. “sometimes I wish I was just making trinkets in my shop. You know?” ***Leodin listens silently looking off into the distance, “We have been gifted with a great power, and it is the way of the world that duty and responsibility come with it. I have carried this weight before, and I know the pain it can bring all too well.” He pauses for a moment, the silence in the room becoming total. Until once more he speaks the moment of silence vanishing like the last vestiges of night. “Perhaps it would be best if I were to take on this burden for you as well. I would ask for your aid in combat, but leave the planning and the worrying to me. Put aside the weights that are bearing you down, and for a time I will take them up on your behalf. You have done much for me, and it is a fitting repayment that I at least take this burden from your mind.” Adam: He shook his head, reaching up to grab his helmet, putting it on as he stood up. “No. No, you can’t Kovar. I need to do this with you. You’re better at the planning... but let me do the worrying. If I don’t take an active hand at this... I’m scared to say it... but I don’t think my spark of battle will work as well. I need to feed on the strength of my men, if we need to succeed.” Leodin: “Is there anything I can do to lessen your burden? You have come so far since we first met, but I do not want you to lose yourself in that change.” Adam: “You know... I don’t think you can this time... Kovar. There is no way I can do this without someone getting hurt. I’m scared, but if I don’t do this, I don’t think I will muster up the strength to pull it off again. Just... you know...” he stops moving, turning to Leodin and just staring up at him. “Just make sure I don’t go too far... aye?” ***Leodin extends out a hand, “On that you will have my word. I think there might be one other thing I can do as well. Let me take overall command of this operation. You will still be able to worry and fight and bleed with the men, but I am a general and I have been for many years. It is where I can do the most good, and where I can do all in my power to see that as few of the men of Taelos are hurt as possible. More than that, the people of Taelos have already come to know you, but myself and my people are strangers to them. Let me show to them I am their friend and ally, let me prove myself to your countrymen on the field and show them the talent I have honed for decades.” Adam: He takes the hand, smiling. “I... well... alright. Alright sure. Why not. What’s the worst that could possibly happen eh? Go see to your people. We have a lot to prepare for.” ***Leodin returns the smile, careful to keep his mouth closed. He had found that people found a toothy smile from a litorian off putting. “We do indeed.” Actions to come after Adam gets a chance to chat with the Vizier.
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Aug 13, 2013 22:50
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Rathin Stonewill Orcshome, Sunplains. The Orcs were coming along well, and Orchome was becoming a formidable fortress. Vek was catching on well to the idea of running the fortress and Rathin knew that it was time for him to go. Vek seemed almost teary eyed when Rathin told him. He would come back, but there were now greater matters of importance to contend with. With a lion acting as a pack animal, he gathered a small unit of Orcs, and bid the fortress ado. Beyond the horizon lay Konwey, a place that would have to be explored and tapped for potential resources. The time had come for the Orcs to expand beyond the fortress. The time had come to establish the first Orc Stronghold, a home away from home. A place where the Orcs can maintain their presence in the region. Short post today unfortunately. I want to establish an Orc Stronghold in Konwey, taking a small team of Orcs and a pack-lion because that's badass. Orc [+2] Building Strongholds is part of the culture of the orcs, and they're hardy and resourceful. Farming [+2] To help create a plantation by the Stronghold for food.
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Aug 14, 2013 03:47
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Leodin - Harlakake Now that he had been given command of the combined armies of humans and litorians, Leodin made a point of ensuring the two groups had a unified command structure and good lines of communication. He had already spent over a month working with the human army and it had quickly become clear to them that they dealt with a man who knew what he was doing when it came to command. That was good, because a general who was untrusted by his troops was doomed to fail, and in that sense the humans were the weak link. Leodin knew with total certainty that his litorian troops would follow him to hell and back, obeying every order along the without hesitation. The humans however, did not know him so well, so he spent time making sure that they knew that the general knew exactly what he was doing, in order to earn their trust and respect. In the final equation, it would be Adam who gave the approval for the attack. He had better connection with Taelos’ leadership, a group Leodin was ambivalent about at best, but while he may have no respect for the Vizier and his noble cronies, Leodin had more than enough respect for his friend. If Adam wanted to try and work within that system, Leodin would give him the chance. Even if Adam had the final say, that didn’t mean there was nothing to do in the meantime. No, Leodin wanted to be ready to go the moment Adam got permission or finally tired of the Vizier. That meant attack plans had to be drafted, troops trained, units organized, rules of engagement formulated. It was a delicate task, there was a large amount of information missing, and what he had heard wasn’t heartening. It appears that the people had been changed, in a manner similar to the people of Sellos. Though unlike the dwarves and the litorians this change appeared more grotesque than noble. This raised unfortunate spectors, for if they had changed in mind as well as body there was no way to tell how they would react to the invading armies. They might well fight to the last, an outcome Leodin hoped to avoid. It was with an awareness that this would serve as notice to the world on how his people would react that he drafted the battle plan. It was a work of beauty, all the frustration at having been blocked from the Sun Plains had washed away as he drafted it. It was a masterpiece, and it laid out a number of possibilities. Everything about it was designed to meet the twin goals of minimizing friendly casualties and doing all in his power to prevent a massacre. The people of Harlakake had been transformed, but they had once been known as the most compassionate people of the Taelos, their appearance might be monstrous, but that did not mean they did not deserve the chance to prove themselves otherwise. As such, the targeting of civilians, if