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7 yrs ago
dissertation done. can actually post again. yay.
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The Koopa Troop

wordcount: 1372 (excluding hiders) (+3) (+5 from encounter)
Bowser: Level 7 EXP: /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (10/70)
Bowser Jr: Level 6 EXP: /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (7/60)
Kamek: Level 6 EXP: ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (14/60)
Location: the Land of Adventure




By the time the Koopa troop regrouped and hyped themselves up for round three the battle was all but over. A few scattered Primids remained but they were rapidly dealt with by the remaining automated defenses or spirit gatherers.

”Oh. Was that it? Just two waves huh.” Bowser said before chortling ”Gah ha ha, this lot must have gone soft without someone as awesome as me in charge!”

”You lead these guys papa?” jr asked

”Yeah yeah, me plus Ganadorf, Wario, Ridley, few other guys… Hmmm, Wonder if that backstabbing wizard and oversized space lizard are around here somewhere? Anyway yeah, we had this thing going with the Master Hand before it turned out to be a puppet on someone’s stings. The big glove’s really been getting pushed down a lot lately huh.” Bowser explained casually before hucking a fireball at one of the remaining subspace soldiers.

”So could I also...?” Jr asked

”Yeah probably.”

”Sweet!” jr said before hopping out of his clown car and going scavenging for spirits. As he did the two elder koopas got the Toadies to bring them some spirits of their own from the battle while they worked their way through the ones Jr and Kamek had gathered on the road. One exception to this destruction was the Trowlon that had attempted to airlift Bowser, which he easily convinced to become a striker to be used as a temporary hoverboard later on.

”Your name is now Carrie” he told it.

Jr then came back with a stack of the highly numerous Primids and Bytan which he absorbed into his army of minions. Mimikyu had also picked up a Spaark sprite. Her desire to shoot lightning was a well known factor by this point, Kamek a was curious as to whether the creature could in fact absorb spirits, and jr interested in the power that might bring him. All this culminated in the first pokemon fusion experiment between the living cloud and the pokemon. The result was... interesting. The doll looking pokemon gained a battery on its back, its shadowy body became fluffy, cloudlike and highly pettable, though it maintained its dark hue. It also gained metal teeth sewn where the drawn-on mouth once was. Everyone agreed this was the worst and something should be done about it as soon as possible. Mimikyue seemed both oblivious to this and very pleased by her new Electro Ball move.



Once they’d sorted everything out and Peach gave a vicious derision of the Subspace army’s right to live they set off into the canyon. They had to leave the cars behind, meaning some of Bowser’s shopping ended up being transferred into jr’s clown car and duffel bag. The amount of sweets within said shopping took a sharp drop as a result. This also gave people their last chance to grab items from the leftover pile, along with any meat or candy they happen to want from the King’s shopping trip.



With last minute preparations all sorted out the team set off on foot though along the treacherous canyon road, which included a few tight spots that the king complained loudly about whenever he had to push himself through them. Fortunately they did not come under any more attacks while traversing this dry landscape and with Kamek’s aid they traversed their way through the maze towards a grassy area that ran right up against the great distortion with relative ease. After one final cramped cave they emerged into the verdant valley and came face to fist with a familiar foe.

After Bowser made a failed attempt at fireballing the shielded Master hand the Troop resigned themselves to listening to it indirectly insult Bowser repeatedly via the mockery of his double and a warning about the otherworldly power of the guardian that the troop arrogantly ignored before it clicked its fingers and spawned a large stone tower atop the spiral mountain at the center of the valley. Atop it there appeared six fighters, one of whom Bowser and Linkle both recognized as Link, the hero of Hyrule.

The hand vaguely described changes it had made to their foe’s weapons before vanishing, leaving them at the mercy of the snipers, who were armed with an equal mix of bows and weapons like Micheal‘s sniper rifle. The troop didn’t need convincing to move, they were raring to get going after being forced to sit though even a few moments of the hands yapping and were already in the process of charging the tower the moment their foes opened fire. Peach’s yelling for them to get to cover was ignored right up until the first black arrow found its mark.

”Gah. How come they don't have to use oversized hunks of junk to fire those!” Bowser yelled as he rapidly changed direction from a frontal assault and tired to find king sized cover

Fortunately for him Kamek had immediately recognized their disadvantageous position the party was in and had flown straight into the foliage of one of the trees that dotted the valley, and fortunately it was not the one that got obliterated by the titan’s arrow. Once there he did not cower, but instead rapidly cast two spells in quick succession. As the arrows rained down on the party Kamek’s tree suddenly and rapidly quintupled in size, roots bursting from the ground, trunk thickening and foliage spreading across the sky till the tree towered mighty and proud above an area to the left of the entrance. The now massive leaves and branches of it’s foliage provided visual and physical cover, making it harder for the snipers to spot and get a clear shot at those below, while the trunk had scratched tall as the spiral mountain itself. Several Kameks could be seen from below, each hovering below a branch of the mighty tree’s foliage, all of them remaining still, the copies acting as decoys for the real one who was focused on maintaining the enlargement spell.

”Nice one Kamek” Jr called, as he rapidly ascended under the cover of leaf towards the entrance to the tower.

Bowser meanwhile had an idea during the brief refuge in audacity the tree’s sudden enlargement granted. He rummaged around in a pocket and received a silvery spherical bell which he affixed it to his spiked collar. In a flash of light he transformed himself into the cat like Meowser, complete with cat ears, tiger striped fur, long sleek tail and sharp claws. He made zero comment about his new lees than intimidating feline appearance.

Instead he yelled ”TOUCH THE BASE OF THE TROPHY TO FREE PEOPLE” at the team in general but also Linkle specifically, before scampering towards the tree on all four paws and narrowly avoiding getting obliterated by a ballista sized shot from the sharp eared giant, bell jingling as he ran. With sharp claws he gripped the side of the tree trunk and, after waiting just a moment for potential passengers, began rapidly climbing it in leaps and bounds, relying on the leaves above and the thick trunk in front to protect him from harm while he ascended. He also summoned Heel, and commanded the Rabbid to reach inside and grab the ball within the bell in-order to try and get it ringing so loudly.

The toadies, who had been hovering around uselessly took this command to be an instruction, and flew over to help speed up the rate that the mechanical beetle was dragging Euden towards linkle.

High above Bowser Jr ordered Mimikyu to use the move copycat before bursting from the foliage in his clown car. Sitting on the rim of the car his now cloudy ghost pokemon used its long arms to form a titanic bow as part of its copying of the Giant's attack. A severed stick from the tree formed the bow itself while one of its long ropy arms formed the string. With its free arm it was pulling back a Black Arrow like the ones being fired at them and with a cry of “Mimik-kyuuu!” loosed the arrow at the very same moment as the pair emerged from the tree line.

The tree branch bow shattered as the pair’s retaliatory titan arrow flew upwards, blindly aimed at the battlements of the tower in an attempt to ward off counter attack, while they themselves flew towards the door of the tower with all the speed Jr’s clown car could muster.
Sancta Civitas

The young Vespain carpenter paused in her work assembling in the beehive to stretch and get something to partch her sawdust dried throat. Buzzing wings lifted her off of the ground and out of her hive’s workshop. A quick trip down a central shaft brought her to their underground larder, and her journey back up to the surface carrying a small jar of wine attracted a number of her sisters, and started an impromptu picnic up on the hive’s roof.

Hesitant questions as to whether they could afford to be cracking open the wine right now were dismissed.

“These bee-hives and ladybird shrinez the City’z commissioning mean we’re rolling in food tokens. Iz fine to take a little break.” the carpenter, who’s name was Tadiza, said as she broke off the seal on the wine.

Before he had set out to create the Elemental Bees for Artifex Kallak had made an appearance in his Avatar persona out in the fields beyond the wall, practically ambushing a committee who where observing a goblin druid in action with an impromptu carpentry lesson. The Avatar had instructed the observers and a number of local farmers on how to first make and maintain a bee box that would allow the easy farming of honey and then also the creation of a shrine that would attract ladybirds to their fields. The shrines mostly consisted of an offering table where the farmer would put food for the beetles, which would keep them around even after they eradicated the pests (such as aphids) in their field, a place for them to lay their eggs, and a small nesting chamber below it where they could hibernate during the islands short winter.

A small amount of religious iconography. Artifex's horn crown, which looked like a pair of barbed mandibles if you looked at it another way, took pride of place on these structures, blessing them in the name of the insect god. Tadiza had been working on these since the city’s began commissioning them en masse, pulling in a fair amount of tokens for her hive. Right now however, she put the work she was doing aside and enjoyed the company of her sisters, a lovely picnic and the view from the top of their hive.

Calling the agricultural district one district was a bit of a stretch, as it consisted of several clusters of buildings nesting around the northern gateways that linked the stone coated inner city from the fertile plains of the outer, but they were all liked, and all shared a common function so they ended up grouped together. If Tadzia craned her neck she could just about see out through the gate to the beginnings of the rows upon rows of farmlands spreading out from the outer walls. Inside were homes for farmers and workshops for processing food such as mills and wine presses. There were also craftspeople who did work that helped service those farms, Tadiza’s mostly woodworking sisters being one such group.

New to all this were the large granaries that had only recently started going up, designed by the Emissaries. One was under construction within their area, slowly rising up out of the buildings around it.

Down in the streets below goblins and the odd Mantarin and Akua went about their days while the air above them buzzed with Vespian. Joining the people where the cities insectile caretakers. Giant ants emerged from their nests below the city and crawled over its walls, either to inspect them for damage or to cross over to ant trails cutting through the farmland beyond into the wilds. Above them Buzzed the giant bees known as Hivers, who lived in the tops of the towers that dotted the walls. Always a common sight in the city, what was new was the smattering of them seen among the people. As Tadiza watched a massive hiver with a goblin on its back slowly rose above the city carrying a support beam beneath it. It traveled up to the top of the granary where a few workers unloaded it and set to work putting it in place. Down below giant Civitas ants could be seen more commonly, being used as mounts or instructed to carry materials or pull large carts.

“Care for some honey’d hoof-rat?” one of the Vespain asked Tadiza, breaking her way from her people watching, “tastez different from bug meat. But in a good way.”

“Isn't hunted meat really expensive?” she asked, knowing that it’d need to have been shipped in quickly after the beast was slain out in the woods “I know I said we were doing well but that’z a little much”

“No, see, itz honeyed. Goblin I got it from kept a whole bunch in these big jarz of honey. Kept it from going bad”

“And you believed him?” Tadiza asked

“I’m not sick yet” her sister insisted, pressing the thin cut of meat into Tadiza’s hands

“Hoenyz still pretty expensive” objected another

“No, see I got a good deal coz I fixed a wobbly leg on hiz stand for him” the honey meat buyer retorted. Tadiza tuned the rest of the conversation out as she nibbled on the meat and went back to people watching. It was sweet, even if the honey had been mostly scraped back into the goblin’s storage jar.

