BBeast

Dungeon Keepers

Sorry that I haven't posted for a while. I've been busy, then ill. I'm still ill, but I'll try to get something up anyway.

@Dawnon, Macaroth must have an incredibly sensitive magical sense if he can detect, even vaguely, a Keeper which is at a relatively low level of power at a range of 1400km over all the background noise of Elysium's native magic. I'm not saying it can't be done, and a rival is always good fun to have, just that it is a bit of a stretch.

Sanctuary

Sorry that I haven't posted for a while. I've been busy, then ill. I'm still ill, but I'll try to get something up to prevent stagnation.

Dungeon Keepers

In the centre of the crypt stood a colossal beast. Twisted flesh formed its thick limbs and broad chest, and its large head was set with disproportionately small eyes which burned with the totally black fire characteristic of Calvartem's undead creatures. This muscular beast of day-old flesh was Calvartem's first Construct. The intimidating monster would have stood at 4 meters if it weren't bent double to fit inside the small space, and it is just as wide. Calvartem intended to use this beast as a siege engine, battering down gates and walls to allow the rest of his forces through. Its sheer size would make it capable of ignoring all but the strongest of attacks, also allowing it to spearhead an attack, soaking up damage. The trade-off was that it wasn't smart or highly mobile, and its size could be unwieldy. For instance, at the moment the beast was stuck inside the crypt, almost unable to move. But Calvartem had a way around that.

"Breaker," the Necromancer said, getting a grunt in return, "Release your essence to me."

He struck the ground with the base of his staff, and black fire crawled around the monstrosity named Breaker. The fire in its eyes went out and its flesh fell apart, and a small ball of muscle engulfed in dark flame rose from the heap and flew towards Calvartem where it embedded itself into his staff. The soul and form of Breaker had been condensed into that portable orb, which Calvartem could release upon any sufficient number of bodies, the equivalent of roughly 20 humans, to summon him again.

Calvartem went outside to see that the tower had been completed. He sent 5 imps to collect the morphed cadavers from the crypt and sent the rest back to the void. The top of the tower was open to the sky, with five intimidating spires pointing up from around the edge. Calvartem climbed an external ladder of stone ledges up to the top, where a large crystal of quartz was affixed to a podium in the centre. He took his staff, touched the tip to the crystal and allowed his distinguishing black light-less fire to flow from him through his staff and into the crystal. After about 20 seconds of channelling energy, he stopped, and the crystal was left glowing intensely, not with light but with darkness. This tower, which would be known as a Death Spire, was a conduit for his power, spreading his domain. The crystal, its power source, could do two things aside from attaching the surrounding land to his Dungeon. One was that it would passively and very slowly suck the life from anything with-in its range to sustain itself. It was very slow, taking a few hours for any noticeable fatigue to set in, but over time it would have a marked effect on the land, killing plants and wildlife. The other thing it could do was, when it sensed a presence nearby that isn't associated with Calvartem, summon the undead around it. It would not be able to summon a whole army, and it was slower than Calvartem, but it would be plenty to deter any wanderers.

With the Death Spire charged, Calvartem could feel his strength grow slightly as it drained power from the land itself and fed it to him. Calvartem leaped down from the tower, his knees bending close to the ground as he landed. Rising again, he knew that more conquest would be on the agenda.

Dungeon Keepers

The two imps finished the special tomb for the Walker quite quickly. The tomb allowed the Walker to stand inside, behind a solid stone slab engraved with a stylised form of the Walker standing within. It was embedded into the wall to Calvartem's right. Once it was done, and the Walker was safely sealed inside, Calvartem banished the imps with a wave of his hand. This tomb was necessary because, as is the way with Keepers, to freely create more of a minion there must be an existing reference. For most Keepers this would only be a problem if their forces were wiped out completely, but as the Necromancer did not keep a standing army extra measures had to be taken.

He went outside, turning his face away from the sunlight, and checked the progress of the tower. The imps had made good progress, and the tower was roughly half complete. So far the tower stood 6 meters, and would grow another 4. No wood was present in the structure, at Calvartem's command, so it was made entirely from stone. The imps had saved time by cannibalising some of the buildings of the town to supply stone bricks, but now progress was slowing as it became necessary to carry stone from the nearest quarry to the tower. Calvartem summoned another 10 imps to hurry their progress, and was returning to the crypt when one of the scouting imps returned and stood before the Necromancer.

"What is it?" Calvartem demanded. The imp was silent, with no face to convey any expression. Noticing the issue, Calvartem created a tiny orb of darkness in his palm and let it drift into the ghostly form of the imp. "Speak."