that term had any meaning, was strictly forbidden, and those enemy troops that surrendered would be treated fairly and respectfully. All in order so that when the fighting was done, there would still be people remaining in Harlakake, regardless of what shape they might take. In planning, and organizing, and training, Leodin tried to hammer this point home. They might appear monstrous, but that does not necessarily mean they are monsters. If they truly lacked all virtue and sense they would be dealt with, but until that time they would be treated as any human enemy. Of course, Leodin was not so foolish as to believe that they could be taken lightly. No, this was the work of a god, and if they had been changed they had no doubt been enhanced. They were superior to base human stock, much as the litorians or the dwarves were, and Leodin wove that assumption seamlessly into his battle-plans. Wherever possible he would strike with overwhelming force, both to encourage surrender and to ensure that no surprise the enemy could muster would derail his plan. The armies would wait on word from Adam, but they would be ready to retake the city when the moment came, that Leodin would be sure of. Getting things ready to retake Harlakake. Drafting battle plans, training troops, making sure there’s a unified chain of command etc, also leading the fight if/when he gets the go from Adam. Strategy[+2] - Leodin’s grasp of strategy shines brightly in his plans. By mortal standards they are works of art in the field, to be studied for ages to glean his divine insights. They take into account all the vague information he had been given and reflect his intentions without losing their effectiveness. Even more so, it will allow him to alter his battle plans on the fly in order to maintain and increase their effectiveness when and if the battle begins. Strength[+2] - He weaves his power among the troops Human and Litorian, both to aid them in the coming battle and to grant them the spiritual strength to look past their enemies forms and grant them compassion and respect should they surrender. It will also aid him in battle, for there is not a being on this planner who can match his raw strength, no wall or barricade can withstand his blows. Lion[+2] - Sharp senses, sharp reflexes, and sharper claws, all these assets will be at Leodin’s command when battle begins. Not to mention a predator's instinct he can impart to the troops before the battle begins. Fire[+2] - In battle there are few things more fierce and dangerous than flame. Should it become necessary, Leodin will employ this rarely used gift to defend himself and his men, though he will do so reluctantly. All too well does he recall Algard’s uncertainty in the use of flame as a weapon, and Leodin was moved by it. Not to mention that he wishes to encourage surrenders and prevent a massacre, and seeing a man burned to death can have all sorts of effects on a person.
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Aug 15, 2013 17:06
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Adam - The Entrance of the Grand vizier's throneroom There was a lot less waiting, he remarked to himself, as he was ushered into the man's chambers. A lot less hassle, a lot more respect. He summarised that when you took a man's army you sort of made yourself important in that fashion. True, he didn't like the jerk, but the last thing he wanted to be worried about was someone stabbing him in the back while he was fighting a war on two fronts. He told himself to be on his best behaviour as he entered the chambers... but didn't think that would last long. quote:Vizier He is sitting back on his chair with a curious expression on his face. Pompous, overbearing, know-it-all trash, he muttered as he made his way back out. But at the very least it looked like they had a truce going. The man annoyed him to no end, but unlike what Kova - Leodin said, he couldn't afford to just take his job and hope he did it better. Besides, politics were boring. There was one more thing left to do though, before the blood started. He headed back to the camp within a few days, barely noticing the time... again. Adam - The Outskirts of Harlakake quote:Adam Adam did not have much of a choice, he told himself, as he and a small entourage of his men went forward towards the outskirts of Harlakake, one with a sounding horn. IF he had a choice, he wouldn't be getting ready to raze a town to the ground. If he had a choice, he wouldn't be out here in the cold ready for war. If he had a choice he would be married by now. Of course, that did not mean... Leodin is not going to like this.... he thought, racing back to camp.
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Aug 17, 2013 11:17
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Ilvis - Eosian border Releasing the coin and letting it fall back against my chest from its leather strap I spurred Avenger down the hill, Rickard following from a distance towards the camp in the distance. Civil war, and ill tidings of death and destruction visited on their homes would surely multiply the chaos and disorder still plaguing the men of the camp. I sighed. Might as well do it quick and hard, like peeling off a scab. "I've received word that Arandia, that Harvan is under attack. Some supernatural force has slipped ahead of us and left devastation and civil war in its wake. Thousands are dead or worse." Gasps of shock and surprise bloomed like mushrooms after a rain but I quieted them with a raised hand. "We're going to go and make it right. Obviously whatever foul being is responsible must die." Grim faced and understanding my meaning, the army gathered itself into good order as they climbed atop horses and discarded all non-essential gear, riding double or even triple where size and other constraints allowed. I raised the Sword high and pointed towards Harvan in the far distance. "RIDE!" Ilvis has just found out about that whole civil war/thousands dead thing through a chat with Civar. I'll edit that short chat into my post when I get the chance later but for now its Time to get everybody and Ride of the Valkyries (only with men) straight for Harvan. For purposes of Justice. If it looks like a duck, weighs as much as a duck, and quacks wrong, it's going to get a sword in the head.  +2 Travel: Get there, get there fast. +2 Justice: It's a hard and violent ride, to drive the wicked and unclean before us until the land is clean. +2 Sacred Sword: Lo there do I see my father, Lo there do I see my mother, my sisters and my brothers in arms, Lo there do I see the line of my people, back to the beginning. Lo, they do call me, they bid me take my place among them, for our land is wracked by a foul blight. Through sword and steel shall we endure. Through righteousness shall we prevail. That death should claim me is no small thing, but I fear it not for by my sword I shall take what is wrong and make it aright.