Tadiza’s mind took it all in as she kept watching the world go by. The tasty honeyed meat, the goblins she’d seen riding one of the giant Hivers, the silo tower being built nearby, the Hivers in their tower, the beehives she was in the middle of making back down in the workshop. She clicked her mandibles together idly feeling she was on the cusp of something. Hivers. Preservation. Silos. She felt like those could go together, but the prospect of even approaching the forming idea was daunting. She was just a carpenter after all, what did she know about all architecture, food preservation and animal handling.

Far far away and yet only a short skip to the side Artifex drummed his fingers on the edge of a workbench in his inner sanctum, impatiently. Sometimes he’d peruse the going on in Sancta Civitas, mostly just to enjoy the sight of it all working nicely, sometimes to see if he could intervene somewhere useful. While doing so he’d come across the Tadiza right as the carpenter was stumbling on the edge of an epiphany. He could butt in and tell her to go for it, that her idea was a good one, but he reflected that it had been a chance that he’d found her right on the cusp. How many other opportunities floundered due to lack of confidence, knowledge or mental capacity to hold the entire plan in their heads at once without him noticing he wondered. Certainly a lot in the city, and infinitely more in the world beyond it where he couldn't see as clearly.

“Sometimes all they need is a little extra push” Artifex mused. He mentally glanced over at The Library where an eflin Akua and Mantarin woman were talking excitedly about some spell or other, the rainbow flecks in their eyes sparkling as they did so.

“Clever, whoever made them. Yes. all they need is a little push, a little... inspiration.”



Arborea

“I’ve done it! Arta! Arta! come see” yelled the Sylphi artificer, waking up the apprentice who stayed with her at her workshop. The young plant woman stumbled out of the living section of the building and into the workshop.

“Master. It’s the middle of the night. Why are you up?” Arta asked, rubbing her eyes drowsily before taking in the mess that the workshop was in “and why are you working!?”

“I just. I had this idea. Couldn't sleep. Here. Take this. Isn't it amazing!” the artificer handing her apprentice a strange double barreled buzzer, each one packed with spell components. “Quick. To the test range. go go go”

“I, uh, ok?” Arta said as she was more or less shoved out into the night as her master grabbed the small magical globe of light she had been using to light up the room and followed her out into the dirt clearing behind their yard.

“This is safe right?” Arta asked as she raided the buzzer and took aim at one of the badly scorched targets set up in the clearing for test purposes, which was set in front of a small cliff face that the house and test range where deliberately built next too.

“Oh I am sure i did it perfectly. Don't worry.” her master insisted “Now shoot it. Quick quick”

“I. alright” Arta replied, aiming at one of the targets they had built back here for testing and hesitantly thumbed the trigger button on the magical weapon.

Spell powder ignited, causing a complex chemical and magical reaction to occur and the signature buzzing sound to be emitted as the spell formed within the weapon. Arta expected a fireball, or some other kind of flashy spell, but instead what happened was a rather pathetic magical mote shot out, striking one of the targets and sticking there.

“Is that?” she asked

“Now hit it again. Like this” said the artificer, impatiently leaning over Arta’s shoulder and poking the firing button a second time

There was a flash of light as the gun expelled a large puff of smoke. Arta was about to suggest that the spell hadn't worked and that they should go back to bed when a swarm of bees launched themselves out of the smoke produced by the powder. The swarm roared towards the target, mobbing it and stinging it for about thirty of Arta’s rapid-fire heartbeats before the light they were following died. When it did the swarm grew still and then suddenly disintegrated into individual puffs of smoke.

Arta stared at all of this, utterly confused.

“Amazing isn’t it” her master said, beaming at her and the Buzzer.

“But. why?”

“Well it’s called a buzzer isn't it?”

“That. I.”

“See, it came to me in a dream. We can make fire and ice and stone, so why not something alive? Now with those unalive things you shoot and then it’s done, but with these whoever's attacking is in a whole heap of trouble for quite a while, plus if you miss you just need to reload the first spell which is really easy to make compared to more damaging spells. Now what i did was I got some bee wings and stingers and I” Arta’s master began to explain, rambling at length about her new invention and, somehow, Arta found herself running around raiding bee hives for the rest of the night while her master churned out heaps of powder. By morning they were both exhausted and when they woke up mid afternoon neither had any idea how they’d made the 3 buzzers and dozens of spell charges sitting i n their workshop or what had driven them to be so excited about them in the first place.



Taerenga

“Jimmeny. What have yu done,” the chief of a Taerengan goblin tribe yelled at his tribes smith’s apprentice “That tin was supposed tey arm thirteen of our finest warriors, and ye’ve used it ta just make one soddin weapon!”

Jimmeny the goblin looked down at the massive two handed bronze sword he had forged and then up at the murderous look in the goblin chief, “Iz a weapon fit fo a cheif?”

“Oh no, yu aint gona bribe yur way out of this sonny. I’m going to have your head fer this!” the chief yelled before waving his spear armed guards forwards “tak the sword and bring im befo me”

Jimmeny, his body well muscle from 3 years of smiting, did not go quietly. Instead he grasped the handles of the great-sword, the engraved arcane knot (which only the shaman should have known how to carve) flashing, and with cry swept it forward, smashing his enemies aside, shattering spears, shields and bones alike.

The chief stared at the ruins that the blade had made of his men, his hands shaking as they clutched a small enchanted blade of his own, the finest his tribe had ever made. It too broke before Jimmeny’s work.

“Aye,” Jimmeny said to himself as he looked down at the shattered remains scattered around him “A sword fit fo a chief”



South Kubrajzar

A group of Vespian swarmed around a small room they’d built in their hive as they added the finishing touches to it. Already they’d gotten a lesser Hive Crawler to dig a steep tunnel leading down from the surface hive to the underground tunnels below, where it opened over a waste pit that the Swarm Guards periodically drenched with acid. There was also a door sealing the tunnel room off from the rest of the hive, a hatch to close over the tunnel when it was not in use, a bucket full of water in case the tunnel got clogged, a nice wooden seat onto which one of the wasp women added a soft goatskin for padding while another hung up a little spring of strongly and pleasantly smelling pin needles while a final Vespian plopped down a small wooden box filled with small pieces of their races signature paper in easy reach of where the user of the room would be sitting.

The small group stepped back and admired the wonderful new edition of their hive, before immediately starting to argue about who needed to use the new waste disposal shortcut the most and who would have to slog their way down to the pit the old fashioned way.

It took six months of the smell gradually becoming unbearable for the Vespian who originally had the idea to be inspired and find a way to safely milk, store and transport a Swarm Guard's acid up to the indoor toilet so she could properly cleanse the tunnel.



The Highlands

The glassmaker stared at the softly glowing statuette of Cadien he’d made, and wept for he knew he’d never be able to make anything as beautiful again.

Two months later he made a cloudy cocktail glass, complete with a delightful fruity drink and little umbrella.

Half a year later, he made a set of glass marbles, each one containing a depiction of one of the gods.

Three days later an incredibly small figurine of a sheep.

The glass maker never did achieve the same greatness as his first inspired work, and the two would never be parted, but he did make a fair amount of wealth off the sales of each of his subsequent saprobic acts of creativity. He could live with that.



Arbarent

“Sister what have you done to yourself!” a Vespain asked as a maggoty thing crawled out of the cocoon the eldest of their Hive had sealed herself in a week before.

“Feed me!” the horrid thing moaned “I must. Get bigger. Mutate again. Prove our hive strongest. Drive the fleshlingz from our landz!”

The Vespian crowded around the maggot, a small number of them mutated with lesser alterations like scorpion tails, extra arms, bone weapons or functioning legs. They listened, they understood, and they went hunting.

One month later the first, and greatest, of the war princess emerged from her colossal cocoon, and the arbarent quaked at her footfalls.



Sancta Civitas

Tadiza hovered above the streets of the port district. It had been 4 months since that fateful day up on the roof of her hive. Inspiration had struck, and it had struck her hard enough for her to abandon the picnic and fly all the way to the silo construction site. Hard enough for her to demand an audience with the Embassy member running the build site.

She’d ranted to him about her idea, got kicked out, gone back to her hive and built a smoke spewing contraption out of wood, metal and magic despite never having cast a spell in her life. Then she and her sisters, who had been caught up in her excitement, had raided one of the Hiver nests using the smoker, stolen a juvenile queen and hauled it before the Emissary who had mainly asked questions about how she had made the smoker with zero training. Then one of the builder-priests listening had gotten just as enthusiastic about the plan as she was and after a lot of arguing they set Tadiza’s plan into action.

The results of that plan could be seen all across the agricultural district, the towering silos having grown even taller with the addition of a section dedicated to housing Hivers resting at the top. From these vast amounts of, admittedly fairly lousy tasting compared to that made by their smaller brethren, honey could be harvested and used to preserve the food stores in the tower. Everything could be preserved in the honey, from grains to meats to berries, because for reasons unknown nothing rotted while submerged in the golden substance. Tadiza’s addition to the silos had been heralded as genius and the girl was sick of seeing them.

She’d been inducted into Artifex’s priesthood as soon as the effectiveness of the prototype was in. She’d met the Queen! They’d all expected great things from her and then. Nothing. As soon as the first tower was up her drive had just burned out. They’d asked here how to get more queens for the other towers and she had no idea. They’d wanted her to lead the construction of more towers, but the blueprints in her mind were gone. They’d figured it out in the end of course, and they were building more towers even as their inventor wandered the Docks. It was the only place in the city where you couldn’t see any of them.

There was one going up behind the walls to store seafood of course, but space on the external docks was at a premium, or would be according to the builder-priest's long term plans, and so the buildings consisted mainly of shipwrights dotted around the docks and a few temporary warehouses.

Tadiza hadn’t been down here before despite being born in the city. There had been no reason for her to go. But she had been in the area and had needed to get away from the sight of the towers. She buzzed too and fro, taking in the sights, watching the people and ships go by till she passed by a half built vessel laying on the side of a wharf.

“Me tell you. Sea waves” a goblin captain was saying to an Akua shipwright who looked like a salmon that had grown arms and legs “Too high. Bailing water all time and that if lucky. Sides taller, or seal rowers in. Anything. Stop flooding”

They were, Tadiza realized as she hovered closer, talking about the project to build true sea going vessels that didn't just hug the coast of their great island that had been spurred by a visiting druid’s assertion that he had come from another island like theirs. She had to admit, the idea was an interesting one. Sailing the seas, exploring far flung places, getting away from it all. The ships were interesting too now that she was getting a closer look at them. Fine pieces of carpentry, but built on a grand scale. Stone, metal, clay. These were the materials the priests loved to raise their grand buildings, but she liked wood. She felt like she understood it.

