BBeast

Dungeon Keepers

As Calvartem raced across the terrain, following the road from a distance, he spotted a carriage going the other way along the distance road. He considered for a moment turning and intercepting it, for it was heading towards his Dungeon, but he decided to leave it. He would soon have whatever town they had originated from under his control, and once they found his Dungeon they would have no option other than to turn back or be slaughtered by the undead which would rise at their presence.

Sure enough it was only after a few more minutes of high-speed riding did a village come into view, placed strategically to service any travellers along these roads. Around it were farms, fields of wheat and corn and herds of sheep, cattle and pigs. Calvartem slowed to a trot as he considered how he would attack this settlement. While it was small and did not appear well defended, the diminutive size also meant that there would be a shortage of corpses. As he considered where he might get his first walkers from, a creative thought struck him. What this village lacked in humans it made up for with livestock, and there was bound to be livestock which had died naturally and not been butchered up and eaten. He trotted up to a pasture full of cattle, which lowed and moved away from him and his steed, and cast out his staff and tendrils of black fire. Those tendrils snaked their way along the ground and into tall grass just outside the pasture. Sure enough, the grass rustled and up rose the skeletons of three cattle, two cows and a bull, with their eyes possessed by Calvartem's signature flame. Nodding, Calvartem set them against the rest of the herd, which panicked as the bodies of the dead came to bite and gouge and kill.

All this commotion quickly caught the attention of the farmers, who quickly turned and ran back to the village to call whatever defences they had against the Necromancer who was slaughtering their livelihood. Calvartem ignored them, for he was confident that he would be capable of handling whatever pathetic resistance they could garner and once he had assembled a herd of undead cattle he would be able to stampede through the village with ease. Of course, the cattle themselves were putting up a fight, desperately trying to protect themselves against the beasts hunting them. Calvartem, on the back of Shadowmane, circled the cattle and herded them, ensuring that none escaped either by scaring them back into the group or killing them with his magic. As more died, things would get easier as he summoned more walkers. The nature of his hordes often meant that he faced exponential growth, starting small then, after a period of hard work, quickly becoming unstoppable and overwhelming.

Back in the village, the local watch had been notified, but they were small and only really equipped to handle criminals and drunkards, not a powerful sorcerer. The watch raced against the clock to find anyone who could help them defend. They had heard news that a fire priest was currently in town, so they desperately tried to find him.

Sanctuary

The other one is Samuel, who is cited to have power over life threads. Of course, everyone else has the potential to be lethally dangerous in their own way.

Dungeon Keepers

The battle was dragging on for Zadok. Although he was able to garner ample energy from his surroundings for his needs, he could not see any upper hand be gained throughout the duelling between the two polar entities, even with his assistance by firing bursts of holy light. He lost track of time inside the maelstrom of energy, but he knew that it had been a long time and that if any gains were to be made in this battle it would be over an even longer period of time. A battle of attrition, it would seem, except the combatants regenerated constantly. Zadok was not used to battles of attrition. Unlike some of his fellow Anti-Keepers he did not raise an army, which would end up fighting against the army of a Keeper in a long a bloody battle of the fields of war. Instead Zadok had relied on strength and speed to strike his opponents hard and topple them quickly. So when the Carver invited Zadok to depart he was relieved.

That would be wise. You shall need to be able to dedicate all your energy to gaining the upper hand in this battle, Zadok said in reply. As the green magic enveloped him and the protection of the Carver faded, he wasted no time in departing the turbulent and chaotic storm of energy which comprised the Source's innermost layers. The clouds rippled and boomed around him as he travelled like a bullet through the gases until he was safely out of the Source's voluminous clouds.

Zadok now drifted in orbit around the Source, alternating his view between the red gas giant and the green and blue planet. He then attempted to establish a telepathic link with the Carver, for he knew that it would be beneficial to have contact with his ally who was battling with the Ripper deep inside the Source. The time he had spent in proximity with the Carver and the energy he had just received should be plenty to allow him that telepathy.

