Lord Zee
Vec
JFK
Fetzen
Thayr
BingTheWing
Dusk began to set over the forest, yet the dying light still visible over the Hindrun mountains in the distance was enough to illuminate a few hundred grim Klug and their village in the distance. They had been expected! The moment that the first few Mutig and zealots had emerged from the dense forest, they were spotted by the awaiting Klug. Any element of surprise was gone; it was fortunate that there was a considerable distance between the edge of the clearing, where the majority of Shaige's army was now gathered, and the Klug village with hundreds of warriors waiting right outside.
With perhaps a mile separating the two platoons, Soran had time to quickly order the men into formations. The zealots, with their heavy armor, tower shields, and massive pikes, formed a line three men deep. With their augmented strength, the zealots were able to carry shields twice as thick as those of any normal humans. In their testudo formation, their shields created a wall of metal and roof that no arrow could hope to pierce, and enchantments in the shields would make projectiles of magical nature largely ineffective as well. In this way the zealots advanced in unison, exaggerating the rigidity and slowness of their movements so that the Klug would be caught off guard by their unnatural speed when the battle began.
Behind them the hundred bowmen and few dozen druids formed a loose mass, with Fangir in the midst to issue orders. Normally Soran would have stationed them ahead of the zealots with the orders to fire upon the enemy and then retreat through holes in the infantry's formation in order to avoid being butchered in a melee battle. However, this tactic would be disastrous solely because they were so terribly outnumbered; for every shot the archers fired at the Klug, two or three would no doubt come in response. While the normal tribesmen were far more expendable than the zealots, Soran did not intend to waste their lives for such little gain.
To any seasoned captain the army's plan would appear transparent. The zealots with their shield wall would engage and hold off the hordes of enemies, while the druids and bowmen behind would barrage the enemy until they were routed by the unstoppable zealots. The Klug, with their stone tools and hide armor, were obviously not accustomed to this type of warfare. As such, the way that they attempted to fight the zealots would be unpredictable, but the answer would be obvious to most officers experienced in this type of battle.
With a hundred men and a row three deep, the zealots formed a line that was hardly more than thirty men abreast, and their testudo formation had them even more close than usual. As such, it would be easy enough to sacrifice some men to harass them or attack head-on, while the rest moved to flank the formation and attack the vulnerable Mutig tribesmen and druids that were positioned behind. While this would no doubt appear a solid strategy, it would spell almost certain doom. Soran had ordered the zealots to march in a line three men thick because of their ability to move nearly unhindered and unslowed in their armor. It would take only a few moments for the second and third rows to move outwards and lengthen the line, or directly engage any Klug that attempted to skirt around the formation to fight the tribesmen behind. With their unparallelled strength, stamina, and skill, the zealots would be even harder to break than they appeared. A row even just one man thick would likely be enough to hold back the charging Klug.
So it was that the formidable zealots marched towards the Klug at an ominously slow rate, the other tribesmen trailing behind. The horned heads of Soran and his nine imps could just be seen some distance to the side of the zealots. In this position the demonic general could see the whole battle, something that would not have been possible from behind given the flat battleground. He would also be free to wreak havoc with his lethal magic before making a hasty retreat if he was charged. Though Soran's magic was rather weak as far as constructs went, he would still prove far more potent than nigh any mere human.
===---_---===
Shaige's ghostly form darted between the trees, the five shadow beasts bounding by his side and Ifrit following in his wake. Soon they were joined by a sixth shadow beast, one of those that had been sent to scout ahead and guard the main army from the eyes of any Klug scouts. The lupine monster, between its ragged panting, spoke to Shaige in some garbled language of growls. As they continued to move through the forest, the shadow beast warned its master that there had been an alarming amount of scouts. The beasts had disposed of at least twenty by the time this one left the others.
A short while later, another eight joined Shaige's cohort. This time, the wraith stopped as one of the beasts in the form of a bear rapidly conveyed the results of an excursion into the Klug village itself. Any hopes of a surprise attack were hopeless; the Klug had already sheltered their weak within some temple atop the hill, while several hundred warriors were outside the village awaiting a battle. Hundreds more were inside the village as a reserve. Soran had already been spotted and was moving to attack, completely unaware of the reserve inside the village. His army was easily outnumbered by around three to one, maybe more.
