Personality: Ioxeia is cautious yet inquisitive. Spiritual and analytical. Kind, but the doctor also knows best. She has seen a lot of good people die. She will do everything she can to not lose another.
Brief Biography: Just as weapons have rapidly advanced and become more sophisticated to allow humanity to harm the demonic monsters invading their world, so too has medicine advanced in-order to undo the harm done to them by the fiends. The Panaceans have long been at the forefront of these advancements, drawing wisdom and understanding from their gifts and using it to create mundane treatments and teach the art of surgery to themselves and the un-blessed.
Ioxeia was born the child of two Panacean doctors and, like all their other children, was inducted into the order as soon as she could walk. From a young age she got hands-on experience with the ins and outs of the human body. The Panacean Disciples followed on the heels of the Crusade’s warriors as part of the armies massive baggage chains. There, right behind the frontlines, they tended to the wounded, mending broken bodies so that they could be sent back out into the fight. All of Loxeia’s formative years were spent here, elbow deep in the dying and under the constant fear of Demonic raids targeting their field hospitals. She learned the very basics of how to fight to defend herself and her patients when she had time, but for the most part she learned how to run and hide in the shadows and fragrant smoke of the Disciples’s hospitals.
Then, once the crusade reached the Abyss, the nature of the war changed. No longer did armies do battle in the fields but instead bands of martyrs descended down into depths from the wounded could not be pulled out of so easily. As the war changed, so too did the Disciples. They could no longer rely on distance or the masses of soldiers to protect them, for down in the depths everyone was at risk and those who could not defend themselves were a potentially lethal liability. Ioxeia and her fellow Disciples were trained in the art of battle and survival by grateful veterans whose lives they had once saved so that they might continue to do so in this new stage of the war. One by one the Disciples felt they were ready to face the abyss. One by one they found a group to join and descended into the depths. Some returned. Many did not.
Now it’s Ioxeia’s turn to descend into the depths bearing Panacean’s cleansing mist. By the light of god and the strength of women, the vile cancer afflicting the world will be cut out, one incision at a time. -----
Passive: Surgeon’s Hands (+5 Skill). When one errant twitch could end a life, you learn to keep your hands steady.
Spiritual Surgery: Ioxeia grabs a patient next to her and pulls them away from combat. Once out she uses a combination of magical and mundane healing techniques to physically mend the wounds of the patient over the course of one round. REQ:: P:0 || S:14|| R: 0 [AP(action point): 1 ] Effects ) : Move the patient and Ioxeia away from combat +30 resistance for heal roll Iimmobilizes the patient for one turn -9 skill for the patient and Ioxeia for one turn (difficult to move while being operated on) The patient can break effect at any point but will lose the healing gained from the skill Fatigues Ioxeia Turn ending
Obscuring smoke: Ioxeia enchants the smoke from her censer and blasts it out into an obscuring pleasant smelling cloud covering a wide area. The smoke itself shrouds those within it from view, while the scent heightens the senses of any who breath it. P:5 || S:8|| R: 0 [AP(action point): 1 ] Effects : +3 skill for all individuals while they are inside the smoke cloud Not turn ending
Angels in the mist: Parts of the Censor’s smoke briefly takes on the vague form of several angelic beings, each of which strike at a target with a singular blow before dissipating back into the smoke. These figures can even charge slightly out of the smoke to strike. The concentrated smoke forming the angels is overpoweringly strong, and the inevitable gust of it that hits after they strike briefly overwhelms the target’s senses. P:10 || S:10|| R: 0 [AP(action point): 1] Effects : +3 power Target: -3 skill for 2 rounds Turn ending
Minor Feat - Get away from me/them!: Ioxeia kicks or shoves a foe with desperate strength to get them away from her or someone else. Useful for running away afterwards, environmental hazard shenanigans or pushing a target out of her smoke cloud buff. P:10 || S:0|| R: 0 [AP(action point): 1] Effects : +5 power -5 skill Attack roll that deals no damage Shoves target in melee range far away from Ioxeia Not turn ending
Censer: A metallic instrument used for the burning of essences and perfumes for the purpose of spiritual purification to cleanse a room of demonic corruption. It also helps mask the scent of blood and bile. A series of fine chains allow the device to be swung around to further spread the scent around a room.
Doctor’s Garb: Ioxeia wears an avian shaped mask with green lenses protecting the eyes that is distinctive of her order. The beak is filled with perfumes similar to the ones burned by the censer. The accompanying bodysuit seals all but her hair and ears away from the air, protecting her from bad humors and bloodstains.