---

The addition to Calvartem's Heart was now complete. The quartz was placed on the end of the arm rests so that Calvartem's hands would rest on them as he sat. The quartz had been carved into the shape of a skull for decorative purposes. He sat down and rested his hands on the quartz and channelled his power into the stones, imbuing them with shadowy magic as he would the Death Spires. This complete, he allowed his consciousness the channel through the quartz, and immediately he was connected to all of his Death Spires. The village containing his Heart, the mining town to the west and the fortified town to the south all fell under his gaze. He could plainly see how devoid they were of living people, and how the Spires had been draining the life of the surrounding lands.

But he could do far more than scry across his domain. While the Death Spires on their own could only summon undead relatively slowly on their own, through his Heart Calvartem would be able to both raise and command his hordes of living corpses with almost as much vigour as if he were there in person. Clearly there are advantages to attending a battle in person, such as being able to fight personally and empower his side further, but having remote control would allow him to coordinate a defence without having to travel, or even defend two distant places at once. Calvartem even had the power to send and retrieve his Constructs via this link. Of course, he would not be able to perform such actions across his whole dominion if he was away from the Heart, which means that he was most vulnerable when out conquering, but that was a strategic risk that he had to take and had no viable solution to at the moment.

The best he could do to mitigate that risk, he realised, would be to ensure that any invading force would have to get through territory of lesser importance before they could hope to encroach upon his precious Heart. In order to do that, he would have to advance his conquest further, and do that before the armies of surrounding cities were roused, especially not that of the grand city to north. Arising from his throne, Calvartem exited the Heart and mounted Shadowmane. They set out northwards, in hopes of finding a small town to conquer and put as a shield between themselves and Paterdomus.

Sanctuary

@Skai, I felt that the latest collab was more fluent as well.

I have also noted that we now have two hosts with power over life itself (albeit in very different ways). That's scary.

Sanctuary

@Sage, if you want to send a PM, send it.

And hi Yugeto. I don't know you, but hello anyway.

Dungeon Keepers

The creature which stood in the centre of the crypt would be a chilling sight to behold were there any light to see by. This latest creation was mostly human, but unlike the walkers some notable modifications had been made. The limbs were elongated and muscle added to them, the hands and feet ended in claws, and the mouth was lined with sharpened teeth with a stronger jaw. As a consequence of this growth in some areas, the torso and waist were skinny, anorexic even, and the skin there hung loose, and the spine had been contracted, although with the longer limbs to compensate there was negligible change in height. As always, the eyes glowed black. This creature was designed for speed, climbing, and slashing and tearing. It was also somewhat smarter than the walkers, capable of arranging ambushes and coordinated attacks rather than merely mobbing any humans in sight, giving it a pack mentality rather than a hoard mentality. Similarly to the walkers, and any of the undead, killing them requires the body to be mutilated and rendered completely useless, for they have no need for organs or blood or air, only their muscles and skeleton and the magic binding them together and animating them.

Calvartem dubbed this creature a Gremlin. While it is superior to the Walker once summoned, the requirements for summoning a Gremlin are somewhat more stringent than that of a Walker. Because significant transformation needs to take place, they take somewhat more magic to summon. The corpse also needs to be in reasonable physical condition, with most of the flesh still on the bones, or else there will not be enough biomass to work with. However, he should not need nearly as many gremlins as walkers in a hoard, so this would not be a major flaw.

With a wave of his hand the Necromancer summoned a group of imps. He gestured to some of them and ordered, "You, make a tomb for this Gremlin." He then gestured to the wall next to the tomb for the Walker. Those imps drifted over to the wall and began chipping away with ethereal tools. To the other half of the group, Calvartem ordered, "I have some improvements for you to make to my Heart. Take some quartz and insert it at the end of the arms." The other imps also drifted off, this time in the other direction in search of the small quarry where the imps had found quartz the first time.