Turning to Ifrit, who would have been left to wonder was being said, Shaige's empty voice echoed out, "The attack has begun. By some way they knew of our coming, and are prepared." The spirit in every way displayed calm, betraying no sign of the fury that he felt. How had they known? After hardly a second of reflection the wriath saw the answer right before him: Ifrit. He had only a few days ago ordered the monster to slay the Klug looting the village, yet leave some survivors. No doubt those survivors had found their way back and shared their tale. Sparing even a single Klug now seemed incredibly foolish in hindsight, but at least the sight of Ifrit would be even more terrifying now.
Shaige's thoughts were interrupted by the unexpected arrival of the last shadow beast. This one, an owl, had welcome news. It informed its master that the pain elementals had stayed inside the forest, skirting around the clearing unseen. Some three and a half hundred of the deadly spirits laid in wait on the west side of the village, the opposite side of Soran's army. They were in a perfect position to approach unseen from behind the large temple, to assist Shaige and Ifrit in slaying the reserve forces inside the village. From there, it would be just a short march up to the temple, where the remnants of the Klug would be trapped. The owl was sent off, with orders to unleash the pain elementals onto the village the moment the sun's last rays vanished behind the mountains. That would leave Shaige and Ifrit some time to arrive at the fray. The two quickly set off, with the fourteen shadow beasts not far behind.
Soran's army would likely have just began fighting the Klug outside the village's east gate by the time Ifrit burst forth from the treeline to the north, with orders to leap over the pathetic abatis that had been thrown together around the village. From there, the monster was to obliterate a few houses and rampage through the reserve forces. Terrified and thrown into chaos, the reserves would then fall easy prey to the pain elementals that would come shortly after. Shaige himself waved a hand and reduced a segment of the abatis to clumps of dirt as the wooden stakes rapidly rotted. The wraith then walked walked right into the village, towards the hill with the temple. The fourteen shadow beasts at his sides would attack any fool brave enough to try stopping the keeper.
Cyclone
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Bio
Back when dinosaurs ruled the Earth, I got started with writing online on the Spore forums. Man, those were the days. We're talking like 12 years ago 2010-ish!
I've been here on and off for almost as long, and have GM'd a bunch of different things to varying success.
I've been here on and off for almost as long, and have GM'd a bunch of different things to varying success.
Word of my splendor:
Most Recent Posts
Ah, Balon. I've forgotten to post as him for some time now. And I'm afraid that MasterJay might be gone now; it's been over a month I think.
Edit: Just saw that his sig says he's on vacation. Well, he may come back yet.
Edit: Just saw that his sig says he's on vacation. Well, he may come back yet.
Dr Trapezoid, should I wait on that post of yours or just move Ifrit into position and start the battle?
Edit: Well, this is the first time I've ever experienced a double post on the Internet. I thought I was immune. 
Sure. You could say that the Ripper asked for power from the humans, got rejected, and then infected them with a magical taint out of spite.
KabenSaal said snip
A good and unique backstory. There is one inconsistency with the lore, namely that you mentioned Emily's village to be destroyed in a war of Keepers.
As explained by the OP, the Keepers are not native to Elysium. They arrived from other dimensions maybe a few months ago in IC time, and there have yet to be any large scale wars between Keepers, or even Keepers and humans. Thus far there have just been a few small skirmishes, with Clotho causing some mayhem in Virens and Calvartem pillaging the hinterlands of Paterdomus.
The 42nd Gecko said
"I suppose it'd be enough to just say that they felt like something was about to happen, I only ask out of curiosity because I don't think you mentioned why."Due to the tribes high animosity with each other, they would naturally spy and raid on each other. After having witnessed what happened to the Mutig... They would naturally fear the same was going to happen to them. And if none of their scouts made it back, they'd fear the same thing. This was vaguely hinted at when the champion mentioned the Mutig.
Ah. Makes sense.
Your character, so your choice for how you want to do an introduction.
So why are the Klug in a state of high alert, anyways? I suppose it'd be enough to just say that they felt like something was about to happen, I only ask out of curiosity because I don't think you mentioned why.