“If you make the sides taller it’ll sit lower in the water,” the Akua was saying “If youuu seal it over youuu need to make the sides taller anyway and it’ll be too heavy. Want to row something twice as heavy? Because youuu can’t. Suuure the fancy magic figureheads the mages are making’ll help youuu when its clam, but when the winds a howling and blowing youuu against the rocks youuu’ll want to be able to row it as hard as it can go. Make it bigger and youu ain't going nowhere. How’d youuu even get the oars ouuut huh?”

“More oars then!” the Goblin retorted

“Then its longer, and heavier.” The Akua said with certainty, “It’s juuust how things are”

“Excuse me” Tadiza said, interrupting the pair’s bickering.

“What?” the fish said with annoyance, before noting the ceremonial hammer and chisel hanging from her belt and managing to sound even more irritated when he added “oh joy. Another one of you landers come to tell me how to do my job?”

“I was just wondering why you can't put the oars on top of each other?” Tadiza asked

“What?”

“Yeah. that. More oars!” the goblin agreed

“Redicuuulouuuse. How wouuuld that even work?!”

“Look. ok you. Captain. Do this with your handz” she instructed, getting the Goblin to make a three step staircase with his hands.

“Ok so you have one golbin sitting here, and another here behind and above them, and then you stick the oars out though the walls here” she said “and that means you can have more rowers in the same length of boat” explaining the oar setup of what would become known as a bireme.

“Yeah. Is good.” the Goblin agreed. “Stack and row”

“No no no! That's never been done and we can go deviating from tried and true designs for something this important. I’m in charge her and we’re not-” the Akua insisted before finding one of Tadiza’s fingers pressed against his lips

“I don't care!” she said, before giggling and yelling at the top of her lungs “I don’t care!”

She took off and did a little spin before pointing at the goblin captain “You. You’re my number two. We’re taking over thiz operation in the name of Artifex and we’re making the best ship the world has ever seen!“

“Doing that” the goblin said while nodding enthusiastically, already completely wrapped up in her mania, before he scampered off to yell at the workers who had been incharge of the ship building.

“What. no youuu can’t do this” the Akua isnisted as he lost control of the situation

“Oh I can” Tadiza insisted, a spark lighting up her eyes “Because I have an Idea that it’z going to change the world, THE WORLD, and nobody iz going to stop me from seeing it though!”






Kallak/ The Avatar (of Artifex)

Kallak rode bareback across the desert on the back of a Soldier ant, which he had named Chompy, pursued by a number of rat lizard tiger things that had started hunting him in the jungle and had decided that following him out onto the heat blasted sands of the island’s interior. His cloak of the commoner flapped in the wind behind him as Kallak clung to Compy’s antenna, guiding the ant across the broken ground as best he could, but the predators must have done this before, for they were gaining ground as they dodged around soft sand traps after him

“Artifex!” Kallak yelled at the sky “Artifex a little help here!”

”Hmmm?” Came a rather distracted voice in his mind ”Ah. These mammalian pests again. Really now, just use my power to summon some insects to save yourself again.”

“I am in the desert, there are no wolfants in the desert!” Artifex yelled, before jerking Chompy’s antenna to the left to dodge a lunging beast.

“There is insect life here, you simply need to know where to look” Artifex explained calmly as his avatar failed to create dangerous creatures on the fly

“Well I don’t! So find it for me”

“Very well” artifex said before the presence of the god disappeared from his mind.

“Hey. Artifex! Father! Hey! come back! Ah beetlejuice. Keep running Chompy!” Kallak yelled before going for plan c: Spellcasting. A difficult thing to do while riding across unstable terrain, because making elaborate gestures and perfectly pronouncing the words of the incantation was difficult when you were being jerked around and clinging for dear life to a barely tamed giant insect.

It also didn't help that he had only had time to independently learn what where being described by the city’s new spellcaster’s as First Tier Spells before being sent out into the wilds by Artifex, which meant the Avatar was firing ice darts at the rat-tigers when salvation arrived on buzzing wings.

Swarmlings, the large wasps who were part of the same species as the Vespian, shot out of the heat haze of the desert, the low flying bodies having been hidden by a dusty brown camouflage found in the palace of their usual red and blacks stripes. They descended upon the beasts, claw and fang meeting stinger and scything talon. Insect and manal both fell to the dusty floor as Artifex turned Chompy into the fray now that the odds were more even, the massive pincers of the ant grabbing one of the pursuers by the head, slowly crushing the scrambalting beast till artifex drove an ice dart right through each of the monster’s eyes.

The chase that had lasted an hour ended in 30 seconds of brutal violence, the remaining predictors fleeing back across the sands as Kallak cheered his savior's prowers in battle, right up until the sarmlings turned their ever hungry eyes upon him.

“What? Why are you looking at me like that?” he asked the creatures before remembering that he wasn't in Sancta Civitas, and he hadn’t somoned these creatures himself either “wowowow no not. I’m not food” he told them, spreading all four of his arms out in various directions to ward them off “and i’m not a threat either. Neither is Chompy here. Uh. Friends? I mean Friendz? Part of Hive, so no need to attack me yez?”

The agitated buzzing slowed and calmed in response to his words and power, the insects ceasing their turned to the dead hunters and fallen swarmlings, beginning to bury most of them in the sands while either eating or gathering up parts of what they did not to be taken back to the hive.

“Ok good good. Thank you all for your assistance… where did you all come from anyway? Well I mean your hive guess, but what do you normally eat” the avatar looked around, but all he saw was sand and heat as far as the eye could see. “Yeah you can't answer me I suppose, but could you take me to your big sisters? They’ll know how anything can survive out here right?”

The swarmlings did not respond to this either, but considering they were loading themselves up with meat to carry back to the hive, Kallak knew all he would need to do was follow them.

Unbeknownst to all but the lifeblood, long ago mortal life had spawned, lived briefly and then died here, cursing the gods as they all went to their graves. Then, ages later, new life had fallen from the skies. Vespian. The aliens had adapted to the environment in their cocoons and then excited to meet a dry and seemingly inhospitable land. Now that he wasn't fleeing for his life Kallak could even see their landing site, the rear end of a large ship made from strange paper and metals from beyond this world poking out of the sands that had swept into the crater it had made on impact.

It didn’t take long for him to meet some of the descendants of the stellar refugees who had ridden the ship down, as they came buzzing towards him and the swarmling hord he was following. They were clad in white cloths made from the tough paper their kinds could produce, their faces covered by hoods that covered everything including their antena and eyes, though the latter could be seen through a meshed section that Kallak guessed kept sand out while still letting them see. Each one carried an obsidian spear with two long secondary spikes sticking out at an angle either side of the central blade.

The band of Vespian slowed as they saw Kallak, who waved up to them from where he was riding just below the Swarmling hoard.

“Hello there! Artifex bless your hive to be ever sturdy” he called out, invoking the name of their sahed creator in a hope that they would not be as aggressive as their feral kin. In a show of peace he dismounted Chompy, pet the giant ant and then walked closer with his arms spread. “From which hive do you ladies hail?”

A flurry of discussion erupted among the Vespain woman as they hovered before him. Then one flew down and landed before him, planting the point of her trident in the sand, using it to support her weight as she ceased flapping her wings, standing without their support. It was something Kallek knew as practically unprecedented among the city dwellers, who would only use walking staves if their wings no longer functioned.

“You. Stranger. How have you stopped our little sisterz from attacking you? And why did they fly all the way out here in the first place?” she barked as the others landed around her, planting their own tridents in the ground, the secondary prongs stopping the polls from simply sinking through the soft sand.

“Oh that. I, uh, commanded them to,” Kallak explained “hope you dont mind”

“You commanded our little sisters!” the first yelled, clearly minding

“You can command the swarmlings? How” asked another at exactly the same time. Younger, this one, and when Kallak looked at her he saw the tell tail rainbow flecks of a Servent in her massive compound eyes.

“With magic of course. I’m but a humble mage from Sancta Civtias, sent on a pilgrimage by Artifex to your, ah, lovely home seeking various types of Bee that I learned of through a vision”, he half lied.

“Beez? Mana? Magez? What is this nonsense” the leader of the woman demanded

“Oh, well mana is what mages use to cast spells. Here watch” he replied, before casting the simple light spell most mages learned to ease them into things. The simple orb of colored light appeared in his hand and drifted upwards and hung there for the rest of their conversation, marveling the Vespian.

“Amazing” said the Servant Vespain, her rainbow flecked eyes drinking in the spell like she was a woman dying of thirst. “And you can use this to controle Swarmlings?”

“Uh yeah, sure. Any insects in fact. Like Chompy here. It’s pretty specialized though, not a lot of mages do it” The avatar lied out of his thorax.

“I don’t like it” the leader muttered

“Please please please sister. It would be so useful to learn how to do thiz, we could have actual guestz. People could come here to trade instead of us going allll the way out there if they don't attack people. Oh we should have him as a guest!” the Servant begged, her enthusiasm gripping several of the others who echoed her desires.

“Gzzz, fine. Fine.”

“Yez!” the Servent took off in her excitement before waving at Kallak to come after them “Come on come one”

Kallak’s cartilage shifted to a happy yellow as he clicked his mandibles. He hadn’t even had to ask and he was getting a place to set up for the night. He mounted up as the other vespain took off. Some headeded the way he’d come, following an invisible pheromone trail to the buried battlefield while the rest followed him and the Servant, who’s name Kallak found out was Silandrazz, back towards their hive. As they talked he found out that she had no idea she was one of the Servants, which seems to be a ubiquitous state of being on the island. Sancta Civitas had had to seek out the city's two Servants on their own inorder to induct them into the mage training course at the library.

After a bit of travel they stumbled across the Vespians home. Literally. Kallak had to throw his weight back to stop Chompy from falling down into the hidden canyon the Vespain hive was built in. it was a bastion of life in the sun baked desert, a veritable paradise compared to the harsh world beyond. At the bottom ran fish filled seawater, constantly spilling in from the distant ocean through canyon, cravases and caves. As it evaporated in the heat it rose upwards, fresh and clean, feeding inumerable plants that grew on the walls and ridges of the cravess’s walls, including vast trees whose roots crossed from one side of the canyon to the other. Long vines dangled down from these, drinking in the seawater below. Fish swam in the seawater below, hunted by trident wielding Vespian, and rodents scurried about the plants, hiding from the swarmlings buzzing too and fro. The hive itself was a dome of paper built into the side of the valley. A large flat sheet of paper fanning out across the seawater, connected by vine ropes to the other side, that Kallak larter learned was used to catch evaporating water and bring it down into special collecting chambers in the hive.