A large satchel containing medical supplies such as bandages, scalpels, rubbing alcohol, tweezers, needles, suture, leeches, salves, holy water and more. Also contains plenty of spare fuel for the censer, standard rations, a journal and a Panacean holy/medicine book.
Bottled Raven Essence: a small vessel containing a spectral raven. The holder of the vessel can mentally command the avian to assail their foes with its razor sharp beak. Functions as a basic magical ranged weapon. (+2 P)
Gambazan: a quilted linen jacket worn over her docterly attire. Provides a surprising amount of protection but in the end is still only made of cloth. Slightly cumbersome. (+1 R -1 S)
Also viable, though I suppose that runs into the problem of people with Physical Gifts being wholly unable to deal with Spiritual threats and vice versa-- though that in itself is an interesting concept to explore.
I wasn't really even thinking about separating damage types. more that shrugging off an axe blow using a force field (spirit) and using an metal shield (physical) have the same effect, which is not dying. Same with punching/blasting something really hard or shooting an arrow/lighting bolt with incredible accurately.
yeah wisdom's always been an awkward stat. It and charisma have way more complicated impact on how a char's personality than most other stats do, which is a bit awkward in something as rp heavy as play by post stuff.
You have my interest. I’d also agree with the above, for these kinds of things keeping it as simple tends to work. I’d even go so far as to say just making a very basic skeleton of a system with only the things you know will be used a lot included and then just improvising the specifics as you go for whatever else comes up is a perfectly valid way to do things. If you want something more concrete than that though I've got some ideas.
Everything is broken into Stats, Checks, and Abilities. I'm too tired to write this idea out properly so think D&D to get an idea of how stats and checks would work. Stats: I’d merge Intelligence and Wisdom into one Mind stat, add a Spirit stat for magic, and remove charisma entirely because that can just be roleplayed out.
Strength: Physical output.
Toughness: Ability to take a hit and stamina.
Dexterity: Fine motor skills and agility, maybe those should be split into two different stats.
Mind: Essentially the character's intelligence and wisdom, as well as anything else solely within there, mind that isn't their memories or personality.
Spirit: Magical strength and capacity.
Abilities: Players would specify a number abilities which are passive or active abilities they have that distinguish them from average people. This includes the good and the bad as well as both mundane abilities and those resulting from. These could be things as non-specific as the circumstances of the character's background, but the less specific the less the bonus.
Light Bearer: Thanks to a gift they can produce small balls of light from their hands and move them about at will.
Stealthy: They are good at hiding and moving about unnoticed.
Bad Hearing: An accident years ago left them deaf in one ear.
Former Sailor: Has spent years out at sea where they picked up a number of useful tricks for adventuring.
Checks: Checks are a number that is rolled against with a relevant stat modifier applied. DC for any given check is determined by how hard it would be for a normal person (maybe something like, Trivial: 5>, Easy: 6-10, Normal: 11-15, Hard: 16-20, Very Hard: 21-30, Impossible: 30+), and modified by whatever circumstances are relevant to the check as well as the player in questions abilities.
Climbing a Cliff Face: DC 22 Strength Check; Adjusted DC: 17
Modifier – Plenty of Hands Holds: -5
Modifier – In a Storm: +5 DC
Player Ability – Former Sailor: Has climbed in far worse storms at sea. Negates penalty from storm.
Checks should only be made if it’s reasonable for it to have a chance at working (e.g. a peasant trying to stab a trained fighter is fine despite the low odds, but that same peasant trying to perform brain surgery without training is automatically going to fail). Likewise, the opposite is true when a check could not reasonably be failed. Additionally, things where there shouldn't be any variability in result based on specified actions should not be rolled for.
Auto Fail – Untrained Brain Surgery: Under no feasible circumstances could this ever be at all successful even if theoretically possible, certainly not as a 5% chance.
Auto Success – Assassination: Slitting the throat of someone that is unaware and unable to defend themselves. No reasonable chance at failure assuming no other factors. Checks may still need to be made for secondary functions, such as doing it quietly.
No Check – Discussion: Many discussions shouldn't require checks. Results should instead be based on the personalities of the participants and their reactions to what specifically has been said.