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Aug 18, 2013 03:46
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The Lich - Arandia, Harvan Graveyards The cloud of dust on the Horizon gave away the numbers, haste, and intent with which the group was riding. "Their haste might be their undoing. Or ours." The Lich mused, turning away from the Penitent Damned. He grabbed a gawker who had been watching the Lich's unnatural work of retributive justice, "Go to Daveron, tell him the Lich spies a threat to Harvan. If he refuses to see you tell him that he reeks of Elderberries." The Lich left to meet the group head-on. Unarmed, holding up one dessicated finger to forestall a fight the Lich hailed the oncoming horde. "Hail travelers! I am but a newcomer to Harvan, Daveron has given me leave to practice my craft with what he provides. If you would like I could show you the fruit of this day's work." Alerting Zombie to the people IC, presuming the undead would be the first thing a horde of Vigilantes would go for I am being proactive and meeting them diplomatically and offering to explain my latest action.
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Aug 18, 2013 14:05
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Leodin and Adam - Outside Harlakake, Taelosquote:***Leodin was in his tent, working on the various contingency plans for dealing with the invasion and occupation of Harlakake. He was alone, but there were a pair a litorian warriors standing guard outside the doorway to make certain their god wasn't disturbed.
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Aug 18, 2013 21:50
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Daveron - Harvan Daveron gets word from the lich about some warband descending on Harvan, and goes about mustering defenses as grumpily (and drunkly) as possible. "Assemble men!" Daveron hobbles over to one of the towers at the castle, bellowing orders this way and that. "Something that would want to assault this forsaken hole has got to be a terrible thing to behold," he grumbles, spilling mead down his corroded armor. For the first time in what seemed forever, Daveron felt a very clear uncertainty. That someone would bear arms against a place not worth assaulting made his brain do convoluted loops of cause and effect, going back through the events that happened. Preparing what meager defenses Harvan proper must have left in the face of a possible invasion, then heading with a retinue of Daveron's Order to meet with the lich in the off chance that some "diplomacy" might be on the table.
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Aug 18, 2013 22:07
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Leodin - Harlakake, Taelosquote:***Leodin strides quickly towards the the outskirts of Harlakake, almost at a run, overcome with a mix of anticipation and anxiety. He arrives at the place where Adam had met Nomad and seen Algard and looks around, his head turning quickly, his eyes searching for one man in particular. After finishing the removal of the armor, Algard sets it aside in a neat pile and stands before Leodin. The lion god puts his hands on the other man’s shoulders and closes his eyes. Though he cannot see Algard, he can still feel his skin beneath his hand, hear his heartbeat, smell his human scent. With all this in mind, Leodin begins to pour his power into Algard, not intending to make the man just a litorian, but rather the ideal litorian, the litorian mortal against which all others would be measured. Thanks to the armor he had worn for these past months, Algard’s physical strength was impressive, but now Leodin would give him the Mental and Spiritual strength to match. Algard had wanted to fit in, and Leodin would grant his wish. When the transformation was complete Algard the litorian would be able to mesh with his fellows naturally, Leodin even gave him the touch of strategic insight needed to truly master and internalize Ro’arin. Algard would be able to pick up the language naturally. Leodin did all this, attempted to make Algard the ideal of litorian-kind because the man had stood with him when he had nothing, and though he may have been wronged by Leodin’s inaction he was still among the few Leodin called friends. As he became a god he was finding the opportunities for friendship were few and far between and to be cherished. Turning Algard into a litorian, aiming to make him a litorian’s litorian, strong in all 3 pillars naturally adept at picking up the language, etc. Lion[+2] - To turn him into a Lion-man. Strength[+2] - To grant him the Strength of Mind and the Strength of Spirit to go along with his ample Strength of Body. Strategy[+2] - To grant him the touch of strategic insight necessary to truly master and internalize Ro’arin, so he’ll be able to pick up the language naturally and be very well spoken in it.
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Aug 19, 2013 09:18
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Wilhelm - Minburg What many city-dwellers could never realize is that the life-blood of the city is the farm, and Wilhelm had spent his entire mortal life planting that healthily beating heart in the midst of the community. Even with his mind and body expanding beyond what was his mortal coil, he could still feel that same pride that he held in the township. His lapses in memory were worrying. A flash of inspiration followed by lucid dreams of the reality around him- It was clear that he was no longer capable of leading his people in their day to day lives. Wilhelm announces to the people as they work, "Minburg, we are of the same soil. There are those of you who have lived here since the day you were born, and those of you who joined us from far off places, yet still found this place to be as much a home as the rest of us- You have looked up to me for the past bit of time in this surprising event that has brought us all closer as a community than we ever have been. I will be clear. I do not know if I am fading, gaining in longevity, or what is happening to me. It is a state of dementia where I only remember days of the month before I am in another day at another time. I am no longer capable of rightfully leading you- What sort of leader can give his people only a fraction of his attention, after all?" Wilhelm mentally clammed up. Perhaps his old age was catching up with him even in this youth? "So you must lead yourselves as a collective, to come together as individuals and move as a whole. From what little I have learned of the world outside, it has changed as much as we have. It may have become a very dark place from what it once was. And so it is that we Minburgians must become a light of prosperity and friendship in these dark times, and that we must band together with others to spread this prosperity. Minburg has always been proactive, and we must continue to be." Wilhelm tittered to himself, and then shot off into the sky on his translucent wings. Establishing the Minburg Collective, the local force of aggressive prosperity. They're going to aggressively assist the surrounding communities, particularly the ones that marched on them before, to help them with their fields and farms. They'll also bring surplus humanitarian aid to any communities in dire need. Going to be using Insect Lord +2 and Hivemind Usurper +2 to inspire this escapade. MEANWHILE Wilhelm himself is going to shoot off in some random direction. Commoners fucked around with this message at 07:17 on Aug 20, 2013 |
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Aug 20, 2013 07:12
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Beltheus Beltheus, his conversation with Nomad completed, holds the souls of his wife and son in his hands. Odd, that, but really, he didn't much want them. Any love he had for them was largely gone. After all, he had willingly sacrificed them in the first place. And Nomad thought that THAT was his primary bargaining chip, and that the other thing was just a bonus. No. Nomad may have become more ruthless when he was transformed into a demon, but he still didn't understand Beltheus at all. After all, if he had, then he never would have entered into a deal with Beltheus in the first place. He looks at the souls ready for recorporalization, and then puts them away again. Soon. He would do it soon. Instead, he goes to his library and watches the imps continue to prepare it, moving to and fro looking for books. He watches them and thinks.