Kallak marveled at this as hidden civilisation tucked away in the seemingly inhospitable desert as Chompy carefully crawled across a root bridge and then towards the hive. He entered, noting that here too the Vespian walked with their staves (butt down instead of points down on the more solid ground) and after a minor incident where one of the hive’s hulking guards nearly dissolved him in a spray of acid, was treated as a guest of honor. Their first guest ever in fact.

The disguised avatar ate well, and told them about his travels to the frozen peaks of one of the island’s extinct volcanoes, to the depths of the cave system below it and to the waters of the lake that lay at its base and which fed the river that ended at Sancta Civitas.

“Air, earth and water elemental bees” he explained, “and I’m here in this roasting land to find the final kind, the elusive fire mana bee”

That wasn't all he told them about of course, they were all eager to hear his tales of the land beyond their desert home, and of the self proclaimed shining jew of their island, Sancta Civitas. They had yet to hear the stories about the Embissarie’s arial and their great magical library. Silandrazz was the most eager of all, hanging onto his every word and asking the most questions during the evening until eventually the sun set and the moon and stars came out to watch over the cold desert night

When the hive was asleep, its varis casts snuggled together for warmth around their massive queen, Kallak snuck out. He had a final job to do, and then he’d be done with this quest and could go home. Not that he hadn't kind of enjoyed the adventure, but it would be nice to get behind the safe walls of the city again rather than having to worry about being eaten by whatever lifeblood made rat mammal the island was going to throw at him next.

The avatar snuck away from the hive, using the light of the moon to light his steps until he was far enough away. Then he cast the same light spell he had demonstrated to the Vespian earlier, bathing the area around him in a pale blue before attaching it to a small beetle he conjured from nothing and sending it to light up various bits of the canyon.

“Now. lets see” Kallak said to himself, as he gazed around the canyon “where could you be… ah, there, there and there! Yeah that works” he said, spotting several likely locations far away spots using his Avatar senses as the light illuminated them.

Having found plenty of spots the fire elemental bees could be he rapidly approached one, leaning into a nice looking crack in a section of steep cliff. When he looked inside however there were no Fire Elemental Bees to be found. Of course there weren't. Because they did not exist yet. But then, with a wave of the Avatar's hand, they suddenly did. A nest of red bees suddenly formed, complete with stores of honey, hundreds of red and black workers, grubbs and a queen. Almost as soon as it had come into being the bee’s set a fire inside their own hive, bozzing out to get firewood and then fuling it to keep the grubs, queen and themselves warm though the cold desert night.

“Yeah that’s not what I expected but ok. Well it worked, lets just do the rest quickly shall we.” he stepped back, turned and found himself looking at a crude looking at a mudskipper-eque creature the size of a crocodile that had been creeping up on him as he inspected the hive. Seeing the jig was now up the land fish lunged at Kallak. Kallak screamed as it came at him. Silandrazz screamed as her wings flared to life and the Vespian lunged from her hiding place. The fish monster screamed as her trident stabbed into it, thrashing wildly, causing the obsition blades to tear its flesh apart. The fish died messily, blood soaking the canyon’s banks.

“I. What. Where.” Kallak panted between gasping breaths.

“I couldn't sleep and then you snuck out all suspeicouz like so I followed you” the Vespian explained nonchalantly asking exitedly “how’d you do that?”

“Do what?”

“That thing you just did. I felt it, but it wasn't like the magic you did. It felt different. Why’d you start a fire in a” she pushed past the still stunned Kallak and looked inside to see the Fire Elemental Bees. “Ohh what are these! So cute. They have a little campfire. And they feel like how you do when you do spells.” she stepped back a bit “Yeah can still feel it. How have I never sensed this before? Who are you? Did. Did you make these? Did you make all of them? How?”

“Magic?” Kallak tired

“No. no I don’t think so. Felt different” Silandrazz said, with uncertain certainty

“I’m a druid?”

“I don’t know what that is. And why would you say you were a mage if you aren't?”

“I. uh. Well I am a mage but” he tried to explain, but Silandrazz kept going “And why would you go around making weird bees. You made all of them didn't you. The onez you talked about ‘finding’. And you said you are on a quest from Artifex… like a prophet. But even the onez in the storiez couldn't do stuff like that, they just hear him. What are you?”

She stared at him as the disguised avatar raised his hands and tried to come up with a response. She looked at him harder than anyone had ever bothered to do. Demanding understanding, the rainbow flecks in her eyes sparkling until she saw it. The same power he had used was on the cloak. Lighting fast she made a grab for it and before the avatar could stop her she pulled away his disguise. Nothing about his appearance changed. He still had the grand pair of horns and second set of arms she knew he had, but suddenly a connection she had not been allowed to make was made in her mind.

“You look like. Like in the temple. You look like Artifex? How could I never see that before! I. what. My god?” she stammered, shocked at the sight of Avatar. Normally when he was like this Kallak would stand tall and proud, his cartilage would turn jet black and he would speak with confidence and authority. But here, now, unmasked all of a sudden, he remained the slouched brick red Mantarin he had been just moments before.

“Ah. yeah. Well no.” Kalak said before sighing “I’m not Artifex”

“But you look” she began “I know I know. I’m not Artifex but I am kind of his hand crafted presence upon this world. An Avatar. The hand of god on Galbar” Kallak interrupted before sighing “you see why I wear the cloak now”

“What? No! That’s amazing! If I was something special I’d flaunt it!” Silandrazz insisted, to which Kallak laughed once “What? You mean the eye thing? Thatz nothing”

“It's not nothing. It’s how you can sense magic like you are, how you understand it just by looking at it, how you managed to see that there was a link between the creation I just did and my cloak. You’re a Servant”

“I’m nobody’z servant! And stop trying to distract me!” Silandrazz complained

“Ha, yeah that’s apparently basically what the other two said. Kinda the fault of whoever gave them such simplistic names” Kallak said, having more or less gotten over the shock of his unmasking “But yeah, you’re a rare magical prodigy. They can also talk to each other over long distances which is pretty neat”

“I. oh by prophetz. Thats. I always felt like. No, wait, you're distracting me. What is your deal”

“Look. I just don't like attention, least not all the time. But I also have a job to do, which is whatever Artifex wants doing and... Ok look, you don't really believe me but I swear to… actually instead. Hay. Artifex. Back me up on this”

“My son speaks the truth child. Also good job, got the last of the Elemental Mana Bees in place I see. Let's just spread them around a bit more though. Stable breeding population and all that” Arifex said into both of their minds

“Holy prophetz on high!” the Vespain cried as suddenly hundreds of tiny little lights lit up all across the canyon, noting the location of more Elemental Bee hives coming into being.

“Ok that’s cool. Can I go home now?”

“Wait. so you were lying about the insect thing weren’t you Kallak. It wasn't magic it was, well, this.”

“He was. My son has a tendency to do so. However I see your desired child, and your potential. Know that the power you seek does lie within mana, you will simply need to be the one to discover it. Some would say it is arrogance, to desire to change what the gods have made, as changing the nature of the swarmlings would be. They are fools to do so. You, my child, shall show them that. I dub thee, and all who walk in your footsteps, the Lords over Nature, may you take what was made by the gods and bed it to your will. Build upon our fondation child, and you shall achieve wonders unseen.” the god announced to them

“Oh and yes, Kallak, My Avatar, you may return home. You should go with him, Silandrazz, to the library. Meet your fellow Servants, learn from the library's many scriptures, and add your findings to them.”

“”I. I will, father!” the young Vespian cried out to the night

“Welp. Good luck with that.”

“Hey. No. If I’m going, you're going to take me.”

“And why would I do that?”

“Because it's the right thing to do!”

“Is it though, I mean it’s a long dangerous journey” he began before the Vespian butted in “And I have your cloak and your secret” before dangling his enchanted robe in front of him

“Ah. Fair.” Kallak sighed, but inwardly he knew he’d probably enjoy the company “Let’s go back to the hive. We’ll try and explain this to your sisters in the morning”





The Koopa Troop

wordcount: 1919 +3
Bowser: Level 6 EXP: ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (62/60)
Bowser Jr: Level 5 EXP: ///////////////////////////////////////////////////// (49/50)
Kamek: Level 6 EXP: ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (6/60)
Location: the Land of Adventure




After the koopa troop made the first move the rest of the team raced into the fray, pummeling and pounding the subspace army into dust with admittedly a bit of trouble. The sheer number of low level enemies were a bit of a pain to anyone lacking a lot of aoe or crowd control, but everyone started getting both the hang of it and the upper hand fairly quickly.

It looked like the team was going to win the first real encounter of the G rank quest handily right up until a spooky specter rose out of the ground and let out an eardrum splitting shriek

”Oh ouch. A Floow. Those things are nasty!” Bowser grimaced as the sonic assault bombarded the courier's position, before yelling ”KILL IT QUICK OR IT’LL JUST REGENERATE!”

The ghost’s banshee howl was a herald of things to come as the subspace army rolled out some of its nastier troops right as the Koopa Troops’ own where timing out, the few that remained at any rate. The poor troopas and goombas had mostly acted as distractions while the rest of the team got the job done. Only a few souped up dry bones remained, who congregated around the sentry turret, helping it fend off attackers while it gradually ran out of ammo once the engineer disappeared.

The size increasing sumo Nagagog’s, demonstrated their ability right off the bat when they were struck by a grenade from peach and promptly doubled in size as a result. There was also the terrifying scythe wielding Greap and, considerably down the totem pole from those, some fluffy Spaaks, incredibly annoying Trowlons and a whole host of fire Primids adding some numbers to their bigger, badder comrade’s charge. Despite the wide array of enemies that had already come at them, Bowser was well aware that the sub-space army had plenty more tricks up its sleeves that might come in as even more additional waves.

That was an issue for later, for now there were two Nagagog’s heading straight for the Koopa King. Another when for Jr, but from what the king saw he and Kamek were having more issues with the flying, zapping Spaaks than the grounded goliath. That was about all Bowser saw before he put all his focus on the two fat yellow Nagagog closing in on him.