It was not long after his meeting with the being inside the stone that Shaige's followers had finished excavating the rubble and repairing the tunnel. Crude wooden supports held up the tons of stone above; for now they would hold, but the keeper's dislike of such improvisations would mean that more thorough and permanent reparations would be necessary. Still, now was not the time. The spirit did not let his thoughts stray far from the Klug. Fangir and Soran were informed that the time was coming, so they hastily saw about preparing the army.
Shaige, meanwhile, retreated to his dungeon heart. In the corner of the tiled chamber was a mound of near two dozen slain humans. Their blood was old and stagnant, as evidenced by how the sickening smell of death and decay permeated the room. Still, the Keeper required blood to be spilled into the unholy fountain that was his dungeon heart. Without blood magic, the keeper would be nothing; his powers gone and his soul exiled to the spirit realm. So it was unsettling to have a mere twenty rotting men in place of hundreds of live prisoners, still pure and filled with vigorous blood.
That was one of the reasons that the attack could not wait. The other was that Shaige was keen to see the power that the Destruction Catalyst had promised, and in truth some sense correctly told the wraith that the voices inside the artifact were impatient and would not wait. So it was that the wraith found himself rushing into what was a bold, premature, and dangerous assault. The Mutig tribesmen could provide some details. They also knew that their foes numbered in the thousands, and that their Loas were wiser and powerful enough to actually speak. The Klug village was barely fortified; the women and children hid in some grand temple while the met fought off their enemies in open combat, rather than cowered behind walls.
With a snap of his fingers, Shaige reduced the twenty corpses before him to dust. Their flesh dried, cracked, and finally turned to mere powder as every drop of moisture was magically pulled out and sucked into Shaige's font of blood. Even the skeletons were reduced to dust, as the bones splintered into thousands of pieces so that the blood in the marrow could burst forth. Shaige now had an inordinate amount of blood in his fountain. It was vile and old, yet it was not worthless. Shaige was rejuvenated and strengthened; he now felt in his prime. That would not last. With each spell and passing hour, the blood magic would dwindle. Time was of the essence.
The Keeper left to inspect the army that he had amassed over the past month. There were a hundred zealots, master soldiers that could hardly be considered human at this point. They wore full plate armor, black suits heavy beyond description and thick enough to stop arrows and swords. Despite that, they could march for a day without stopping and in battle they moved utterly unhindered. Though they could have wielded claymores in each hand, they favored to use normal weaponry in the form of swords, pikes, and tower shields. Their magically augmented strength gave them to ability to swing such implements with terrifying speed and force. All the remaining spellcasters, a mere thirty thirty, would accompany their archdruid and chieftain Fangir. To supplement the druids and heavy infantry, Fangir was bringing along a hundred human bowmen, half of the remaining tribesmen. The other hundred would remain in the dungeon, defending it and continuing to work.
There were also three and a half hundred pain elementals that had been rounded up. Summoning them was easy, especially with so many souls readily trapped in Shaige's fountain of blood, so Soran had swelled their ranks considerably over the past few days. The pain elementals were instinctive and difficult to control, driven wild by the ghostly flames that tormented them. Sepulchral wailing accompanied them wherever they went, and their titian orange glow easily gave away their presence. Still, with the ability to drain the life of those that they touched and savagely explode in order to cripple or slay any nearby enemies, they were the best suited to handling the full strength of any defenders.
There were now sixteen shadow beasts, as well. One would have to remain at the dungeon, as losing the last of them would render Shaige unable to summon more without extreme difficultly. Of the remaining fifteen, five would serve as the wraith's bodyguard and the other ten as scouts. And then, of course, the army would have Ifrit, Fangir, Soran, and Shaige himself, all of whom were formidable in their own right. The Tormenter was still on a task of his own, somewhere keeping an eye on the Crusaders' outposts to the south. Ifrit would be closer and far easier to locate, so the wraith would afford the time to locate the rogue being. The Tormenter would not accompany the army, as he on the other hand would be difficult to locate, and his work was best continued.
An abundance of supplies was not needed. The soldiers each brought their weapons and armor, and only carried enough food and drink to last two days at best. Aside from that, there were only two things: torches made from simply coating sticks in tar, and an inordinate amount of chains and shackles. When the battle was over, the Mutig intended to put the village to the torch and enslave its inhabitants. Shaige did not protest; the village was distant and of no tactical value, and prisoners were needed for both labor and blood.