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Aug 20, 2013 12:12
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Adam - at the camp before Harlakake A small scribe say before him, ready to take his words onto paper, to hand over to Nomad by the end of the afternoon. Adam had decided that seeing the man face to face might bring about a rage within him that would lead to a war he was not ready to start. At least not yet. A penned letter would be more than enough to prove his word, and if they knew about him as much as they claimed, they would know he was good for it. "Start at the top. I will keep this short." He leaned forward, eyes closed. "Also, don't write my accent. That would be... inappropriate." "Nomad. Your offer seems genuine, based on what my generals say, and what my closest friend vouches for. So I will accept your proposal. You have till the rest of the moon to remove any trace of your sand and your drops from Taelos and all of its premises. If you do not, on the morning of the new moon, I will attack you in person and slay every single thing that comes before me. Then I will march on through the mountains if I have to to wipe your very existence off this world, for breaking your word to me. If you do, then on the morning of the full moon, I will come alone with you, into the sands, to see what it is that you wish to show me. I cannot gurantee I will be in the best of behaviour, for if I am threatened I am unsure as to how I will react, but I will do my best to be respectful to you and your people for as long as it does not interfere with my own customs. You will have my presence for as long as both of us deem necessary, and I will leave if you ask me to, no questions asked. I hope this is the start of a truce that will go between our people. Adam." He stopped, pausing for a second. Then added a line. "Name Under review." Action: Alright. Going to call Nomad on his stuff. Lets see what happens. I will be sitting outside Harlakake this whole time, watching for signs of betrayal. If he does. I will crush him.
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Aug 20, 2013 22:52
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Civar Kit'An & Jerund Jerund was perfect. Perfect. In my previous life I avoided people like him as if they had the plague. The schemes and half baked ideas that were half my livelihood in the old days had a way of unraveling when the right question was asked. In the time I'd known him, he always asked the right question. Increasingly these days, folks did what I wanted without need for the old tricks so I wasn't surprised when he agreed to share his forge with me, a complete stranger. As we worked on our separate projects I talked to him about the need for order and clear sight in the new world, and how the Hammerite's are trying to bring some of that to their communities. How even the Hammerites have need of clear speech and someone to help them see the truth, and how he could be that someone. Inspired by watching him, I also decided to try something I had always been fairly certain wouldn't work. By slow stages and difficult, pointed questions, I tried to guide him to understanding how he was forging not just metal, but order with his forge. Questions as serious and direct as "why do you get better steel with charcaol from Suffolk town instead of charcoal from Savoy city? " (The underlying order of the Suffolk charcoal allows a greater transfer of order into the steel because of trace elements present in Suffolk and not in Savoy. Also, having been to Savoy, I know half the city are thieves and the other half bandits.) And questions as indirect as "What can be created that cannot be created?" I hoped I could awaken in him at least some shadow of the understanding of Order that drove me now. At the end of the month, new understanding or not, I sent him on his way with Tinker's Treasure to help the Hammerites be all they should be. I caressed a new, heavier hammer, as I watched Jerund head out. I had an old friend to meet in Harvan. Trying to teach Jerund Order magic D: Order +2 - order magic D: Smithing +2 - via smithing Kind of a risky action here, but I'm hoping I can copy Jerund's teaching method to help him awaken into the ability to manipulate order directly too. If not, oh well, I knew it might not work and at least I still have the coolest ethical compass for my Hammerites in Jerund. LLSix fucked around with this message at 00:12 on Aug 21, 2013 |
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Aug 21, 2013 00:09
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Octagon - Arrahn, Sicaria Octagon sighed as Farro disappeared. Invisibility? Stealth? Magic? All three were likely. If any sense could ever penetrate Farro's thick skull, such blessings would be most useful. In any case, his Resistance had really gone and mucked up a perfectly good infiltration of Konwey. Were it not divinely-backed, perhaps propaganda and crackdown might stamp it out, but with a nascent god having already provided aid... well. Octagon would either need to see to it personally, and thus leave business in Arrahn unattended, or he would need to pull out, else risk exposing all of his agents. Still, they handed him quite the handy propaganda tool, and on a silver platter, no less. The Spider Lord would file that away for when Arrahn returned to Konwey to finish the job. But for now... let them win. He had word sent to Konwey; come home. Once that was taken care of, Octagon focused on ensuring that, in the future, he would have the resources to dedicate to efforts like the Konwegian takeover. To that end, Octagon drew upon his years of experience working in what could be called the espionage field. He envisioned a vast organization stretching across Barant, like a spider's web, with all threads leading back to Arrahn. It was time this vision became reality. He dispatched a messenger to Delena, recalling Elkud to Sicaria in order to take part in this grand project. My action for the month; I am officially forming the secret police and intelligence agency of Arrahn. Their purpose is to seek out threats to Arrahn, and eliminate them through any means necessary. On paper, they answer to the Spinners and the Temple, but in truth they are autonomous and have special authority to do whatever is required to accomplish their goals. I'll be giving them the Toxin recipe that can convert subjects (be they arrani, human, or otherwise) into Mimic Spiders, allowing them to recruit freely. I don't expect it to be a brainwashing drug like the original toxin. Transformation [+2] will be one of their primary tools, allowing for infiltration and the placing of assets. Toxins [+2] are the second tool of their trade, used as required for assassination, capture, or interrogation. Spider-Lord [+2] probably applies because this organization is specifically for and made of spiders, as usual. Up to you. Octagon will, of course, draw upon his knowledge and experience from his time as a mortal in order to instruct them. Elkud will be recalled from Delena to oversee its operation, as he sees fit. I don't expect all of them to be Mimic Spiders; after all, if they can acquire human (or otherwise) assets, so much the better. In Non-Divine-Action territory, I am instructing the Spinners to begin formalizing a military. The training and recruitment of soldiers in order to secure our borders is priority. They are to commission barracks and fortresses from the Guild of Shapers where necessary. Lastly, I am sending word to my agents in Konwey; get out and return home. They are to fake their deaths (probably by mangling a corpse until it cannot be identified) and making it look like they, too, were assassinated one by one. Whatever they do, they are to make sure they get back safely