I also think this is pretty good. I'd suggest precision and agility as a split of dexterity so every archer isn't also a ninja and also so spell-casters can be distinguished between "i indiscriminately set the entire room on fire" and "i make that specific demons head explode"
The only awkwardness I see is are physical spirit gifts defined mostly by the individual stats they'd logically enhance or by spirit. For example, is a straight forward super strength gift represented in the stats by strength or by spirit?
wordcount: 1282 (+6) (Kamek not in the post, no exp for him) Bowser: Level 7 EXP: ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (64/70) Bowser Jr: Level 6 EXP: /////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (61/60) Kamek: Level 6 EXP: /////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (59/60) Location: the End - central island
Jr’s silent request for aid was answered, as Linkle joined the fray surrounding Bowser’s self-inflicted endermen onslaught. The heroine ran into much the same issue Jr had, aggroing multiple endermen and having to deal with the consequences as being assailed by three warping foes at once, who popped in and out of the battle whenever they wanted in an incredibly dangerous and aggravating manner. Unlike Jr, however, she too could play that game, and so began a, to Jr, un-track-able teleporting game of cat and mouse, the three lanky fiends and the young woman duked it out in a way only those unbound from space could.
Where Linkle fought the endermen by copying their movement advantage, other reinforcements,in the form of Sectonia’s minions, arrived who could challenge their height advantage. The towering mace wielding ants dropped out of portals and if they could Jr was sure they would have yelled “pick on someone your own size” before laying into the equally tall but comparatively spindly endermen. They were big, they were tough, but, unfortunately, like Bowser, they were also slow, which meant that while they acted as an excellent distraction it meant they had trouble actually landing the blows that would end the skirmish for good. When they did hit they hit hard, allowing to krump the more badly damaged endermen with one blow, but after landing the first hit follow up hits were few and far between.
The feral fury of the Brachydios which had driven jr to charge the endermen with little strategy had burnt out by this point. This allowed the arrival of the ant minions reminded Jr that he had his own mooks he could use in this fight, and not just the gradually increasing number of Stus bubbling up from the goop splattered across the ground from his initial brawl.
”Koopa troopas! Get out here and support those ants! Goomba swarm, form up, I’ve got some special weapons for you this time!” Jr called out, summoning his own smaller but more numerous minions. The koopas immediately got stuck in as soon as they were out, charging the endermen warping around the antmen, fists swinging and turning their own swarming advantage against them. While the koopas weren't exactly strong compared to the towering foes and allies they were around, they were still able to cover the ant’s flanks, bopping the knees of endermen appearing out of reach of the giant insect’s spiked scepter and, as always, dying in droves in the process.
The minion’s of the Koopa Troop didn't really get to show their chops till Jr’s little scheme came into play, as the brawl was joined by the goomba’s who Jr had decked out with a new and deadly weapon.
Swoopin' Stu’s sat atop their heads.
The goombas charged the remaining endermen and then, when they got close, the Stus leaped off of them at the endermen, exploding on them in a shower of hazardous goop. The endermen rapidly got inked either by these attacks, or by clawing goombas with their own Stus already on top, popping them and getting their claws coated in the stuff. Jr laughed as the endermen’s predictable aggro was overwhelmed by the sheer number of (often exploding) targets which was, finally, enough to bring an end to the crisis. The lanky foes where either crushed beneath the ant’s maces or slowly whittle down by jr’s minions and the dot damage from the goop.
The only ones not dealt with by the minion team up were the ones chasing Linkle, who were instead finally dealt with when she lured them beneath Bowser’s foot, where they were promptly squashed by his immense stomps, much to the king’s delight ”HAHAHA. GOTCHA! THAT’S WHAT YOU GET FOR CHASING LINKLE AROUND!”
”You alright down there?” he then asked, looking down at the heroine and his son, before quickly looking away when his gaze started to trigger Linkle’s uncomfortable enderman spirit weakness ”Right. Sorry. You're like a Boo now. Good job. All of you. Those things are super annoying”
”Yeah, you did ok, but it was mostly me” Jr said to Linkle and the ants, self congratulated himself, before adding ”and my minions” offhandedly to the list of contributing warriors.
There was little time for praise or self aggrandizement however, as the battle was still ongoing. During their little scrap with the enderman swarm the troop’s allies had been dealing with the dragon. A pair of massive explosions had been landed, rocking her to her core. Unfortunately those explosions had not ended the fight as their detonators might have hoped, and worse they’d taken out both Link and Euden in the process. Fortunately the cat stretchers got them as well and whisked them off to somewhere, though where exactly they were being evacuated too Jr realized he didn’t know.
”Pretty handy cats huh. How many of those things even are there?” Jr asked, before realising he didn’t actually know who they belonged to either.