At late morning the army departed, numbering just over six hundred if one counted the pain elementals and the officers. The pain elementals traveled by flight, staying well above the treeline and out of sight. The shadow beasts easily negotiated the forest, and so the ten scouts forayed ahead and off to the side of the main army.
If there were any Klug scouts of warbands, they would be smelled by the shadow beasts, and almsot certainly meet a grisly death before they could return to warn their kin. The rest followed a few of the Mutig tribesmen that had once been pathfinders, before the tribe lost their village and retreated below the ground. The men had to traverse narrow game trails, cross streams, and maneuver the occasional rocky bluff. As such, an organized march was impossible, the few hundred men simply followed in single file most of the way. There was a long march ahead. It was hardly more than a league as the birds flew, yet the foreboding forest and rugged terrain did nothing to expedite the journey, so it would be dusk by the time they neared the enemy tribe.
Meanwhile, Shaige was not accompanying the army, but rather he searched his own domain for Ifrit. The beast was hardly subtle and seemingly showed a blatant disregard for going unseen, though in fairness it would be close to impossible for a creature of his size to avoid leaving an obvious trail. It was easy for the keeper to find the Mutig's ruined village and pick up Ifrit's trail from there. Taking a moment to examine the rogue being's work both at the village and at the small clearing, the wraith was not disappointed. When the keeper at last did find Ifrit, his arrival was announced by a sharp scent of blood and the reek of death. Such vile smells always accompanied the shadow beasts, and five of the things were bounding behind their master as his bodyguard.
"You have done well, but hunting those rats was little more than a diversion for you. Now we will see how you fare in a real battle. My minions already move to attack an enemy village. You will accompany me during the attack." With that, the wraith turned and began a hasty journey towards the Klug village. The army had left an hour ago and had in the opposite direction, so it would take a brisk pace converge with them.
______________________
William did not need to open his eyes. The screams and bestial roars were enough to tell the scout that the others were slain. Now he just had to look out for himself, not that he had tried to save them. The guilt was already hitting him, a heavy, sinking feeling in his chest. He tried to keep a clear mind, reminding himself that he was hidden. If he remained in the tree for long enough, the monster would leave and he come down.
But after many minutes, he still heard heavy footsteps from below. He didn't understand until he heard a heavy, ragged panting from below-no, the sound was sniffing. The scout opened his eyes, and saw the monster below, alarmingly close. Even through the leaves and branches and from fifty feet above, William could see that Ifrit was huge and beyond terrifying. The look confirmed the man's worst fear, the beast had smelled him and was trying to find its prey. From down there the thing couldn't reach him and it didn't look like it could climb. Not that any of that mattered, since it was easily big enough to simply knock down the whole tree. He muttered a few words to Caldor, praying for his life.
A hundred thoughts rushed through the scout's mind at once. He knew what to do. Pulling out his dagger, he began to saw off a few sticks from the branch he sat upon. The sawing sound seemed alarmingly loud to William, but with every footstep of the beast causing the ground to shudder, it didn't hear. A few moments later, William held the twigs in his hand. He threw it away from the tree as hard as he could. It crashed into a mound of leaves a hundred yards away. The rustling was heard by the monster, and it bounded to the source. It only took an instant before the ravenous thing was there, circling around in search for its prey. William hurled another stick, which landed farther behind Ifrit and broke with a sharp snap. The beast, seemingly confused, whirled around. Then, the scout jumped.
He narrowly made it onto a large branch of the nearest tree. He clambered around the trunk to a branch on the other side, and jumped again. In this way, he moved from tree to tree, praying to Unda that the light rustling above would blend in with the tune of leaves swaying in the wind. After traveling some distance in this way, William heard a frustrated roar in the distance. The beast had seemingly gave up. Or perhaps it was just trying to trick its prey into coming out of its hiding place. Te scout remained cowering in a tree for the rest of the day, long after Ifrit had left.
Shaige, meanwhile, retreated to his dungeon heart. In the corner of the tiled chamber was a mound of near two dozen slain humans. Their blood was old and stagnant, as evidenced by how the sickening smell of death and decay permeated the room. Still, the Keeper required blood to be spilled into the unholy fountain that was his dungeon heart. Without blood magic, the keeper would be nothing; his powers gone and his soul exiled to the spirit realm. So it was unsettling to have a mere twenty rotting men in place of hundreds of live prisoners, still pure and filled with vigorous blood.