”YEAH, YOU KNOW WHO THE REAL THREAT IS HERE, BUT YOU STILL DIDN’T BRING ENOUGH GUYS!” he roared as he counter charged them and their small escort of fire Primids. The Nagagog, Bowser remembered from both commanding them and fighting them, where straight up sumo wrestlers in their fighting style, meaning they favored their bellies over their limbs for attacking. The pair jostled each other as they came at him until one pushed ahead and got to be the one that clashed with Bowser. The two heavyweights charged one another in what looked like it would initially be a head on collision. At the last moment however, the Nagagog leaped forwards, launching itself the last bit of the way towards Bowser, trying to strike him with its full mass in a belly flop. Bowser meanwhile, remembering this was how they acted, turned at the last moment, presenting his spiky shell and then launched himself with a leap towards the Nagagog with his own full body attack.

The two collided with epic force, each harming the other with the bone jarring collision. Bowser’s shell, spikes and mallow sticker gave him an edge, the Nagagog stumbling away from the collision point with several large holes stabbed in it. Rather than go down however, it laughed with a creepily childish voice as it rubbed its belly, before doubling in size again to become a veritable red titan.

”Oh right. You can do that again” Bowser noted with a hint of dismay as he looked up at the hulking sumo, right before it raised a fist and brought it down to try and crush the now comparatively small Bowser.




Jr made a grab for his bandolier of pokeballs with one hand as the other gripped the controle stick of his clown car, jerking it back and forth to dodge the incoming ball lightning projectiles coming from the half cloud half machine enemies that where harassing anyone in the sky. When he finally managed to grab the singular filled pokeball he had he cracked it open with a cry of ”Go Mimikyu!”

With a flash of light Jr’s Mimikyu appeared on the edge of Jr’s clown car, flailed with her long arms to try to keep her balance as Jr continued to dodge lighting shots, before grappling the pompadour like horn on Jr’s head, reeling herself in and then nestling herself against the boy’s topknot

”Copycat those lightning shots!” Jr ordered once the pokemon was in position, which delighted the pikachu wanna be ghost pokemon immensely, causing it to merrily bob its fake head back and forth a few times before it pointed its lightning bolt shapes stick it used as a fake tail at the closest mechanical cloud.

”mimi-KYUUU!” she cried, causing a slow moving bolt, identical to the Spaaks’, to fly out of the end of her stick-wand-tail. The bolt soared towards the slow moving cloud, striking it with ease. The spark seemed to have no innate resistance to its own attack, looking rather angry at being struck. They could tell the red eyed, spike jawed thing was angry because as the pair watched, the cloud shifted from a happy white to a stormy black.

”Uh oh” jr said, ducking and veering off to one side as the storm cloud pulled a quick loopdeloop, building power as it did before unleashing a fast moving lightning bolt instead of one of the slow moving shot’s of its fluffy peers. The bolt struck the clown car with deadly accuracy, causing it to wobble in the air, emit smoke and setting off a bunch of warning alarms.

”Gah, Mimikyu keep copycatting while I, uh” Jr kept jerking the control stick on the car around wildly to try and dodge while his searched the storage compartment and found the necro smasher. ”Ah hah”, he cried happily, before smacking the inside of the car, repairing the damage just in time for them to be hit by a second lightning bolt. Ducked down inside to avoid getting shocked jr frantickly hammered away, rapidly draining supply of metal in the smasher as the ship was hammered again and again with lightning while mimikyu returned fire, seemingly ineffectively.

”Bolts to this I’m taking us down.” jr yelled, predicting that if he didn’t he would just end up down there anyway, only in a crash rather than a landing. He popped his head out of the top of the rim of his car and rapidly guided them down to the ground, the go kart wheels deploying right before they landed. A glance upwards revealed one still angry cloud, as He watched it blasted one of Kamek’s red clones out of the sky, and a shower of Spaark sprites slowly drifting down to the ground, which where joined by another as Mimikyu copied the storm cloud’s lighting shot again to vaporize another of the still white clouds in a single powerful lightning shot.

Jr didn't have time to debate whether this had been cheeky insubordination on the part of Mimikyu who wanted to mimic the poke mascot for as long as possible or if she was actually being pretty clever, because his attention was drawn to the sound of something stomping towards him. The fifth yellow Nagagog had never given up its cause and so now it came lumbering towards Jr.

”Oh come on!” Jr yelled, as he hit the gas.




Kamek’s last remaining red clone (he’d lost one already learning how the Spaark’s worked independently from Jr) charged the storm Spaark with its spiked tentacle drawn after it took down its comrade. The green clone cast a defense spell upon the clone, allowing it to survive the Spaark’s final strike before the clone clubbed it over the back, smashing the Spaark’s battery and poofing the cloud into its spirit.

”Ak. This is quite the dust up.” Kamek said, mostly to himself as the remaining red clone rejoined him, its form flickering, close to dissipating. No amount of defence buffs would keep it alive now, he predicted. Which was an issue, as doing a one two punch with the first shot darkening and then a second killing the Spaark wasn’t reliable enough with just two of his slow moving shots (if either one missed he was screwed), and using melee charges wouldn't work with the red clone so beat up. So instead of continuing to try and clean up the skies Kamek took off, sweeping away from the cloud of Spaarks while avoiding their shock balls and taking in the rest of the battlefield.

This let him see first Jr driving frantically away from the yellow Nagagog that was lumbered after him, possibly while screaming, and towards the sentry nest of the now timed out engineer which was mainly occupied by the few remaining dry bones, all hideously and uniquely mutated by Blazermate.

It also let him see Bowser rapidly rising away out of a mob of fire Primids and two Nagagogs, both now red.

”Oh no. Sire!”




”WOWOWOWOW WHERE ARE WE GOING!” Bowser yelled as the Trowlon finally managed to sneak under him in the chaotic brawl he was in and began to rapidly hoist him skywards. Unfortunately for the Trowlon Bowser and fall damage were not well acquainted, and there was no arbitrary ring out height for it to reach. Which meant that when the King punched a fist through through the red gems that seemed to be its eyes and destroyed it the King, foolishly, fell without fear.

”LOOKOUT BELOW!” he roared as he plummeted down towards the pack of enemies fist first, only for his fall to suddenly slow and then stop.

”Huh what!” he grunted, glancing around and spotting four familiar looking Toadies holding onto his shell, their surprisingly strong arms and propeller hats keeping him aloft. Kamek’s minions rapidly carried him away from the mob waiting below to crush and or burn him to death and instead quickly hauled him over to where jr had set up camp next to the sentry turret and dispenser. The rapid fire and knockback of the cannon had proved a perfect counter to the Nagagog, knocking it away while it enlarged and then finishing it off as it tried to charge the second time. Both jr and Mimikyu were madly hammering away at it to refill its ammo stores when the Toadies dropped Bowser off there.

”Good work, now get back out there and make sure no-one else gets dropped on their heads!” Kamek, who had also joined jr at the turret, commanded his propeller powered minions, causing them to salute him and then fly off, their small and nimble forms easily avoiding the shock balls from the Spaarks, in order to look for anyone else being hoisted skywards. They’d either try to bring them back to the sentry or, if given orders, would follow thee to the best of their ability.

”Ahh, that’s better,” Bowser said as the healing beam of the dispenser locked onto him, gradually clearing of several scorch marks and one giant fist shaped bruise ”good work Kamek”

”Thank you sire.” replied

”Fights not over yet.” Jr reminded them

”Alright! Together this time!”

”Right!”
did you know that Soviet is the Russian word for council
Kaldora

By the time the hunt returned it was all over. The invader was defeated and the gardens were devastated, and upon seeing them, so too was Zouyu. Attempts to console him proved futile and so after a final hug and a promise that “Whoever did this. They will pay.” Kaldora left the Druid to his mourning. Afterwards she caught the scouting party from the Beast Pens and got something of a summary of the end of the fight before getting them to send a report to take the pens off of high alert after Graft gave the all clear. No one had any interest in simply going back down when there was still so much confusion going on and so when Kaldora arrived at the climax part way into Graft’s speech it was at the head of both the hunt and the scouting group.

Despite the vampire’s curiosity about the situation, only Kaldora and Arthanar entered the climax hour and joined the discussion properly, the rest of their kin lacking the nerve to fully butt in and instead hanging back outside the entryway to observe the meeting.

The vampiress nodded to the others in greeting as she came in, but remained quiet while Graft and Salem spoke despite the clear irritation on her face. Her patience was rewarded by a villain’s speech from Graft and the first coherent description of what was actually going on she had received since the entire debacle began.

“Thank you, Salem, for actually explaining what the blazes has been going on here to everyone.” Kaldora said “or rather thank you for letting everyone Graft deigned to add to this line of his, which, considering most of the people who have been called to these discussions are outwith the Chateaux at the moment, likely does not include the majority of the individuals who were actually in a position to help fight off this incursion. Legions of undead, hordes of gobines, my kin down in the Beast Pens. With the highest level individuals of their floors away they were left completely in the dark despite the fact that the invader was killed by a level 30 skeleton butler.” she glanced back at the scouts who had seen the end of battle for confirmation “Level 30! And yet dozens and dozens of people of that level who might have helped who could have prevented the death and destruction brought to our home were given not a second though because like Salem said: we are a mess.”

“That's not to say Graft's line was unappreciated, or that it's even his fault so many where left out, it's simply indicative of a larger issue we have right now. We need better lines of communication, proper chains of command so the buck doesn't stop at the highest level person in a section and most of all...” Kaldora took in breath and voiced the concern her people had been discussing offhandedly for a while, and which had come to a right up to the forefront of that discussion while they had been traveling to the climax hour “I don’t know if running the Chateaux like a bunch of independent kingdoms only tied together by a single leader is working.”

She raised her hands as if she could ward off any angry disagreements before she explained herself “Hear me out! The Sable lords, our leaders, creators, our… parents,” she glanced at Salem before adding “However you feel about them, their number has been cut down to one. Just. One”

She turned to the man who the gorgon had come to capture, “Rodius… Rodius Darling,” she paused, trying to find the words “It’s a heavy burden you’ve taken on your shoulders, trying to fill all those vacant thrones. Graft is likely right, without you we might fall apart entirely, but that doesn't mean you need to be the only one holding us together.”

“Which is why I wish to suggest the formation of a council to manage the Chateaux. If we want to wield the power our comrades are apparently fighting to acquire do right now, if we want to take revenge against these people who dared attack us, if we want to avoid tearing ourselves apart, then we need a proper, official mechanism by which we can work together. All of us. Not just the people on this call but all of the people of the Chateaux. We are broken, ladies and gentlemen, we are a hydra with only one head left and apparently we almost lost that final one today. So do we hunker down and pray our foes fail to strike down that least head every time they come at us, or are we going to grow new heads, spitting in the face of cruel fate as we do so, to take the places of those that have fallen?” she said, concluding her own little speech with growing volume and passion, before stepping back and relinquishing control of the floor.
The Avatar of Artifex / Kallak


The opening of The Library in Sancta Civitas was followed by a bureaucratically approved celebration. While the priests, Queen, Embassy leaders, approved diplomats and intelligentsia explored the functions of the grand structure Kallak, divine Avatar of Artifex whom had descended to the city half a year ago born by a jet black Cloud moth, spent it drunk off his ass on municipally supplied berry wine while partying with the other common laborers who had actually built The damned Library and this was exactly how he prefered it.