This was followed by another airblast attack, which the troop tanked without issue, but which sent several of the party flying towards the edge of the island. The Cadet, Fox, and Hat Kid where fortunately snatched out of the air by the ever handy Queen Sectonia while Kamek’s toadies swooped in to grab Peach, banjo and Kazooie, one of the propeller headed minions grabbing the bear and princess under their arms and slowing their outward tumble enough to deposit them on the island’s edge.
The dragon wasn’t done though, and ended up targeting Tora, whom she reduced to quite a state that required Blazermate to ditch everyone else in order to focus on keeping the (admittedly surprisingly durable) ball of fluff from biting the dust.
With Blazermate busy with the beleaguered Tora, healing the rest of the party was left to, among others, Kamek’s final remaining clone. The White Mage magikoopa, carrying its wand in one hand and Poppie’s lost leg in the other, swooped in to aid the king. Bower instead directed it downwards to his defenders, to which the mage delivered aid via swinging its wand in their direction, causing a burst of green and green motes energy to surround them before raining upwards and dissipating, healing a smattering of Linkle and Jr’s injuries in an a pair of bursts of instantaneous healing magic before it needed to recharge.
While his son and allies were being healed Bowser charged into the fray in-order to prevent Blazermate from being crushed by the dangerous position the foolhardy fluff ball had put her in. Quickly reattaching the lucky bell, Bowser transformed back into Meowser the king crouched down on all fours and prepared to pounce. Tail swishing to and fro and eyes wide he began to rapidly gauge the distance between where he had been assailed by the endermen and where their foe was in the middle of trying to blast Blazermate and Tora with her remaining store of acid. Once he’d got measured, the titanic cat-like Bowser pounced, launching himself skyward with a complete disregard for gravity. He sailed high in the air, his arch easily bypassing the area the Dragon was guardian with her tail whipping and angling himself downwards, cat claws bared and mecha-mit talons deployed as he deceased upon her, aiming to strike her in the spine if she failed to avoid his strike.
Jr meanwhile wasn't going to have the luxury of going over the tail and so instead, got a bottle of water from his duffel bag. He took a swig and then said to Linkle ”After you”, gesturing in the general direction of the swinging tail weapon warding them away from the dragon’s body.
Qael’Naath floated in front of Artifex’ portal. He hadn’t met the god yet. Not in person. But his generosity at Sancta Civitas did not go by unnoticed. However, right now he did not come to thank the god but instead ask for another favor. The designs were clear but the god of magic knew he could not succeed at the challenge himself. His pride had been swallowed some time ago, yet it still felt odd to approach a god and just outright ask for their help. None the less, there was no other choice. The second he passed through the portal, he was dropped within a vast metropolis. Thousands of insects were skittering around. “Brother?” Qael’Naath yelled out. “Are you here?”
The scurrying bugs paused their journeys for just a moment, before one, a coin sized ruby colored beetle, left the pack and began to fly towards the god while the others resumed their task. Rather than strike up a conversion the beetle ignored any attempts at communication and ended up flying past Qael’Naath out into antiquity before landing on a post sitting outside the door.
It crawled down onto an odd metallic contraption attached to the post and pressed down a button on it. A loud, rather obnoxious buzzing sound emanated from the machine while the button was downpressed. After two seconds the beetle moved off the button, ending the buzz, and took flight to go back into the portal to get back to work.
An awkward silence prevailed until the device, an intercom, crackled and Artifex’s voice could suddenly be heard coming from it, ”Greetings. You have reached Artifex, god of construction and civilization, what can I do for you?” it began before being cut off by a commotion. A few seconds later Artifex’s voice came again, though this time it sounded far more real than the thin, to a god, mimicry the now tossed aside autoresponder had been using
”Hello? Sorry for the delay. I was a touch preoccupied and frankly I’d completely forgotten I set this up. Gibbou certainly didn’t use it. Anyway, to whom do I owe the pleasure of this surprise visitation?”
“Qael’Naath. God of Magic.” The floating, six-eyed entity announced himself. “Apologies, I didn’t know there was a…” He looked momentarily through the portal at the object the beetle had rested upon. “...thing.” He pulled back through the portal. “I’ve… come to ask for help with something, brother. Something I think only you can help me with. Could you spare me a second?”