That was one of the reasons that the attack could not wait. The other was that Shaige was keen to see the power that the Destruction Catalyst had promised, and in truth some sense correctly told the wraith that the voices inside the artifact were impatient and would not wait. So it was that the wraith found himself rushing into what was a bold, premature, and dangerous assault. The Mutig tribesmen could provide some details. They also knew that their foes numbered in the thousands, and that their Loas were wiser and powerful enough to actually speak. The Klug village was barely fortified; the women and children hid in some grand temple while the met fought off their enemies in open combat, rather than cowered behind walls.
With a snap of his fingers, Shaige reduced the twenty corpses before him to dust. Their flesh dried, cracked, and finally turned to mere powder as every drop of moisture was magically pulled out and sucked into Shaige's font of blood. Even the skeletons were reduced to dust, as the bones splintered into thousands of pieces so that the blood in the marrow could burst forth. Shaige now had an inordinate amount of blood in his fountain. It was vile and old, yet it was not worthless. Shaige was rejuvenated and strengthened; he now felt in his prime. That would not last. With each spell and passing hour, the blood magic would dwindle. Time was of the essence.
The Keeper left to inspect the army that he had amassed over the past month. There were a hundred zealots, master soldiers that could hardly be considered human at this point. They wore full plate armor, black suits heavy beyond description and thick enough to stop arrows and swords. Despite that, they could march for a day without stopping and in battle they moved utterly unhindered. Though they could have wielded claymores in each hand, they favored to use normal weaponry in the form of swords, pikes, and tower shields. Their magically augmented strength gave them to ability to swing such implements with terrifying speed and force. All the remaining spellcasters, a mere thirty thirty, would accompany their archdruid and chieftain Fangir. To supplement the druids and heavy infantry, Fangir was bringing along a hundred human bowmen, half of the remaining tribesmen. The other hundred would remain in the dungeon, defending it and continuing to work.
There were also three and a half hundred pain elementals that had been rounded up. Summoning them was easy, especially with so many souls readily trapped in Shaige's fountain of blood, so Soran had swelled their ranks considerably over the past few days. The pain elementals were instinctive and difficult to control, driven wild by the ghostly flames that tormented them. Sepulchral wailing accompanied them wherever they went, and their titian orange glow easily gave away their presence. Still, with the ability to drain the life of those that they touched and savagely explode in order to cripple or slay any nearby enemies, they were the best suited to handling the full strength of any defenders.
There were now sixteen shadow beasts, as well. One would have to remain at the dungeon, as losing the last of them would render Shaige unable to summon more without extreme difficultly. Of the remaining fifteen, five would serve as the wraith's bodyguard and the other ten as scouts. And then, of course, the army would have Ifrit, Fangir, Soran, and Shaige himself, all of whom were formidable in their own right. The Tormenter was still on a task of his own, somewhere keeping an eye on the Crusaders' outposts to the south. Ifrit would be closer and far easier to locate, so the wraith would afford the time to locate the rogue being. The Tormenter would not accompany the army, as he on the other hand would be difficult to locate, and his work was best continued.
An abundance of supplies was not needed. The soldiers each brought their weapons and armor, and only carried enough food and drink to last two days at best. Aside from that, there were only two things: torches made from simply coating sticks in tar, and an inordinate amount of chains and shackles. When the battle was over, the Mutig intended to put the village to the torch and enslave its inhabitants. Shaige did not protest; the village was distant and of no tactical value, and prisoners were needed for both labor and blood.
At late morning the army departed, numbering just over six hundred if one counted the pain elementals and the officers. The pain elementals traveled by flight, staying well above the treeline and out of sight. The shadow beasts easily negotiated the forest, and so the ten scouts forayed ahead and off to the side of the main army.
If there were any Klug scouts of warbands, they would be smelled by the shadow beasts, and almsot certainly meet a grisly death before they could return to warn their kin. The rest followed a few of the Mutig tribesmen that had once been pathfinders, before the tribe lost their village and retreated below the ground. The men had to traverse narrow game trails, cross streams, and maneuver the occasional rocky bluff. As such, an organized march was impossible, the few hundred men simply followed in single file most of the way. There was a long march ahead. It was hardly more than a league as the birds flew, yet the foreboding forest and rugged terrain did nothing to expedite the journey, so it would be dusk by the time they neared the enemy tribe.