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Aug 21, 2013 10:33
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1 5E, Second Moon Just a reminder that in case you hadn't been factoring it into your actions and narratives, you are starting to skip through the world a bit. Delegating to subordinates might be a wise idea, as you can skip ahead days to a week ahead and miss important events. Also, although you are all probably still doing so as it is a habit (except for the Lich), eating, drinking and sleeping are not necessary for you at this point. The Lich The Lich created his servant, but Daniker was just a name it wore. The real Daniker had died long ago and anything remaining of his soul had long since decayed. This wasn't a cause for concern for the Lich however, for Daniker's personality and purpose were constructed by the Lich. It was a basic framework, that would undoubtedly with time and exposure to the word develop into something more vibrant and complex just as a human did. For the risen dead though, there was a more pressing concern. Daniker was imbued with the ability to raise them, but he had a time limit to work within before the soul became so degraded as to be unusable for the Lich's purpose. Daniker could create simple undead, uncreative and robot like servitors such as skeleton and zombie guards or workers. He could also stitch back into an appropriate vessel the soul of the dead, humans worked best but in a dire situation armour or statues would suffice. But he could not create a new personality and complex awareness from scratch, this was the Lich's purview for the time being. But for the purpose he worked for, it would be enough. Arbiter Daniker as the being was called, called back the souls of the dead as much as could be found and were still useable for their design. Although Daniker could not monitor a soul like the Lich did, his power bound the soul back into a contract of second life. One of the terms was specifically a clause that prevented misdeeds and evil, and if a soul pushed that to its limit then they would be locked in spiritual torture until the Lich could deal with them as he saw fit. For now this would involve the Lich going close enough to work on the soul, although in time his range might increase. This was the part he inherited from Mazir, although he knew not that nor was his finesse and ability to work a soul as great or varied as his divine progenitor. But in time his reach would undoubtedly grow, and spells and arts to call upon his power to punish wicked undead could be devised. Success, there are limits to what Daniker can do for now, but they shouldn't be such that they prevent him from doing what you want. Farro Kapersi As Farro concentrated on the Plinth, he began to feel small voices in his mind. In some way these were like the voices of the Arrani that he had come to feel, but they were much more personal and they were his. There was overall a mixture of emotions, primarily consisting of hope, concern and to a lesser extent some relief. Then there was some surprise as at a guess, people realised that they could now use their power to contact other people. However there was one voice that seemed to lead the voices. "Well, having an eye in the enemy camp is always good. But we've been broken once Farro, it will take more than words to amend that. We'll give you the benefit of the doubt, and in no small part because Elise still believes in you, but there won't be a third chance." It wasn't an ultimatum, even though the words were like it. Farro could hear that the man who said it genuinely wanted for what Farro to have said to be the case, and that his spider phase might simply pass. But they were also world-weary people and used to the worst of humanity. It was hardly surprising that trust did not come easily to them. In the mean time Farro was brought up to date on what was happening. Agents in Eosia and Arandia reported on the growing conflicts there, highlighting the actions of the possibly insane knight Eisner Faust, the definitely insane actions of Daveron and the probably not too insane but likely misguided Edo. They also had warnings of three other powers working on the continent. Civar seemed potentially to be more aligned with their interests, at least from what one Arrow had learned of the Hammerites. There was...something waking up in the north west of Arandia and it was transforming nightmares to reality, and men into lizards that seemed to feed of torment. Most enigmatic of all was to the far north in the Frozen Wilds, where someone or something by the name of Thanjan was bringing the diffuse communities of the region together. Rumour had that he or it controlled the powers of ice, sound and the beasts themselves, although the Arrow had yet to get closer to him. Closer to home was the incursion into Konwey of a group of green skinned and kind of primitive looking creatures named Orcs, that were for their appearance quite capable in the areas of civilisation. They had managed to construct a fortress near the border and had begun patrolling the area. It looked to be an invasion but the Arrow in the area wasn't too sure. It was a little while away from where Lydia was staying currently, but potentially if war broke out she might be endangered before a moon was complete. Your agent in the remains of Val Aman reported that Red seemed to have styled herself as queen, despite being quite young still and had amassed a court of equal parts living illusions and real people. She had also bound all of the wolves that had hidden in men in strange brambled collars, although the purpose of that wasn't clear. This Arrow was the one who was also living with a wolf in him now, but his powers given to him by Farro's contracts had let him survive longer. The forces of Taeless had, concerningly, united as an army for the first time and marched on Harlakake, but the situation was currently at a standstill and it looked like Adam Leborn was going to go with Nomad to try and parley. There had been no sign of Mazir for over four moons and reports held that Nomad now seemed to wield the powers that Mazir had. Success, when an Arrow is formally recognised by their peers they will gain the power to communicate with Farro, and also mentally to other Arrows nearby. They still call themselves the Broken Arrows, but seem to be at least warily accepting your return. Edo As you cast your net into the water it begins to go awry. Water diffracts light and with your transmission being based on sunlight, it begins to lose power even as it sinks into the water. Thinking on your feet quickly you think back on the living magic, and you begin to try and correct the spell on the fly. It is incredibly difficult, despite a show of magical power and skill that the world has never seen before. You try separating the net into separate sections, connected by magic but this only increases the area covered by a little. The problem of the light being diffracted by the water persists. Using your knowledge of the sun you change the spell again, trying to curve the magic