”Oh so that’s your name is! I take it the whole nameless god thing is for mortals only then? Well your secret’s safe with me I can assure you. It’s a delight to have you here Quael’Naath, and don’t worry about the buzzer, my fault for just assuming everyone would know what it was I suppose. Just bear with me and I’ll be down with you in just a moment.” Artifex replied
Not a second later a door opened in the building just next to the entryway, revealing a smartly dressed goblin standing in a small warmly lit elevator. He was wearing a blue coat adorned with decorations made of golden, starch white trousers and a pair of riding boots, as well as a bicorne hat sat atop his head. He was also wearing a glass butterfly across his eyes, but this was quickly removed, causing the ambient sound coming front he intercom system to cut out as the artificial insect fluttered up to sit on his hat.
”Now then, whatever is it I can help you with?” Artifex asked, before vaguely indicating to the small room he was in an explaining ”Oh and this is an elevator. It will take us down to my workshop.”
Qael let slip a little smile. “I don’t need worship.” He said. “The less the mortals know of me, the better. I thank you, for taking my desires into consideration.” When the goblin appeared, he was somewhat surprised. Wasn’t Artifex the creator of Sancta Civitas? The bug city? Yet there was no mistake to it, the figure before him was of his brother. Maybe a part of him? “Oh.” The surprise was audible in his voice. “I did not… it doesn’t matter.” He shook his head, before opening his palm and conjuring a light construct of Galbar. “Right now they are on the brink of discovering a whole new world. The first of the spells crafted by my own hand has already been connected with. But I want to offer them something more. A challenge. My… dreadful sister saw fit to trick the mortals into believing they were not the first. I would build upon this.” Several sites upon the globe lit up, marking the ancient ruins Qull had placed. Then the light construct shattered before reconstructing itself to show a barren, desert land with windswept ruins in the middle of it. “A challenge for the mortals but I found myself at the end of my creativity. The construction of buildings, temples, tombs and other complexes were never my strength. Would you help me, brother?”
As Qull described his plan the elevator lurched and began to travel downwards, while Artifex looked upon Qael’s plans and listened to his words with interest, ”Trick them into thinking they were not the first? What an odd ruse,” he commented upon the newly placed ruins, regarding the whole thing with light curiosity until the final and key point of the desire for artifex’s aid in constructing the ruins was brought up, causing Artifex’s eyes to light up with interest.
”Oh you have certainly come to the right god for this my friend, and what a unique piece of work too” he said with unhidden excitement as the elevator came to a stop and the doors popped open ”I really could do with something constructive at the moment, so this really is perfect”
Artifex stepped out of the elevator into his workshop, a large room whose walls, floor and furnishings were made from brass, softly glowing white crystal and black marble. Multiple workbenches covered with tools and boards with schematics on them littered the room. There was also a hat rack, onto which the small god placed his bicorn before sleeping clear from Qael and promptly exploding into a swarm of insects. More bugs suddenly streamed in from various entryways into the room, most notably the glowing portal leading to MUSE and joined the swarm which within moments tripled in size and then hardened into the towering black carapaced insectile shape that was Artifex’s construction form. ”ahhh” the god stretched his four limbs before summoning a slate, hammer and chisel and re-addressing Qael ”now then, tell me a bit more about what you want built”
Qael did not comment on Artifex as they traveled down in the strange contraption. The god of magic had always been intrigued by the mechanical world. It appeared to his orderly brain. Every cog and gear had its function. When they stopped and his brother confessed his excitement, the god of magic let a small smile slip. He followed the goblin-god into the workshop. It was an impressive place. Even to a god. Qael’Naath was, for a moment, distracted by the endless designs laying about. Four of his eyes darted over the plans. While the other two remained firmly in control of the Winds of Magic on Galbar.