Calvartem left the imps to their task and emerged onto the surface. The red sun had risen by now, but the sunlight no longer bothered him. Whatever had happened to the Source had removed whatever holy, cleansing properties its light had. Outside he saw an imp waiting, and he realised that it must have been the last scout, which he had sent north. Calvartem sent a little mote of shadow at the imp, and it spoke.

"I found a large city to the north. It is well fortified, well populated. It has a big cathedral, and men dressed in robes of blue and red," the imp said.

The robes of blue and red were familiar to Calvartem. "Priests," he added.

"They have big walls, patrolled always. The cathedral is a fortress, and their leaders are there. Big army too."

The imp paused. "Is that all?" Calvartem asked.

"Yes, master."

Calvartem nodded and waved the imp back into the void. Such a city would be very large, and it would doubtless notice his presence eventually, especially as he has slaughtered a number of towns in the area. He would need to make preparations, and make his hoard greater.



Gremlin - Second minion. Undead, made from a somewhat fresh human corpse. Limbs are elongated and muscle mass on limbs increased, claws on hands and feet, teeth sharpened and jaw strengthened, chest and waist has greatly reduced muscle and fat, spine shortened, and eyes glow black. These agile monsters are built for speed and climbing, and for tearing and biting through flesh. With their pack hunting mentality as well as their agility, they are purposed to break apart enemy formations and bypass defences.

Dungeon Keepers

No clue

Sanctuary

Outside seemed much less active than Zachary had assumed. From the initial hype he had pictured parades of people storming the streets and the military forces being... actually, he couldn't imagine the military would be so easily toppled, now that he thought about it. It would seem more likely that such an uprising would be bloody and terrible. He needed to find out what was going on before he jumped into any battles. Driving slowly down the street, the kinetic cores humming as they levitated the carriage off the ground, Zachary glanced around and noticed a glimmer of blue in the sky. Then he remembered the skyways. Once they had been passages of traffic throughout Sovereign, but since the cataclysm only the military had the technology to drive on them, at least the only ones until now. Zachary turned down another street and headed up one of the on-ramps to the major skyway bridging across the entire city.

Beneath him, the solid concrete ground dropped away and was replaced by a shimmering blue magnetic kinetic shield. The height of the carriage shifted slightly with the change in terrain, but otherwise the carriage seemed to not notice that nothing but magic was holding it in the air. Zachary knew how skyways worked better than most people, having worked on them before. While it is almost impossible for a carriage to fall off a functioning skyway, it is very easy for a person to fall off, since although the kinetic shield provides a solid surface, that surface also lacks any friction and repels things that get too close. If a person were to set foot on an ordinary skyway they would just slide off and fall (although skyways for foot traffic do exist, those for carriages generally do not incorporate such technology). The reason carriages can't fall off is because they are made of metal, and the polarity cores attract the metal to the skyway. Someone in metal boots would similarly be capable of traversing a skyway, but that is not common knowledge. It is for those reasons that the skyways had been mostly ignored by the people of Sovereign in the past year.

Zachary, in his small one-man carriage, was now perched high above the city's main road, cruising along slowly and watching the city below. While he was in no way hidden, it was extremely unlikely that anyone would look skywards and notice him, and even if they did there was not much they could do about it without first getting up to the skyway too. Zachary was now in a perfect position to observe the activities of the city, and the rebellion did not seem to be going well. In one place, he saw a band of civilians which had gathered together as rebels and were now marching down the streets. But in another place he saw another such band gunned down by rapid-fire plasma rounds from a small group of soldiers which they had attempted to charge. There were not many bands gathered, at least not many which he could see, but there was an even lower amount of soldiers around the city. It seemed that they were not doing much to quell rebellion throughout the city. But as he traversed further north he saw that the military were concentrated around their base. From up here he could see the soldiers scurrying around their base like ants in the distance. And in front of the base he saw a concentration of civilians as well, which looked like a crowd of rioters. Blocking their way were soldiers arranged like riot police. And they looked like that because that was exactly what was happening. Vanguards, in their metal armour, blocked the street with an impenetrable line of their kinetic shields while the crowds were doused with water cannons. Occasionally there was a flash, presumably weapon fire, although from where Zachary was looking from it could be from either side.