He’d spent 21 timeless years being raised and trained in Artifex’s sphere to be the perfect ambassador, a month actually acting in the priestly appointed role he’d received upon arrival with all the pomp and ceremony that entailed and then promptly ditched it in favor of finding his own way in the city. To counteract the fact that he had the giant spiked horns and extra pair of arms of his father Kallak had created a cloak with divine power that obfuscated his identity. Now instead of being “The Avatar of Artifex, builder of wonders, instrument of his will, praise be to thy name!” He was simply Kallak, humble Mantarin labor. True, a male of his species acting as a manual laborer was unusual as the queen’s doting on her rarely hatched sons meant they generally amounted to a great deal, but it was hardly unheard of. Kallak’s friend Servius was one such Mantarin who occasionally got together to moan about the lofty expectations placed upon their kind.

Artifex had been mildly irritated by this use of his power on Galbar, but as the disguised Avatar wandered the streets of the palace district with a mug of blueberry wine in his hand he reflected that it had been worth it. He’d much rather be out here than standing around while a bunch of priests hung on his every word. Instead he got to watch a wrestling match between a Mantari worker and an Itztli, gamble away his hard earned food tokens in back alley snail race, drunkenly sing with his fellow workers, watched a street performer juggling, listen to a Goblin band play a rowdy ballad on a street corner, dance to the lively performance with a goblin who he eventually worked out was making eyes at him, watch a play in the Amphitheatre with the goblin, do other things with that goblin, get into a fight with a dozen of the goblin’s relatives behind the Amphitheatre, flee from that fight on the back of a giant Soldier Ant that happened to be passing by, tell people that The Avatar had taught him how to ride the ant that when asked how he could do such an amazing thing, make a brief appearance as The Avatar at several spots around the city to show people how to ride the giant ants without getting killed in order to cover up his hasty lie, after which he’d put his cloak back on and gone back to partying till the sun was setting.

“So I’m all “who the crap are you” right? And he tries to answer but before he does I puts up my fists and say “I don't care what your name is, come me, you and your 30- no 40 roach herders and-” Kallak slurred as he sat with his back to the wall of a random building sipping from… well he couldn't remember how many mugs of wine he’d had at this point but it was certainly an enjoyable amount.

“You’re talkin out your azzzzz pretty boy” slurred an equally drunk Vespain laborer who Kallak was pretty sure was using pretty boy as an insult. He was about to come up with a stellar retort when the but off a pole jabbed him in the side.

“Alright you’ve had your fun, now get your thoraxes home. Nights drawing in. Queen don't want any of you drunks still lying about when the sun sets in case you freeze to death.” said a generally fed up looking Mantarin Royal Gaurd, clad in chitin-armor and carrying a sturdy wooden staff used for crowd control by the elbow bladed women, who was one of a number of guards trying to clear the street of the festival’s stranglers.

“I iz not thaaat drunk” the wasp woman insisted

“Can you, can you even fly right now?” she asked, making Kallak concerned that the irate guardswoman would order him to carry his latest, and it seemed last, drinking companion home

“Surrrre” the Vespian slurred before pushing herself waving “See you round Kallak” to the Mantarin man before unsteadily taking off, bobbing to and fro as she made her way back to her hive.

“Barley” the guards woman muttered, before jerking her head to the side and barking “You too brother

“Right right,” Kallak said as he stood and waved her back “Don't get your antenna in a knot sister I’m going,” before unsteadily stumbled his way towards home.

The majority of the people of Sancta Civitas lived in communal familial housing. Mantarin, who were all related by virtue of having the same regal mother, tended to either stick around her royal majesty in one of the large homes for their kind built in or around the palace or within a very small number of similar structures built in the other districts if they worked out there. Vespian naturally conjugated around their hives and individual queens, either living within the Swarm filled hive itself or in large airy compounds built on top of them. Goblins stuck together in various clans made up of their extended families, often able to trace their way back to tribes who had migrated to the city, in sprawling maze-like complexes taking up entire streets. The Vrool and Akua living under the harbor were a different story, but their style of homes were somewhat out of the question if Kallak didn't want questions about how he technically didn't need to breathe.

All this had made it very difficult for Kallak to find himself individual housing, that wasn't underwater anyway, until he'd heard about the fume borough. It started off as a series of buildings built around the industrial district when it was first being constructed to house tanners, smiths etc. and their extended families. Unfortunately, the families of those workers didn’t want to move out to live next to the smoke filled area, and it was rare that an entire extended family could pick up that kind of trade. There were a few, but mostly the artisans who still lived with their families traveled to the district each day, leaving a lot of space in the borough unused. Loners, outcasts, eccentrics and the disowned found their way into the borough and via a lot of unauthorized construction work, made it into their own tangled mess of apartments and alleyways that the administration could never find the energy to try and reorder.

It was too there that Kallak traveled, the long trek along the empty road leading to the palace district sobering him up just enough that he wouldn’t get lost trying to find his home in the maze of streets. It was also long enough for him to realize he was hungry, which made him take a detour for Niyan’s place. The old goblin man was too frail to do much work and didn't have a family to rely on, you never asked why, but he did cook a mean stew that he served to hungry smiths and city folk after a hard day’s work so long as he had the supplies to do so.

Kallak, being one of those regulars, was greeted by a cheerful call from Niyan as he approached the spot where the goblin was cooking out on the street, surrounded by a few other late evening diners, “eyyy Kallak. Was worried ya wher’t commin. It’s good stuff tonight. Got me some of them good sea snail meat in the stew for it in celibration of that big building they opened. Wazit called. The Loborory?”

“They call it The Library apparently” Kallak told him as the goblin ladled him a bowl of the stew. The disguised avatar took the bowl carefully with two hands and then rummaged around in a satchel he wore for a few food tokens worth far more than the stew was worth which he handed over, “Got these from working on it. Really fancy place. Writes down magic spells all on its own so they don't even need a scribe to do if for em”

“Ah yer too kind yer too kind,” the goblin said as he took the tokens and stored them in a lay jar sitting on the windowsill of his home. A few of the other regulars who had seen the exchange nodded, acknowledging that Kallak had played his part in the loose arrangement they all had that kept Niyan fed and in stock of cooking ingredients.

“Now magic ya say? Couldny belive it when a hurd that the first time. I heard they have sum of them magic folks out in the tribes but thought it was all beetlespit”

“Druids?” Kallak guessed

“yeah those. They real?” Kallak nodded “I never erd of any of em in the city tho. Didn't think they were no frogs either”

“No lakes nearby.” Kallak replied, “They need them to become druids. Or so I’ve heard”

“Yeah? Weird. Then again so’s having a big oll pool of fresh water just, existing on it's own out there, so I what can ah say”

“Very. Druids do different magic from the stuff the Library's for anyway. The Itztlis’ don’t like them very much apparently.”

“Itztlis?”

“The lizards”

“Right right the lizards. They worked up on The Library with you right? What dey like?”

“They’re alright. Decent folks. Strong. Saw one go claw to claw with a Worker Lady in a wrestling match earlier which was impressive. Got this whole subservience thing to the Eloxochitli, the frogs, though which is... eh” Kallak said, wigging a hand back and forth to demonstrate his discomfort with the situation.

“Ah heard that too. They won’t see us bownin and scrapin to them frogs tho, oh no” Niyan said “Goblins bow to nobody. Sep the queen o corse. An that’s only to be polite ya hear”

That rankled a fair few nerves in various directions but not enough for anyone to argue with the old goblin’s pride or each other for that matter. Kallak just nodded, “I hear you” before setting down his rapidly emptied bowl “and thanks for the meal. It was delicious as always”

“Yer alway’s welcome. Have ta go so soon?” Niyan asked

“Need to sleep off the drink” Kallak said as he stood, “have a safe night Niyan”

“Same ta you” the goblin replied, waving him goodbye before turning and going to find one of his other guests to talk to.

Kallak picked his way out of the small gathering, stepping carefully around a Goblin Woman and a Vespian arguing about what the gossip they’d heard about Materialistic mana magic meant for their shared trade of medicine/poison brewing, before heading for home.

There he unlocked the crude copper lock holding his door shut, slipped inside, barred the door again, retrieved the few remaining food tokens he'd been paid and tossed them into a small pot of tokens, beetle shells, copper chisels, and single clay jar of brandy that served as his stockpile of barter-able items before curling up in a nest of blankets and furs he'd made in the corner off the room to get some rest.

The next day the hangover Kallak awoke to the sounds of Artifex talking to him for the first time in months, ”Ah, you’re still in Sancta Civitas. Good. Rise and shine my Avatar. It's a glorious new day, and I have plans for you to execute. I’m see you’ve already checked something off the list based on the panicked prayers of the priest about people riding the city's maintenance insects around. Very proactive of you.”

The Avatar groaned as he dislodged himself from his nest while a long, long list of instructions began to manifest themselves in his mind.

“Stink bug spray” he muttered to himself as he grabbed a slate of stone, a hammer and one of his chisels and got down to recording the growing list of tasks which included, among other things, learning every kind of magic he could, “this is going to take a while”




Highland village of Cumae

“You should have seen the thing. It was this big!” the herdsman spread his arms wide to demonstrate “with claws like scythes and skin red as blood”

“Uh huh” his friend said, only glancing over at the supposed size of the creature for a moment before turning his gaze back to looking out for threats to their goats.

“See the thing was menacing Nancy over there, buzzing around while the brave girl fended it off with her horns. Now she would have lasted a moment if I hadn't gotten there in time, coz if the darned thing had actually worked up the nerv to take a stab at her that goat’d be good as gone. But it was noisy see, wings droning on something fierce and the goats they were bleating up a storm.”

“uh huh”

“So i comes a running and I see this thing”

“This giant wasp”

“Yeah this giant wasp. And so I take my sling and-” the herdsman mimes both the action and swswsw sound of a sling being spun before tossing his imaginary rock out with a “thwunk! And it hits it square in its hideous giant eye! Bang it up real good so it runs off back to the forest squealing and crying to its momma!”

“Uh huh. And it was a giant wasp?”

“Yeah!”

“You’re pulling my leg.”

“Am not.”