in on itself so that water passes through the magic object and is purified. This works and you begin to notice the effect as the water clears up, but suddenly unbidden you think of the birds you created before. Working on a raw and vague general sense of intent and direction, you continue to alter the spell. First you give the objects more discrete form, so that if they are taken out of the water or moved too much they won't dissipate. After this Edo changes the spell so that each individual component can use the disease and muck to power itself. Then finally before you break it apart, you give each the ability to replicate itself in case some are lost. Right before you finish off the spell and disconnect each component something runs through you and Edo extends one last change, not of magic but of raw divine power. The water in front of him shimmered vibrantly for a moment and then began to split apart. However they weren't just insubstantial fragments of magic, looking closer Edo could see that each of the glowing objects seemed to flick and dart. Not entirely unlike a fish in fact. As you peer into the water you become sure of this. In the river, slowly eating away at the muck and detritus are fish that seem to be out of light itself. A sort of Sunfish you suppose. As Edo undoubtedly feels a great sense of pride and satisfaction in his work, the water itself begins to rise up and form into the figure of a woman. As Edo stands up the liquid lady smiles and speaks to him. "Water and sunlight. Without these the world shall forever be a barren wasteland. Only with both can it truly be healthy. I have been waiting for this moment Son of the Sun." Success, as you rolled well on this and have been working at it for some time, I have given Edo the divine trait of Life [+2]. It relates to living creatures in general, as well as the concept of life itself. Also Unnaya has introduced herself to you in a manner of speaking. Rathin Stonewill It takes the Orcs much of the moon to travel to Konwey, and construction work begins in earnest when they arrive for none wanted the shame of being forced home with Rathin there to lead them. Building here where trees were plentiful, well as far as the Orcs were concerned was greatly different to working with the sand and dirt of the Sun Plains. Working underground was difficult as it was damper and there were tree roots that got in the way. On the other hand, Rathin quickly worked out that it was much simpler to improvise a wall out of logs and timber, and within a tenday the group had a small camp with some log cabins surrounded by a wooden palisade and trench with stakes. The air here was cooler and more damp to the plains the Orcs had been used to, so much so that everyone was surprised when the first rains came. In the plains there was a rainy season and it rarely rained outside of that, so much so that when it did stories were told for years. Here the sky seemed to open up and rain at a whim. Plants and animals were also more plentiful and more docile than they were used to, although the group did report seeing some tigers once. There was also the matter of the locals. Twice the group was attacked by a ramshackle mob, who were driven off. How many causalities the locals took was largely up to the benevolence of the Orcs, the worst loss the 'settlers' suffered was an arrow in the leg for one unlucky watchman. Scouting rotations were quickly established though by necessity of knowing where the enemy would be. But the weirdest thing came near the end of the moon, when Rathin could swear there was something or someone watching him. Yet when he looked around there were only shadows to keep him company. Success, your settlers have created a small camp near the border of Konwey and the plains. If you work on it you can expand your sphere of influence and the area you control but you'll also stir up more resistance. Leodin Leodin could feel Algard tense as he began to work his power into him. Algard was a man, and although he had a few vague lion-like feature he was still a human at his core. Leodin needed to make him like a lion, then into a Litorian. He began on the lion part first, and as he did so he could feel fur begin to sprout beneath his own claws as he did so. He could feel the aspect of the lion within Algard, making him confident that he could move on to making him the ideal Litorian. He began with the most important pillar, that of Spirit. It was the connection between a Litorian and Leodin, something which Algard had clearly wanted desperately. Having only truly his bond with Burd to work with, he drew upon that as he built a connection between the two of them. As he did Leodin could begin to feel Algard's heartbeat, not just hear it, as though it was right beside his own. With a shock you realise that it is actually starting to overwrite Burd's own connection with you. For a moment Leodin is worried that he might do to Burd what he did to Algard, but with a fading voice Burd gave Leodin reassurance. "It's okay, he was there first. It is his by right and his place beside you. Mine is here. It is enough." And then Burd's connection seemed to fade away. But in its place you could sense Algard and connect with him strongly, almost at will like you had wanted to do so with Burd. The next pillar was that of the Mind. Using his connection with Algard, Leodin tried to impart as much of his knowledge and the way he looked at the way to Algard. It seems to work, although you know that his mastery of it will never reach the same level as you. The final pillar was the pillar of Strength. Even though Algard was admittedly stronger than almost any other person except for maybe Burd and of course Leodin himself, you wanted him to be the perfect ideal. So you put your effort into it and found that there was still some more room to move. You could feel your hands rising as Algard grew yet taller, thicker and wider. You opened your eyes at that point to note that he was in fact now taller than bigger than you were, although your divine strength would give you the edge on him still. Algard opened his eyes, now being filled with light as the Exalted had been and he had not had. The Litorians had cast aside the glowing eyes of the Exalted, for there had no longer needed to be such an obvious need to differentiate between the two. But Algard still had them, and his entire white furred form almost seemed to shine slightly in the sun as well. He looked at his new paws for a moment and flexed his claws a little. What happened next was the most unexpected part however, for he closed his eyes and his entire form shimmered. In its place stood a great white lion which shook its head and looked around. Then the lion shimmered again and turned back into Algard. In perfect Ro'arin he commented; "That was definitely, worth waiting for." Okay, so you have made Algard your new Harbinger, which means a number of things that will become more evident later. Obviously now he is the single biggest person in the world and he is as you planned the ideal Litorian. Also he can turn into a lion when he wants to. This may be something other Litorians may be able to emulate later as well. Ilvis & Daveron Ilvis and her remaining Paladins stepped between the moments and spaces back into Harvan. What they found was something that would rock them to the core. The city was starting to fall apart and no one seemed to walk about. Market stalls