Zachary shook his head. Even if they could break past the line of soldiers acting as riot control, he could see tanks and mores soldiers beyond them, which would swiftly cut down any true threats in a maelstrom of plasma, explosions and lightning. Clearly whatever support the Golden Mercenaries had promised was yet to arrive, and even then it had better be good support or else it will be a tough, bloody and probably battle indeed. He turned the carriage around and drove off, heading back the way he came so he could return to his workshop and figure out what to do.

As he was descending from the onramp a man in a black uniform and blue beret stepped out and blocked his way. Zachary put his foot on the brake and stopped about a meter in front of the man. Four more men then appeared and formed a semicircle in front of Zachary's carriage. These men seemed tough and disciplined, and they were also armed, although at the moment their weapons were not drawn. Their sudden appearance intimidated him, and through his mind raced contingency plans. Back up and escape along the skyway; charge forwards and knock them down; disarm them with telekinesis; draw his wind cannon and knock them aside. One of them stepped forwards and addressed him.

"Zachary Mason?"

Zachary was caught off guard. No one had used his full name for a year. He hadn't shared his name with many people in this apocalyptic wasteland either, so how these people knew him was beyond him. Given a few moments to regain himself, he answered, "I am. And who are you?"

"We are representatives of Mathias Winters," the man replied, in a surprisingly formal manner, "Mr Winters has heard of your engineering prowess, and wishes to employ you for a short project."

Zachary paused to digest this. Even after being in hiding for a year, trying to keep his engineering projects secret for their safety from thieves, there was someone who was going to hire him to be an engineer. For a moment he recalled memories of times passed, where he aspired to become a professional engineer, and now even in this god-forsaken place that goal was still somehow possible. It seemed almost too good to be true, so he was cautious.

"Who is Mathias Winters?" Zachary asked cautiously.

"Mr Winters is a powerful man, owner of a large estate and protector and provider over a large extended family. Mr Winters is always looking for new people and skills to add to his family, and at the moment he wants you and your skills as an engineer, Zachary Mason. If you decide to join Mr Winters you shall benefit from his supplies and protection."

My my, they have skills in persuasion now, don't they, Kaa'is commented to Zachary.

What do you think, Kaa'is, Zachary asked him, with-in his own head.

Powerful men are dangerous men, especially in a place like this. We must exercise caution with him. But at the same time, we don't have much reason not to go, Kaa'is said.

It did seem like a good opportunity. But, just to make sure, Zachary had one more question to ask. "And if I don't decide to join?"

"Then it shall be a sad loss for Mr Winters and a missed opportunity for all of us," the foot-soldier replied, formal as ever.

"So he wants to hire me for this project even in the middle of a city-wide uprising?" Zachary queried. The foot-soldier simply nodded. "So where do I go?" he added.

"Mr Winter's estate is towards the north. It should not be hard to find, because it is perpetually covered by a light snowstorm. If you come with us we shall lead you there," the foot-soldier answered.

"I'll make my own way there. First I need to make a stop and pick up my tools, otherwise engineering's going to be tricky," Zachary said. He let the carriage slowly crawl forwards and the men parted to let him past. "I'll probably beat you there if I'm not held up," he called behind him to the men as he left. Then he pushed forwards the throttle and drove off at speed.

Dungeon Keepers

Go for it!

Dungeon Keepers

The officials of Opes Fluvium met in the city hall, situated behind the walls dividing the wealthy district from the rest of the city. Outside those walls people murmured about rumours of a revived saint, but inside those walls the leaders worried. They sat at the top of the chain of command of this city. The poor farmers harvested valuable tropical crops like rice and sugar cane from the fields surrounding the city. The officials would tax these. The farmers would sell what they didn't need for themselves, and the proceeds of that are taxed too. Then the merchants would export those goods from the city along the river, and the leaders would have that taxed as well. All these taxes meant that the leaders lived in prosperity and riches, and this revived 'saint' threatened that.