The two stood in silence for a moment before the herdsman’s friend said “Bet it was just a regular sized wasp”

“No I’m telling you it was huuuge”

“Keep telling yourself that buddy”

“Bah. Fine. Don’t believe me but I swear I’m telling you the truth” the herdsman yelled before turning away in a huff.

“Hay come on” he tried, but received no response, and so the two lapsed into silence for a few hours.

“Artook. Hay. Artook”

“Still mad that you don't believe me” Artook the herdsman replied, not even turning to look at his companion

“Did. did the wasp uh. Did it look like a person?”

“Now you're just making fun of me you-” Artook shouted before spinning to confront his friend, only to see the very worried look on his face as he pointed off towards the woods.

There, walking towards them, was a creature out of a nightmare. Its skin was hard like armor and patterned with red and black stripes. It had two wings that buzzed slowly, lowering the strain on its rather spindly legs as it moved towards them with a bouncing gait. It had a large abdomen hanging behind it tipped with nasty looking stinger. It’s head was wreathed in white fur and hosted two large lime green eyes and two large antenna. The rest of its features were covered by a monstrous skull it was using as a helmet. It wore a backless tunic made out of the fur of some miss match fox owl creature, the head of which hung over one hip while a brace of long stone darts made from a trollish jawbone hung from the other. All of this told a story, but none was as simple as the one told by the large red wasp laying across its shoulder nursing it's swollen eye that squealed in anger when it caught sight of the culprit for its injury.

“Fuck”

The light buzzing coming from the insectile humanoid intensified to a death hum, lifting it off of the ground. Artook’s friend reached for his sling hesitantly, but the herdsman had a different idea shouting “Curse it no! Run for it!” before taking off at a pelt back towards the village.

Artook’s pragmatic cowardice saved his own life and doomed his companion as a large stone dart struck the man, sinking deep into his flesh. Artook ‘s friend stumbled, and for a moment it looked like he too might be able to run, but his gait quickly slowed till he stumbled and hit the dirt. Artook kept running.

The Vespain descended upon the corpse, turning it over letting it's feral sibling inspect the body. In the time it took for it to understand that this was the wrong creature, gather up it’s weapons and take flight to pursue Artook managed to get a fair headstart on his escape.

Artook didn't look back as he found the road leading into his home village of Cumae, his calls for help and the deep droning hum of his pursuer’s wings drawing the attention, and then alarm, of the farmers working the fields lining the road. Within moments they too were in a panic, and word rapidly got back to the village where a bell started ringing, rousing the people to protect their homes. The sight of them rushing to and fro in the village, grabbing spears and stave sling to protect themselves and the appearance of village Servant from her home roused hope in the herds man’s heart, but he never made it to their side.

The droning behind him intensified and then suddenly he was struck in the back by something heavy and hurled to the ground. Artook scrambled to try and get up, but a clawed hand gripped his shoulder and hauled him over onto his front, causing him to come face to face with the Vespain as it pinned him to the ground. He froze in fear as it barked something in an alien tongue at him, then spoke softly to the wasp. The horrible insect looked him over and then screeched, raising its claws to strike.

Artook closed his eyes, expecting the end. Instead the air crackled with lightning. There was a wretched shriek that cut short as soon as it started and the weight was flung from him.

Panting and sweating Artook opened his eyes as a hideous wailing erupted from the Vespain. He looked up and saw it knelt on the ground, cradling the charred remains of the wasp in her arms.

“Artook get away from that thing!“ came a shout from Ayrandra the Servant, the dying sparks of her lighting spell dancing across her fingers, the runes of haste hovering around her feet crumbling now that she had come to a halt. Far behind her a number of villagers were running to catch up with her.

Both Artook and the Vespian’s gazes where ripped away from the dead bug and to Ayrandra, the sight of her spurring both to action. Artook back away hurriedly as ordered while the Vespian lurched into the air. Still holding onto the corpse with one arm her other hand went to her side to grab and hurl a dart at the Servent. The woman chanted something in an arcane tongue and thrust a hand in the direction of the telegraphed attack, freezing the dart in the air before it could strike her. It hung there for a moment before it clattered to the ground and she began to cast a second spell, causing sparks of electricity began to ark across her fingers once more.

Seeing this, and the incoming militia, Vespain took the only sensible course of action and fled as fast back to the woods as her wings could carry her.

“What, what in the name of the gods was that thing?” Artook asked as he got shakily to his feet.

“I don’t know,” Ayrandra admitted “But I’ll find out. Whatever the case, it’s gone now, and if it knows what's good for it” she flexed her hand, sparks flashing from finger to finger “It’ll never come back”




That afternoon Artook buried his friend.

That evening Ayrandra finally found another Servent who knew what a Vespian was.

That night the village of Cumae was raised to the ground by a vengeful swarm.

Crimson fliers blocked out the moon as they descended upon it. Its defenses were trampled beneath the four dozen legs of an eight meter long armored hive crawler. It’s fields were burned. Its people were butchered. Their carcasses and wealth were carried back to their hive by the victorious Vespain.

Ayrandra died surrounded by a pile of charred crimson corpses.

Artook ran and never looked back.



Artifex visits antiquey and meets Tekret et Heret and Cadian


Artefex stomped down into antiquity via his portal. Paused. Took it all in. Clicked his fingers a few times. Then stepped back through, formed a door in his realm, brought it though and set it up in front of the portal back to his realm and set up a buzzer and intercom system on a post on the outside so he’d be able to communicate with anyone who wanted to politely enter his realm.

Artifex dusted off his hands, satisfied with his bout of remodeling, ”Right then. Now let's find out what this place is all about” he said to the small swarm of insects that had escaped his realm while the door was open, before stomping his way down to the edge of the arena stands, leaning on the banister and and looking down into the pit below.

”It is... Some kind of combat arena? Or possibly a sporting arena if I am being generous. A place of competition is not exactly a structure with the right functionality or ambiance for a meeting place between realms I feel. A forum would have been better, or perhaps a senate. I wonder how difficult it would be to renovate?” he said before looking up at Galbar hanging high in the sky ”and that is just salt in the wound. Really. Just the nicest way to get the tempers flaring. I should have words with whoever designed this place because it is just begging for trouble.”

The various colorful bugs, which had all now landed upon their creators' massive horns, said nothing in response and instead sat fanning their wings and grooming themselves as they enjoyed, in their limited way, the strange adventure they had found themselves on.

As Artifex surveyed the barren expanse of antiquity another god, one remarkable by their lack of colour as much as their conspicuous nakedness, noticed the new arrival. After a moment's consideration the tall white figure of Tekret et Heret approached their fellow divine languorously. Step after step, the man came to meet Artifex as a mortal would. Or, perhaps, a mortal with all the time in the world would.

Eventually the other god stood beside Artifex at the edge of the stands, and after eyeing the God of Insects, greeted their peer, “Artifex, I’d guess? Excuse me if I got that wrong, I’m beginning to notice that two thousand years of absence has eh, influenced, the mortal’s' depictions of us. Still, it’s the reference I have.”

”You would be correct. And yes, time does seem to have that effect. Mortals draw inspiration from each other's work sequentially and the results can deviate rather wildly from the original, even if they do still have artistic merit. There’s a rather interesting sculpture of me that is across between a goblin, a Mantarin and a Vespain, the spirit of which I rather like even if the accuracy is completely not existent. Indeed this form is a result of such a shift in perception but, ah, I’m babbling on about myself” Artuifex said before waving away his own rambling and pushing herself up and away from the handrail to face the other god ”and have not even gotten your name yet. I won’t waste our time with hazarding guesses as your appearance seems to have been handcrafted for non identifiability.”

“Keeps things interesting,” The white god shrugged before adding, “It has its downsides, though. I’m Tekret et Heret, God of Rulership, Contracts, and bearer of a couple thousand other minor titles by now, but that’s how it goes. You get it. After all, I recall your people are doing better than they might have a right to be. Your work?”

”A pleasure to meet you Tekret” Artifex said, extending a hand in greeting.

”As for my people, yes. The Mantarin were blessed with a fair number of gifts to give them a head start, though naturally those are gifts I instructed them to share. The Vespian… are doing as well as they can after I got some of them out of the whole exploding moon situation. I am aware I’ve shown some favoritism,” he admitted ”but I have done what I can for the others in a muse like fashion when their prayers find me. But there's a limit to what I can achieve with words alone, as you no doubt know.”

Tekret shook the proffered hand, and gave Atifex a little grin, “Of course, but the Vespian are alive because of those words. There’s a limit, buuut it matters. You wouldn’t believe some of the others,” The alabaster god inhaled sharply, “I know for a fact at least a few of them spent the last two thousand years napping or fighting with the lifeblood. Sure you can only do so much with a word here and a little curse there, but it adds up. You’ve my respect for doing what you could.”

”Napping? Really? Such a waste. I assume those fighting didn’t manage to get anywhere? I gave up after about a year.” the god rubbed one of his forearms at the memory of the pain that had brought before continuing ”As for you, contracts wasn’t it? Binding individuals, groups and communities together? All very good stuff. Couldn't do what I do without you. My compliments to your efforts. Oh and that lovely wall too, a fine piece of work that too.”

“Hah!” Tekret exclaimed, “It pales in comparison to yours, but I’m proud enough of it. More proud of what the Humans did with it though. Ketrefa has been one of the more interesting places down there, even if it is going through a bit of a slump as of late. Might need to meddle there in another decade or so. Though,” The god paused and pursed his lips, “I wonder if it might be better to let things run their course. I tried to give the people there some measure of stability with eh, this fancy crown I made. Holds memories, is what it does. Thought that might keep things running smoothly, but it’s no undying Queen is it? Whenever I take a look at your Mantarin they seem to be doing well enough without fancy artifacts. Hm.”

”Ah yes my lovely Queen Regina has been doing excellent work in keeping Sancta Civitas ticking along smoothly. It is a trade off however. Familial loyalty is an excellent binding agent but it is not one that facilitates expansion and, of course, there is the issue of what would happen should perish. There was an incident with a Vrool raid a few decades back that gave me quite the scare in that department. Very brave of her to fight of course but the whole thing was far too close for comfort. The Vrool are a little concerning in general really. Such a massive empire at so early a stage is impressive of course but I worry about it being, well, suffocating to progress and, selfishly, about it sweeping away my own projects in a tide of tentacles.”

“Ah,” Tekret waved the concern off, “I wouldn’t be so concerned. They’re strong, but too much like us to ever really be a worry. They’ll follow their Tyrant, but I’ve never known a Vrool to hold back if they have a chance of surpassing them. It’s just not in their nature, obedience. I had a hand in helping their empire along, but I don’t see it ever being more than it is. A success, if a bit limited.”