Then Artifex exploded. Qael’Naath let out a yelp of surprise. On Galbar his avatar momentarily quacked before he regained his composure. Luckily, Artifex’ bug-shape soon appeared. Qael let out a sigh of relief. Yes, he was with his bug-brother of Sancta Civitas. This was good. “Well, the great designs are clear after it’s purpose and goals but not so much towards its final appearance.” Once more he outstretched his hand and light formed above it. “It would be a place built under ancient places, like the northern city of Ketrefa or near the Sun-lit temple of the plains. I’ve already found the suitable locations. These Labyrinths would take the shape of various underground complexes.“ The light in Qael’s hand took shape as tunnels were seemingly melting through the earth and forming something akin to a squat, underground pyramid at first. “I want these Labyrinths to act as tests. Not just of might and strength but also knowledge, insight, understanding. I had envisioned rooms filled with demonic creatures. I already have plans to let them be summoned. Yamat was a great aid in this. But other rooms are necessary as well.” The light in his palm shifted, showing the various rooms he was now talking about. “Rooms that are tests of agility. Filled with dangerous traps. Chambers that test one’s knowledge and understanding of magic. Halls that test one’s wisdom and ability to solve complex problems. Puzzle-chambers, arena’s, corridors blocked by vault-doors, contraptions and demon-summoning gardens. These are just ideas, to speak the truth. My mind can formulate the words but fails to give them a concrete…mortal shape. But they are simply tests. A means to filter out those unworthy of the main prize.” The light reshaped itself into the underground pyramidal structure. The underground paths and stairs began to converge again. Until they all reached a central point, which then lit up. The light collapsed in on itself as the light of the central chamber grew. Eventually showing an empty room, whose walls were carved with all manner of strange glyphs and schematics. “This is the treasure of the Labyrinth. Knowledge of the God-Forged spells. A key to greater magical prowess.”
”Very interesting. Tests. Puzzles. Trials with rewards. All disguised as remnants of a false past,” Artifex said as he mused upon the project, before saying ”You are right, words are nothing compared to the physical. I’ll start preparing some ground immediately for a place we can make prototypes.” The god wandered over to a shelf and picked up a small globe representing the City Planet that made up most of his realm and began carefully designating areas upon it that the ruins could be built. Far above them billions of insects began building another floor above the replicas of the cities Quel had mentioned, where they would be replicated anew a top whatever labyrinths the pair concocted.
”While that get started,” Artifex said as the new construction works began to appear on the globe, ”why don't we have a look at the ones Qull has already made so i can get a feel for the aesthetics, while you tell me a bit more about why you want to put these obstacles and tests in the way of mortals gaining this knowledge you have made. I’m not complaining or deriding the idea, I assure you, I am simply curious.”
As Artifex asked this he acquired a large crystal ball from another shelf with his other set of hands and placed it on the table. With a tap of his finger the image of Galbar appeared within, ”This is one of MUSE’s wandering eyes. Normally it keeps an eye on Inventors, helps them find what they need, checks their work for flaws, documents their findings and so on, but it should serve the task of viewing your inspiration just as well. Just touch the glass and you’ll be able to direct the vision wherever you desire. If you could show me one of Qull’s ruins that would grand.”
“Prototypes?” Qael was shocked at the sudden use of the words. Wasn’t it far too early for prototypes yet? Designs would have to be made. Schematics created. Traps would have to be tested. Puzzles thought out. All under the intense scrutiny of two gods. Then he realized with whom he was working together. “Yes… of course. Prototypes.” He repeated, with less surprise this time around. As his brother was designating some areas on a strange, small globe, the god of magic sensed massive change happening above him. “What is…” but then he looked back at the orb. Marvelous. A tool so small that could control his entire realm!
“I take no offense.” Qael said with a faint smile and quickly fading smile. In truth it was hard to truly offend the god of magic. Only one goddess managed it so far. He outstretched his hand and touched the crystal ball. The image shifted to the first of Qull’s strange ruins: a cyclopean fortress carved into the cliffside. Then it quickly shifted to a tall but lonely megalith standing in windswept plains. It shifted again towards the Mydian deserts where desert storm upon desert storm had half-buried the tall statues of beings that had never existed. “In truth I have no clue why she made them or what their purpose is. The fortresses are all but hollow, the megalith does nothing, the statues depict nothing that ever existed. My sister’s mind is a mystery.” He released the crystal orb from his hold.
“It’s a test. One to see if they are worthy, yes. But also a test to see if they are smart enough to understand what I’m giving them. What is a scroll to an illiterate? Kindle to be used in the fire. What is a clay tablet to an ant? Only disaster.” He slowly tapped on the table. A subconscious tick. “They may still see it as looming threats. Dangerous knowledge which they then deem forbidden. It might be too much for them. That is a risk I must take.” His voice was melancholic.
”Well I can admire her handiwork if nothing else,” Artifex said as he looked upon the strange and seemingly pointless creations ”there is artistic merit in these certainly, yet though to me form without function seems like a waste of our limited power over Galbar. Then again, if they have inspired you then have they not served a purpose in the end? Hmmm. Something to muse upon at a later date.”
The god dismissed the conundrum for the time being and transformed one of his accompanying crystals into a chisel and retrieved a clayslate before beginning to make notes to himself on the artistic stylings of the mysterious goddess with set of hands while the other ebgan sketching out a brief outline of a potential labyrinth.