had begun to collapse and the place was almost a ghost town. Then they saw a skeleton, who was collecting some dead bodies and placing them into a cart. Walking ahead into the plaza they seem a ramshackle force of undesirables clustered around some makeshift barricades. And Daveron. He was wearing a rather dented and dirty looking crown. And something in the city called out to Ilvis, it sang to her and to her blood. It was the throne that called out to her, for her to sit on it and to rule the city. I have no idea what you guys really wanted, but you have this Ilvis got to the city and encountered a resistance. If you want to take it you probably can, the enemy forces can't stand up to yours and in the end it'll be a contest between you and Daveron. So go at some PvP if you want I guess. Jamez, The Lich can be there if he wants but it sounded like you were moving on so I leave that entirely to you. Some of your skeletons are around the area however. Wilhelm During the moon Wilhelm gets reports back from the Minburg Collective. It is easiest for them to strike at night, buzzing in and delivering supplies to towns and leaving polite notes behind written in a paste that they had made from some of the sticky resin trees in the jungle. What they found was that ones closer to Harvan were suffering some kind of blight, crops didn't seem to grow well and thieves, murderers and other unsavoury sorts seemed to be making a slow exodus there. Now was a time they truly needed the help of the collective, even if they didn't want to admit or accept it. They also saw a few skeletons that were walking around as well which really confused them a lot. As for Wilhelm he found himself travelling towards the sea. The air became saltier and with it there were different forms of insect life for him to learn about. Some even seemed to live part of their lives in the ocean itself. As for the people, they seemed to be surprised by his presence and form, but they held a weary sort of caution. Unlike many of the people in Arandia they did not wish to attack him and were much more relaxed about things in general. The collective is doing its best to try and make life around Harvan a little less awful. Beltheus Nomad reports in to you, informing you that he has managed to negotiate with the Taelessians. For the time being he is nominally withdrawing from the city and trying to reverse the desertification. Should he need to invade it again later, he has ensured certain precautions to assist him in the task. However he mentions that while the lion god Leodin has converted Algard to his side, Nomad has managed to negotiate for Adam to visit the sands. It would be the best time to convince him of their vision and for him to join them, if Beltheus wished for such a thing. Adam With the rest of the moon Adam gets reports of the sand surrounding Halakake beginning to harden and reform back into rock. The walls of sand that had been erected around it also disappear over night during this time. Reports of people moving out were confused and uncertain, but there seemed to be less people around the place and the army began cautiously moving into Harlakake. The people there were polite and welcomed you back, but they had begun to get used to the presence of the people from the sands and as such the further upheaval was somewhat difficult for them. For the next few days you kept a vigilant eye out for any signs of a trap or deception yet none seemed to be forthcoming. On the first day of the new moon, you turn around at one point and find Nomad standing in the room. "I have kept my word, Name under review. If you will keep yours, then it would be time for us to depart?" There seems to be a slight twitch at the side of his mouth at the joke. Nomad looks like he is being sincere in keeping to his end of the agreement, at least so far anyway. Civar Jerund responded sincerely to your attempts to treat him with the same method of teaching that he used with others, for he could genuinely understand the value in it. Yet he was not used to looking at the world in the same way you do, and the lessons were hard. For a moon he worked hard at it, without a great deal of success at it. Then at the end when you despaired that he would never understand it, he looked at a piece of iron. It was riddled with impurities, but you were distracted by something and had yet to ask Jerund a question. So he looked at it and with a complete assuredness said "This is too messy." He passed his hands over the iron and seemingly forced the impurities out of the ore. You turned just in time to catch it, but had you not been drifting off and thinking about other things. Then Jerund Understood, how things were connected together and when one part of the system was disordered or broken, other parts would suffer as well. With this epiphany he seemed to have grasped what you had been trying to teach him and his view on the world had changed forever for it. Now that you had done what you had set out to do, and could be confident that the Hammerites had been set on a steady path you could take your leave and head to Harvan. Success, Jerund actually had the Order powers much earlier but lacked the proper awareness to take advantage of it. That was the real thing you were teaching him and took him a while. Octagon The formula that Octagon could teach was less potent, for it did not contain the divine aspects of the Transformation to an Arrani. As such unlike the other Mimic Spiders, until the new converts could be properly inducted by the Spinners they would not be able to change their human forms. It would allow them to assume an Arranian form however and would convey a quite substantial resistance to toxins and the fungal houses, even though it was not as great as a full Arrani. The transformation with this elixir was also incredibly painful, which would be inevitably discovered as an effective means of torture. Elkud arrived back in good time, using the Webway to travel between Delena to Sicaria. He began his initial recruitment within Sicaria and Delena itself, but had a couple of potentially useful people he would use as human agents. Some he had promised transformation as a reward for their services, so through them he gained extra Mimic Spiders. But others would need to perform extra tasks, and find humans to replace them. As well as this he looked into seeing if he could make some alterations to the Transformation Toxin, the diluted version he had the recipe to, to see if he could make some more specialised changes or focus more on the painful conversion aspect. In a moment of sheer pique Elkud decided to call the group the Widowmakers, for although assassination was only a small part of their purview it was still a part of it. Also he seemed to be rather taken with the spider pun. Both you and the queen could only shake your heads at it. The withdrawal from Konwey was mostly successful, except for one unfortunate incident where one of the Arrani there was actually killed and the incident was not simply faked. More concerning was the fact that later the body was gone and you had no idea where it had gone to... Success, the component of this action I have decided is the mundane form of the Transformation Toxin, which is really a watered down and incomplete version for the Mimic Spiders. Elkud will spend the next few moons working on fleshing out and infiltrating the order into Arranian society and its neighbours.