”Hopefully you are right. I have some ideas for how to stick claw into the issue regardless. Always good to have a few plans ready for such eventualities.” Artifex replied, his concerns somewhat addressed by the opinion of a fellow divine, ”Say, you mentioned knowing what some of the other gods have been up to, such as napping. Might I ask who you’ve met? I will be honest the breath of my socialising during our free reign was not extensive, so it would be nice to get some info on who else I might be running into if you are willing to oblige?”

“Well there’s Illyd Dyll, God of Food I think? He’s nice but eh, I think he might not be all there. Then there was Cadi-”

Just then, a familiar bare-chested figure landed nearby. “Artifex, it has been too long!” the God said with a smile. “And Tekret. How have things been?”

”This is going to be a thing with you isn't it.” Artifex joked entirely to himself, ”Greetings Cadien, good to see you alive and well.”

“Cadien,” Tekret finished with a note of exasperation and gestured to the other bare chested divine. The God of Contracts eyed the conversation's newest partner for a moment before adding, “Who was working on something interesting, last I heard?”

“I was indeed,” Cadien nodded, “and it’s done.”

”and what, if I might ask, is it you have been working on?” Artifex asked, feeling very much out of the loop

Cadien gave them a conspiratal grin. “What if I told you there was a way to more closely interact with Galbar?”

Artifex cocked his head and leaded in with clear interest ”You have? Do tell?”

“Through the creation of an avatar,” Cadien revealed. “Turns out, if you remove a small portion of your own soul, and put it in a form where it can move and possess independent thought, it is capable of travelling to Galbar. Not only that, but it can perform divine actions on your behalf.”

“Really?” Tekret muttered, “That seems... Hrm. A tad dangerous, doesn’t it? What would happen to this ‘avatar’ if it was destroyed?”

“If my avatar is destroyed, then I should be able to call the lost fragment back to me. Since my avatar is on Galbar, where we gods can’t walk, then I suppose the only thing that could destroy it would be another avatar.” Cadien shrugged. “I’m sure the hold I have over my own soul is strong enough to overpower them, if they do try to claim it. I won’t deny that it’s risky, but it’s the first real progress to be made, and it seems to be working.”

”Remarkable. You have one of these avatars I take it? Down on Galbar right now?” The god glanced up at the world hanging above them as if they could see that piece of soul simply by looking ”Is this common knowledge? Or are you in the middle of spreading it around right now? Who found this out and how?” artifex asked, bombarding Cadien with questions

“My avatar is in Galbar right now, yes,” Cadien nodded. “A few gods already know. Gibbou discovered it by accident, and her avatar wound up betraying her because she did nothing to ensure it was loyal - do try to avoid that.”

"So they have to think then, be alive?" Tekret bit the inside of his lip and ran a hand through his hair in thought, "I'm not sure it's what I was looking for, Cadien, but it is progress. Thanks for letting me know though. I'll remember it."

“Well, I don’t know if it has to think,” Cadien admitted. “Mine does. But I can see through its eyes at any given moment, and I don’t think it would be too difficult for me to take direct control of it if it turned against me. Anyhow, be sure to tell everyone else. The rest deserve to know, I think.”

”A degree of intelligence would allow for some delegation which would be useful in my opinion. I hardly want to puppet a mortal body around all day long. Thank you for this most valuable information. I’ll be sure to pass this along. Although, perhaps there are better ways to get news of this discovery than simple word of mouth? An informative memorial columb or notice board or newspaper stand of some kind perhaps. Maybe I could make letterboxes for everyone? hmmm” Artifex pondered

A thoughtful expression appeared on Cadien’s face, and the God of Perfection stroked his chin.

Then, he cupped his hands to his mouth.

“ATTENTION, FELLOW GODS!” his voice boomed throughout Antiquity, passing through the portals at its edges and into the neighbouring realms. “What if I told you there was a way to interact more closely with the world? All you need to do is bind a small piece of your soul to another form, and send that form to Galbar. It will be able to pass through without interference from the Lifeblood, walk the world, and perform divine actions on your behalf. You can thank Gibbou for this trick. Oh, and if you haven’t set foot outside your realm’s portal yet, please do; it’s perfectly safe! That will be all!”

Then Cadien cleared his throat and smiled. “I think that did the trick.”

"Mmm," Tekret rubbed his ears, "So that's what that feels like. Well, if you put up that notice board Artifex, maybe we can ask people to stop yelling. But I imagine that did the trick, yeah."

”Crude, but no doubt effective,” Artifex agreed, massaging his poor antenna ”I’ll set up the notice board so it never need occur again.” before grabbing one of the crystals floating around his head and hurling it at the door to his realm. The shard paused right before impacting with the wood, floated down and then inserted itself through the mail flap. After a few moments the door opened and a procession of dog sized ants spilled out carrying all the things he’d need to build an incredibly mundane looking cork noticeboard.

The ant god formed a simple hammer and screwdriver out of two of his crystals and quickly got to work assembling the board, complete with glass doors, plenty of sheets of paper, a selection of finely crafted fountain pens to write on the paper and pot of pins to affix the notes to the board. Once it was done Artifex quickly wrote down a copy of Cadians announcement, opened up the cabinet door covering the board, pinned the note to the wall, proceeded to write an entire second note explaining how a notice board worked, added it to the board as well and then closed the cabinet door again.

”There we go” the god said, dusting off his hands, the others having already left him to his work, ”much more civilised than yelling. Now to go throw a piece of myself at Galbar and see how this Avatar business works.”







The Koopa Troop

wordcount: 958 +2
Bowser: Level 6 EXP: ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (59/60)
Bowser Jr: Level 5 EXP: ///////////////////////////////////////////////////// (46/50)
Kamek: Level 5 EXP: /////////////////////////////////////////////////// (53/50)
Location: the Land of Adventure


The trip to the bubble managed to be considerably more stressful than the one the team had partaken in last night to the Brachydios fight. There were swarms of keese again, which were proving themselves to be the Land of Adventure’s local flavor of Goddamned Bats, but the number of other foes also deciding to take pot shots at the party made Bowser regret not riding in the Brother Grimm with the others.

”GRAHHHHHHHH! GET OF THE ROAD!” Bowser roared as he swerved wildly to avoid a rhino beetle as it attempted to take the Bowser Mobile to pieces. After passing the oversized bug he turned his head and spat a fireball at it’s exposed rear in revenge, inadvertently clearing the road for the Brother Grimm he was riding ahead of to avoid the dust storm the titanic machine kicked up.

Above Kamek and his red clones (three out of four of them now) fired spells and fireballs down at the attackers while darting to and fro to avoid retaliation. The fourth remained green and, after stabbing the scarecrow into the roof of the Brother Grimm to bobble about in the wind and scare the nonexistent crow foes, was swooping around casting its defense buffs to keep the massive monster truck from suffering too bad of a beating.

Finally Jr’s clown car flew too and fro, plowing into the ranged attackers, it’s boxing glove armed robo-arms pummeling bullet kin and mactera with a flurry of blows wherever they tried to take shots at the Brother Grimm.

Both Kamek and Jr grabbed spirits when they could, stashing them in glass bottles taken from Bowser during the lulls between fights, and between them they acquired a nice stash of spirits before they reached the jump. Unlike peach they had zero hesitation in heading across, the Bowser Mobile actively jumping the gap rather than simply ramping it while jr and Kamek simply flew across the pit without incident. As a result Bowser missed himself getting volunteered for car transportation duty and had to rapidly roll his car out of the way of the massive monster truck’s landing zone to avoid being crushed by its thunderous landing.

The titanic impact of the monster truck as it landed seemed to draw the ire of the spheres defenders, who bubbled up into being right before the Squad’s very eyes. Anticipating a fight, Bowser jumped out of his car as his two flying family members formed up on either side of him, prepared to face whatever menacing power the region was going to throw at them next.

”OH HEY. IT’S THE SUB-SPACE ARMY,” Bowser shouted when the purple particle based foes materialized an revealed themselves to be a familiar former friends/foes, before calling out to peach and fox ” REMEMBER THESE GUYS? GUESS TATTOO GOT DEMOTED TO JUST BEING A WORLD BOSS OR SOMETHING”

“Tabuu” Kamek corrected him

”WHATEVER- WOAH!” Bowser exclaimed as Torra leaped to block a cannon shot from one of the Primids, ”ALRIGHT KOOPA TROOP, LET’S SHOW THEM WHO’S BOSS. JR, LET’S GIVE EM A GOOMBA SWARM!”

”On it Papa. Goomba squad! Bullet bill formation!” Jr yelled, stepping up onto the rim of his clown car with one foot and pointing commandingly towards the enemy as he shouted, calling a horde of goombas to spawn around him and counter charged the advancing sub-space army.

The koopas didn’t leave them to simply charge alone, as this would surely fail, and so instead each koopa gave “aid” to the stunty mushroomoid soldiers. Bowser spat out small jets of flame, lighting a fire under the Goomba’s butts and launching them skywards like angry little rockets, only for them to come crashing down on the heads of the enemies. Jr hurled globs of green Brachydios slime onto Goombas as they passed him, turning them into improvised bob-oms that careened into the enemy's ranks and blew holes in the enemy's formation. Finally Kamek and his clones gave far more traditional aid, casting size increasing and defense increasing buffs on the goombas that gave them a fighting chance against the subspace army in one vs one fights. Regular goombas might be weenies but size them up a bit and make them tougher and they were walking maws with pairs of massive fangs that could do a surprising amount of damage.

The Sub-Space armies predominantly melee focused troops prevented them from simply gunning down the whole wave of goombas and so instead the two ground armies clashed together in a cacophonous melee, Primids hacking at the mushroom troops, Borboras blowing them away, Bytan meeting in them armless combat while the bulky Tickens barging through their ranks.

”Hammer Bros! Get in there!”

”Koopa Troopas! Chain Chomp formation! Reinforce the flanks!”

“Dry bones! It is time to rise! drag these fools to their demise!”

The Troops leaders called out, sending in the koopas to the fray, the turtle trouble makers charging in, fists and claws flailing while hammers and bones went flying, and turning the fight into a pitched battle with a front line and everything, at least in the area ahead of Bowser.

While the melee began to rage the commanders moved to provide support to their troops. Kamek and his red clones lobbed fireballs over the heads of the troops into the enemy ranks and fired their triple shape spells at Feyesh and Armights coming in to attack from above while Bowser let out vast gouts of flame to do the same. Jr meanwhile chugged a bottle of water and grabbed his paintbrush before waving it too and fro, hurling rainbow ink at the subspace army, splattering them with the dot damage dealing goo and causing the translucent dumbo octopus looking Swoopin Stus to spawn in their ranks, further spreading the ink across the canyon floor.
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