”As for your reasoning, it seems sound enough. Certainly a lot more straightforward than keeping an eye on every mortal to find out who is both ready and worthy of gifts of knowledge.” Artifex paused for a moment, before nodding approvingly ”A rather novel form of delegation in-fact. Plus it could likely act as a goal for those who seek glory, power or prestige that does not involve beating down their fellow mortal. I am liking this more and more as I learn more about it.”
After complimenting Qael, Artifex passed him the sketch he had been making, depicting a series of winding tunnels and chambers burrowing deep into the ground. ”So, I was thinking we have the room with the spells all the way down here as you said, but also have some other, smaller treasure rooms further, containing more mundane rewards such as valuable metals, lesser magics or fine crafts, to encourage and reward exploration and prevent the places from being dismissed as dangerous forbidden places as you worried, or simply not worth the effort.” the god indicated to a few small rooms dotting the path down to the central chamber marked with lists of possible rewards. Also detailed in drawings and script so fine it could only have been written and read by gods was an entire labyrinth, complete with winding, branching corridors, trap rooms, puzzles and demon flowers like Qael had described, as well as places where statues like those in the desert would come alive, nests of aggressive insectile creatures and a few hidden routes which would allow fast access from deeper parts of the complex back up to the surface which could be unlocked by clever explorers.
The entire thing had also been immaculately designed so it looked like a place a people, an incredibly paranoid people, might have lived. Drawing inspiration from the subterranean works of the Lapites, Vespian, Vrool, Dwarves and more it featured living quarters, temples, kitchens, wells, subterranean gardens and other enmities of a civilized people placed within it in logical locations, generally acting as the lesser treasure rooms he had mentioned, with the all important spell chamber being a deep and hidden vault of the fictional people’s most treasured possessions and ancient wisdom.
”Only a rough sketch of course.” Artifex explained ”I prefer to work with actual physical materials when designing something for down on Galbar rather than using schematics.”
“They are tools.” Qael’Naath insisted as Artifex mused about the ruins. “A craftsman is not inspired by his chisel, he is inspired by the clay and the image he wants to craft it in. The ruins are just tools.” He would hate the idea of being inspired by his devil of a sister. Who by all rights should’ve remained a crystalline blob somewhere on his floating island.
“I do wish some mortals would be less… materialistic.” Qael said as he took Artifex’s sketch. “The shorter lived ones seem obsessed with gold and gems. The longer ones seem to crave absolute power more. It’s sad really. Such greedy thoughts might fuel exploration and discovery but often hampers it as well.” He mused as he traced his fingers over various schematics. “But of course you are right. The smaller rooms are a clever way to keep them interested.” The schematics came to life in his own mind, with all the appropriate nuance. Then he finally came to the central spell chamber. Alongside the writing of Artifex, he began to add his own.
Turning divine concepts into mortal, tangible shapes was a hassle to be sure. Oftentimes he had to utterly omit important information, because the medium of a wall simply could not hold it. Alas, some pieces of the puzzle would have to be put together by the mortals. In other parts, it would remain guesswork. There was nothing he could do about that. Mortality could be so limiting. Nonetheless, when Qael’Naath was done with his additions, the spell chamber was properly filled with arcane knowledge of the highest level he could offer.
He altered certain rooms as well, imbuing more magic into their puzzles. At the same time he added spell chambers. Rooms in which spells would have to be performed in their desired method before the vaulted door would open. “There.” He said, as he finished the design and passed it back to Artifex for judgement. “Perhaps we could take a look at the prototypes then?”
”I understand them to an extent, those with little time desire to do as much with it as they can with the brief existence they have, while those with more will do anything to ensure theirs is not cut short. It is just a shame what they are willing to inflict upon one-another to achieve those goals” Artifex commented upon the sin of greed before watching Qael’s additions to his diagrams with interest, admiring at the god’s far greater mastery of magic and mana.
”As for the prototypes, they should be coming along nicely. If you’ll follow me back to the elevator” Artifex said, getting too and then entering a different elevator than the one they had entered by.
“I’ve got nothing against the natural course of mortals. They are capable of great acts of creation, though great acts of destruction as well. As their creators, are we not ultimately responsible for their sins and failings?” The god of magic mused the question more than pose it as he entered the elevator with Artifex. Were they responsible? Or had 2000 years of nearly unguided development caused mortality to take a course of its own? Were the gods still in control or were they merely clinging to this world with avatars and visions?