The Anointed of Caldor and Disciples of Unda were also concerned (although the former more so than the latter). This pagan saint of the Akrassans was a threat to their hold over the city. The Paterdomans held a close alliance to Opes Fluvium. Along with achieving the widespread dominance of their religion, Opes Fluvium was also a source of tithes and served as a good missionary base for the southern half of Elysium. In turn, the people of Opes Fluvium received the skills of the fire and water mages. The native magic of the area is wind magic, which makes the threshing of rice more efficient, but with the help of water magic they can irrigate their fields much better. However, it seems that the people of the region are not quite as loyal as they may have hoped.

In the meeting chamber, the leaders adorned in jewellery and the priests in their robes of red and blue were in agreement. This saint of the Akrassans must be eliminated before he converts the entire city, and measures must be put in place to quell a potential rebellion. They made their plans and parted ways, to prepare the city and army.

A number of officials checked the defences of the city. The outer walls were not very strong, and houses still sprang up outside those walls, but they are meant to serve as more of a boundary than anything. The important part was the inner walls, which were tough and sturdy and capable of withstanding force, especially from a rebellion of the common folk outside those walls. However, they remembered that the 'saint' had wings, which meant he could fly. They contacted the generals to ensure that they had sufficient ranged capabilities to face a flying target. With bows, crossbows, muskets and magic in their arsenal, they assured the leaders that they should be able to handle it.

The priests arranged sermons both in the churches and on the streets to warn the people against the influence of pagan religions. The fire priests warned the citizens that the time was coming soon when the mighty Caldor himself would smite those who worship false gods and those who turn from him, pointing to the red sun as a sign of Caldor's will and also his great might. The water priests reminded the citizens of all the good of the Paterdoman religion, such as the unity it brings and the truths it holds. While they would probably fail to out-persuade Macaroth, they could at least provide some resistance against the doubt and rumours he had left behind.

Then came the offensive strategy. It was easy enough to discover that this patron saint of the Akrassans was situated in Deren Abbey back in his own time, and it was not much of a stretch to assume that this had not changed. What they did not know, however, was how well defended Deren Abbey is at the moment. The 'saint' had come with an armed escort, so it would appear that he has at the very least a small army. There were rumours from upriver of populations being unsettled and the poor and criminal disappearing from their regions, which could probably be somehow connected to the activities of the 'saint', but the leaders had too little information to determine what was going on. Before they could send out an army to attempt to wipe out this uprising they would first need to assess what they were up against, so they sent out their scouts.

The scouts of Opes Fluvium are very mobile. While they use horses to travel long distances, as they would have to do to get near Deren Abbey, on foot they use wind magic to enhance their movements and allow them to travel fast, jump far and move almost silently. They were equipped with camouflage, allowing them to blend in with tall tropical grasses, short swords for if they end up having to fight, and telescopes to see details from a distance. Eight such scouts departed from Opes Fluvium and rode down the road which would eventually take them to Deren Abbey. Once they got close Deren Abbey, which is about a day's ride away, they would dismount, split up and go the rest of the way on foot, travelling by cover as much as they could and eventually finding a safe location from which they could see Deren Abbey. They would then make a mental note of what they saw, such as approximate troop numbers, armaments, and the fortifications present, and depart as swiftly as they came.

With speed, stealth, surprise and also the darkness of dusk which had fallen by the time they got there on their side, it would be a challenge to catch all the scouts, if Macaroth could manage to catch any at all, let alone notice them and identify them as threats. Their augmented speed would make it a challenge for any human to capture or kill them even if they saw them, but at the same time they might have difficulty escaping a flying foe if one pursues them.