Meanwhile, Shaige was not accompanying the army, but rather he searched his own domain for Ifrit. The beast was hardly subtle and seemingly showed a blatant disregard for going unseen, though in fairness it would be close to impossible for a creature of his size to avoid leaving an obvious trail. It was easy for the keeper to find the Mutig's ruined village and pick up Ifrit's trail from there. Taking a moment to examine the rogue being's work both at the village and at the small clearing, the wraith was not disappointed. When the keeper at last did find Ifrit, his arrival was announced by a sharp scent of blood and the reek of death. Such vile smells always accompanied the shadow beasts, and five of the things were bounding behind their master as his bodyguard.
"You have done well, but hunting those rats was little more than a diversion for you. Now we will see how you fare in a real battle. My minions already move to attack an enemy village. You will accompany me during the attack." With that, the wraith turned and began a hasty journey towards the Klug village. The army had left an hour ago and had in the opposite direction, so it would take a brisk pace converge with them.
______________________
William did not need to open his eyes. The screams and bestial roars were enough to tell the scout that the others were slain. Now he just had to look out for himself, not that he had tried to save them. The guilt was already hitting him, a heavy, sinking feeling in his chest. He tried to keep a clear mind, reminding himself that he was hidden. If he remained in the tree for long enough, the monster would leave and he come down.
But after many minutes, he still heard heavy footsteps from below. He didn't understand until he heard a heavy, ragged panting from below-no, the sound was sniffing. The scout opened his eyes, and saw the monster below, alarmingly close. Even through the leaves and branches and from fifty feet above, William could see that Ifrit was huge and beyond terrifying. The look confirmed the man's worst fear, the beast had smelled him and was trying to find its prey. From down there the thing couldn't reach him and it didn't look like it could climb. Not that any of that mattered, since it was easily big enough to simply knock down the whole tree. He muttered a few words to Caldor, praying for his life.
A hundred thoughts rushed through the scout's mind at once. He knew what to do. Pulling out his dagger, he began to saw off a few sticks from the branch he sat upon. The sawing sound seemed alarmingly loud to William, but with every footstep of the beast causing the ground to shudder, it didn't hear. A few moments later, William held the twigs in his hand. He threw it away from the tree as hard as he could. It crashed into a mound of leaves a hundred yards away. The rustling was heard by the monster, and it bounded to the source. It only took an instant before the ravenous thing was there, circling around in search for its prey. William hurled another stick, which landed farther behind Ifrit and broke with a sharp snap. The beast, seemingly confused, whirled around. Then, the scout jumped.
He narrowly made it onto a large branch of the nearest tree. He clambered around the trunk to a branch on the other side, and jumped again. In this way, he moved from tree to tree, praying to Unda that the light rustling above would blend in with the tune of leaves swaying in the wind. After traveling some distance in this way, William heard a frustrated roar in the distance. The beast had seemingly gave up. Or perhaps it was just trying to trick its prey into coming out of its hiding place. Te scout remained cowering in a tree for the rest of the day, long after Ifrit had left.
Shaige's dungeon is underground. That's great and all, except for the fact that the entrance collapsed and his minions were frantically trying to dig their way out before they ran out of air and suffocated. But now, the four posts have passed so the tunnel is fixed and we can get this started.
Trapezoid, should I wait for you to do that post or just have Shaige find Ifrit so that we can fast forward to when they get to the Klug village? Normally I'd take a post or two to have that William guy escape (poor fellow is destined to have a run in with the Tormenter) and have some dialogue between Shaige and Ifrit, but we have two people waiting on us so we should probably hurry this along and begin the invasion ASAP.
Trapezoid, should I wait for you to do that post or just have Shaige find Ifrit so that we can fast forward to when they get to the Klug village? Normally I'd take a post or two to have that William guy escape (poor fellow is destined to have a run in with the Tormenter) and have some dialogue between Shaige and Ifrit, but we have two people waiting on us so we should probably hurry this along and begin the invasion ASAP.
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