The imp indeed spoke, although its voice was faint, like a gentle breeze through the gaps in a roof. "Master, I have found a small town at the base of the mountains to the west. They appear to be miners. It is not noticeably fortified."

Calvartem nodded and waved his hand at the imp, causing it to vanish with a faint squeak of protest. So there were more towns, which was to be expected. And they equally did not expect him. But there was bound to soon be a town which was ready for battle, and he would need something more than a shambling band of zombies to conquer them. He entered the crypt, ordering his imps to take in 20 of the slain humans and leave them on the floor. Once the imps had left, Calvartem sat on the throne which was his Heart and let his spirit leave his body and drift over the heap of bodies.

0/3

Dungeon Keepers

Good to see everyone thinking and churning out posts.

@AT, welcome here. I think you have some very nice ideas. A healing Keeper is very unconventional, but it sounds promising. I guess in battle you'll be spending more time empowering your servants than actually fighting. If you can heal, why stop at curing wounds and ailments? Why not go further and augment strength and stamina too?

@Dawnon, I suppose it is reasonable to lure them in with meals, appealing to their needs and desperation, then keep their loyalty through mental manipulation, which is something your Keeper has demonstrated he is capable of.

Sanctuary

Some more posts from other people would be nice too. Where did everyone go?

Dungeon Keepers

Brilliant. In any Dungeon where beings have the ability to think you have the potential for conflict to arise within the Dungeon.

@Dawnon, just to make it clear, you will have to work hard to get outcasts and criminals to cooperate with you. They aren't the kind of people to gather together under the banner of a single being, even when offered a reward. They would also have apprehension and suspicion in cooperating with people dressed in dark morbid attire and an extradimensional being. Many people would rather their sanity and free will than power and riches. Just making sure that you don't overlook that.

Dungeon Keepers

That was a very well-written post, giving us some extra insight into life in your Dungeon. Such posts are always appreciated.

Dungeon Keepers

The town stood no chance against the onslaught. The Walkers were easily able to open doors and climb through windows to enter the houses, and then kill those who were within. The occupants of the town had little to no combat experience, so even though the Walkers had only their fists and teeth the people were mostly unable to beat them. A few were capable enough to keep the Walkers at bay for a little while, but the noise only drew the attention of more and they were quickly overwhelmed. Although many had access to farming implements which could have easily incapacitated a Walker if used correctly the people had too little warning and not enough skill to pull off such resistance. The numbers of the hoard was simply too great.

There was one young man that did manage to outperform Calvartem's walkers, though. The Necromancer saw him fleeing from a building with a hunting bow, with several zombies following. Those zombies had several arrows in them, hindering their movement, not enough to stop them but enough so that they were losing ground to the man now in the fields. So Calvartem began his pursuit, but his body did not allow him to match the speed of the hunter, so Calvartem tapped the ground with the base of his staff and a tendril of black fire snaked its way out in front of the hunter. The tendril found no human corpse nearby, but it did find the corpse of a fox, which it resurrected into a small fox Walker in front of the hunter. The fox leaped teeth bearing at the man, who was surprised by this attack and retaliated by flicking the base of his bow at the fox, knocking it aside. The fox picked itself up and leapt again, but this time the hunter had drawn his hunting knife and slashed at the fox, leaving a deep gash in the rotted side of the fox, severing many of its muscles and rendering it practically harmless.

By now, however, Calvartem had closed in to a distance of 20 metres. The hunter scrambled for his bow but was not fast enough to stop Calvartem from sending out a bolt of black fire from his outstretched hand, which snaked through the hunter. The hunter went pale as his life was taken from him, the point where the magic had struck left the cloth of his clothes thin and worn, and the hunter simply collapsed to the ground, dead.

By the time the Necromancer returned to the town the Walkers had finished their job. The town was now empty, save for the many slain corpses scattered around the streets and inside homes. Dawn was breaking, casting a dim light over the town as the stars and moon faded from the encroaching sunlight. The Walkers amassed in front of Calvartem, who sent them back to their place in the crypt save for one. This one he kept. He summoned sixteen shadowy imps and divided them into tasks. 2 he sent to make a special tomb in the crypt to store the Walker he had saved. 10 he tasked to building a tower in the middle of his town, which he would imbue with his power to expand his domain. Then remaining 4 he sent to scout the region and find more human settlements. While they were off doing that, Calvartem returned to his throne in the darkness of the crypt. Although sunlight was not actually harmful to him, he still did not like it.

Dungeon Keepers

I have no plans for Paterdomus' religion. Your plans sound good.