[h2][center]Digging in and preparing for war.[/center][/h2]

The border between the Fungal Marshes and the unnamed lands of Node 23 had been transformed over a matter of weeks. Land had been cleared for line of sight, a deep trench dug so that any attack would be at a disadvantage and the resources of both projects used to build a great defensive wall made of a mixture of wood, giant mushroom, dirt and stone. While a wall built completely of stone might have been more solid, the Fungal Marshes alone didn't have enough stone for the project, so it would have to be dug up and transported from another region... which was possible, but it would have taken months or even years to create a fully stone wall on this scale and they simply didn't have the time for that.

Besides, it was hoped that the combination of materials making up the wall would prove effective in its own right. After all, just because something was good at digging into dirt didn't mean it could get through stone and vice versa. Once you threw in the timber and mushroom it would prove to be a fairly solid obstruction. Once you factored in the trench in front of it and the armed solders who would be patrolling it, in theory it would be enough to stop the invading monsters dead. If that was what was going to happen was yet to be seen. 

Regent-Queen Oxana was still a month or two away from giving birth, but the stresses of pregnancy on her body had caused her to slow down and take a less stressful role in the day to day managing of the kingdom of Vex, allowing other members of her government to handle the bulk of the work while she handled the paperwork side of affairs. 

While Node 28 had been created as a toxic, volcanic hellscape in which organic life was unwanted and ill suited with death being the certain outcome of anything foolish enough to enter it, several interesting discoveries had been made along its border. New weapons of war that were being tested and developed as various volatile powders started to prove their worth, even as old and tested weapons were improved with new designs. 

Despite the storm clouds that heralded harsh times of war in the future, Vex's present was brighter then ever. 

[hr]

Vatarr needed more power. While in singular combat he was confident that he could take on any opponent, his skirmish into Node 23 had proven that he wasn't fighting a singular foe. Fighting an army alone was not impossible, but he needed to stack the odds in his favor and that would require the aid of those humans that lived in his lands. Of course he had given his word that he wouldn't demand their allegiance to him and he fully intended to keep his word; He wouldn't to conscript them. They were already preparing for war because they knew that the infection of Nodes 18 and 23 was a threat that needed to be stopped, even if they had yet to see it for themselves. 

He couldn't help but feel proud of them for that. But they needed to be more if he wanted them to have any hope of standing against the infected tide... and Vatarr had an idea of how to do that.            

Whenever he had claimed Nodes in the past, while they had flooded him with god like power, he had also noticed that he had been spending some of his power in turn. At first it was only a small amount, but as time passed he had noticed that bigger 'donations' were required without truly grasping why. He had his theories, but seeing how quickly his mortals had advanced as far as ideas and technologies went he started to put two and two together. 

Naturally, evolution of society and creatures were generally slow paced. Something that happened over generations as circumstances changed and solutions were required. Whatever he was offering up was directly granting his followers ideas, knowledge and abilities on a board scale. 

Logically, he needed to give them more. 

So he flew to Node 29. Between Life and Death and his new armor, it wasn't even a contest as the chaotic cat squid was dashed to pieces and the Node claimed. For about a third of the territory, it seemed as if the Volcanic Bulwark was being extended as more fire, stone and poisonous air claimed more ground... but the nature of the land would soon change as fire gave was to snow and ice. A forest of pine trees sprung into existence on a regional scale, their evergreen branches covered in snow and icicles while a chill wind blew. A realm of fire and ice that was beautiful, if harsh and unforgiving. 

Then he turned his attention to Node 31. 

This trip took a bit longer, if only because the region was bigger. If a chaos beast called this region home Vatarr didn't see it, flying directly to the Node itself and planting his hand upon it. Around Node 31, the world froze. The temperature plummeted as the wind picked up into a bone cutting gale, condemning this realm to an wind blasted, ice covered desert in which life shouldn't have been able to exist for any period of time. 

And yet, even as Vatarr focused on the offering of his energy to fuel the development of mortal kind in his realm, he could still feel the presence of living things existing in this harsh, unforgiving and brutal landscape. It actually made him chuckle just a little to himself; Life existed where it could... life existed where it [i]couldn't[/i]. 

With the task he had set out to do complete, Vatarr used the last of his might to ward the Node and let him know if anyone came to take it from him before at last turning towards home and taking flight once more.


[hider=Summery]
The newly named Kingdom of Vex prepares for war, as well as start to develop some new technologies. Cannons and longbows will serve alongside sword and other martial weapons for the war ahead.

Thinking about the war to come, Vatarr goes and captures Nodes 29 and 31 because he needs more power and he's figured out that using the Nodes and offering some of his strength, he can advance them technologically at a truly advanced, unnatural rate having done so before... even if he hadn't quite known what he was doing at the time.

Job done, he sets up a ward on the frozen, hellish wasteland that is now Node 31 and starts heading back home so he can have a nap.
[/hider]
   

[hider=Might]
Start: 5

4 Might is spent on advancing the Kingdom of Vex to Tier five (Early Fantasy Industrial Era)

1 Might to Ward Node 31. 
[/hider]