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Aug 21, 2013 12:13
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Ilvis - Harvan The gorge rose in my throat but I choked it down. Spurring Avenger over to the skeleton at a slow trot I flicked out the Sword and decapitated it in a single blow, causing the body to burst into flames as it fell apart. I turned to Daveron as the army flooded past me and through the city, destroying the monsters, quelling unrest, and doing what meager good they could to help the populace as planned. "Daveron. What's going on here? Why are there corpses piling up in the street and... walking skeletons collecting them for some foul purpose?" My voice was cold but the fury within me burned hot as I stared at him in his dented crown. Was he drunk? Already? "Who exactly is responsible for this atrocity? Parts of the city are on fire, the streets have been torn apart, and I can't even count the number of dead. What's happened while I was gone?" Let's just read 'Ilvis has encountered a resistance' as 'Ilvis has encountered a speed bump that needs flattening' shall we? If the place is as badly off as it looks, someone needs to power back and restore order which was the gist of my previous action anyway. Go forth my armies, and bring succor to the people of Harvan! Sorry for being unclear. Also zombie246 what the hell man? What happened here? loving skeletons in the streets collecting corpse piles? That's hosed up! Who did this?! What absolute poo poo of a person would do something like this and subsequently deserves a sword in the head? What are you doing sitting on your rear end behind a lovely barricade with a tin crown? Dude are you drunk? It's like 10am! I will also rekill that skeleton. Puppies are dicks fucked around with this message at 07:35 on Aug 24, 2013 |
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Aug 22, 2013 16:28
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The Lich - Harvan Straying away from the carnage and beckoning Daniker to relative safety by his side, the Lich was seemingly picking mushrooms and flowers by the hastily dug graves the undead had made. Daniker was full of questions for the Lich, much like a young child. The Lich explained carefully. “Nightshade and certain varieties of mushroom can make for a very potent poison, and mixed with some of the bile and stomach acid -maybe some of the putrescence from the bloated ones- from the dead of Harvan I think, yes, I think it will do.” With some odd powders and other reagents from his private supply the poison was finished.  The Lich grabbed a rusty sword from the ground, pitching the bottle in the air and striking it to coat the blade. He then threw the sword at the thrice-dead skeleton, its bones burned clean.  The master of undead gave the broken bones a single word of command. “RISE!”. As they began to form once again, the Lich reached out to the minds of the Penitent Damned, whose minds were easy for him to access. Then to the residents of Harvan, who resisted more and suffered anything from a twinge of discomfort to a migraine headache. The Invaders, however, bled out their noses and ears from the force at which the Lich pulled the information from their minds. The Lich was never much of a fighter, so to instruct this new creation in the martial arts he pooled the knowledge of all present save perhaps Illvis and Daveron. When all was said and done the Lich’s Champion stood face to face with Illvis. When the brash Paladin looked at it there was already sand flying in his(her?) face.  I’m Attacking Illvis. +2 Alchemy for a divinely-potent poison, +2 Undeath to raise that poor skeleton as my Champion, and +2 Knowledge to pull what everyone knows about fighty-stuff and bestow it upon my Champion. “I don’t know Kung Fu” style. Total of +6. JamezBfod fucked around with this message at 08:33 on Aug 24, 2013 |
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Aug 23, 2013 03:07
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Octagon - Arrahn, Sicaria Octagon was as pleased as one could be, given the circumstances. Elkud seemed to be taking to his duties well, and he was more than welcome to tinker with the Mixture. He was even welcome to establish a working relationship with the Spinners, and get their help with the toxin. Few others besides Octagon himself could so readily tinker with such toxins. In the meantime, Octagon turned to a... somewhat aborted project, left incomplete due to... unforeseen complications. The Harpsicords. Utterly useless to his purposes as they were, save for internal communications. But with a little tweaking, perhaps they could make their way into the world at large. Should he be successful, he would need to arrange for Elkud to be granted access to the Master Harpsichord. It would be quite useful for someone in his position. Simple action this month: Using Void [+2] to remove the need for a wire from the Harpsicords, allowing them to be useful outside of Arrahn. We are offering them up as a trade item and I will be spending the month helping with that. Surely the world can see the merit in long-distance instantaneous communications. That poo poo should sell itself.
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Aug 24, 2013 02:44
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