It was something to ponder upon at another time as the elevator reached the surface once more. The prototype labyrinth wasn’t build underground, no. Artifex’s insectile builders had created a massive model of above ground, showing the vast array of corridors, halls, rooms, chambers and stairs. The squat pyramid indeed converged down into a singular room. In an instant Qael’Naath rushed over and entered the model of the nexus. The walls were filled with flowing schematics, just like he had envisioned. Every mark meant its own thing, as well as added context to what it was connected to. The glyphs were a crude but mortal method to attempt to convey knowledge. He then made his way to one of the demonic gardens. His magic had already created the Lilith Lilies. They were gently floating upon several pools of water. The garden itself felt like a place of meditation and Zen. Small waterfalls filled and kept round pools connected, which in turn were also connected to a stone carved walkway. None the less everything felt and looked natural. There were no stairs, jagged corners or straight walls. It looked as if nature herself had carved out this little tranquil corner. “It looks very promising.” He said, mostly to himself.
”My workers do their best” Artifex replied none the less as he strode into the room, ”but a personal touch could always improve things. Feel free to adjust wherever you see fit. I most certainly will be taking a stroll through these halls to make sure everything is in order.”
The god of construction found a place to sit within the faux natural room and took a moment to admire the ambiance before speaking once more ”There is something missing however, now that I consider it. This place will serve its function as a trail and place of reward, but what it lacks is a history. There will be those who come for riches and glory, but there will be those who will ask who were the people that managed to build these places and amassed such wonders of magic. More importantly, how did these people who rose so high ever fall so far as to be lost and forgotten?” as he spoke the god had stretched out a hand and conjured below it the bones of a newt like humanoid.
Artifex continued, stone mechanisms began to form where the bones would have been held together by muscle in life while bands of stone crawled up the bone to link these joints together. Unintelligible runes pulled along the stone exoskeleton, covering it in a soft light that welled up within its skull, causing its eyes to glow with eerie malevolence.
Artifex then adorned the undead golem in tattered robes that gave the impression that they had once been grand, placed a golden crown featuring fingerbones splayed out where it would have had gill fronds in life atop its head and gave it a beautifully engraved bronze staff topped by a skull of its own kind to hold.
”I suggest we use this place to tell a tale, written in a thousand pieces, of a fall caused by sin run rampant. A warning against arrogance and greed, a lesson that those who do not heed it will inevitably learn the hard way.”
As he finished speaking the god moved his hand away from the skeletal ruler, who rather than fall without the invisible string of its creator holding it up it stood tall and proud, as if not even death could snuff out its arrogance. All a ruse, of course. The thing was as alive as the animated statues that stood in several of the chambers and hallways above, but it was a convincing deception.
The four eyes of Qael’Naath fell upon the creature. “A clever addition, brother.” He said as he looked into the purple eyes. “They shall know that which they guard. Their deepest secrets.” Qael touched the creature’s forehead. Filling it’s almost mechanical ‘mind’ with the divine knowledge of the spell hidden in the final chamber. “And they shall have a history. Of their rise, their greatness, their fall. Hints towards other Labyrinths and other truths.” With the same finger he touched the wall of a room. An energy traveled along it. Etching half-broken reliefs into the walls. Half broken pottery and other archeological proof of existence was being spread around in the Labyrinth. Some of it contradictory, as per design. “This is why I returned to Galbar.” Qael muttered to himself.
Artifex took the compliment with a nod before casually asking ”Why you returned?” while waving the skeletal construct away to go stand guard over the spell room. The construct obeyed, strutting out of the natural chamber to begin its eternal silent vigil over the depths of the prototype labyrinth.
The god of magic rose up to face Artifex and smiled, brightly this time. “This!” he exclaimed as he raised his arms. “Not in my wildest dreams could I imagine a creation so vast, so grand, so perfectly aligned with what the grand designs require. For two thousand years I labored on my own realm, trying to make it exactly like I wanted it. Only to realize that I couldn’t achieve that goal alone. I may rage, at times, about the influences of my siblings but in truth they have made Galbar a place to look after.” After that, he let out a deep breath of relief. “It feels good to say it out loud finally.”
Artifex nodded in agreement, ”Your words reflect my own feelings well, even if I never left it. The meddling of gods and the sins of mortals may grate at times, but truly there is no place greater than Galbar.”
“Indeed. Now, brother. I think the designs have been perfected.” He said as he put a palm on a wall to feel the entire structure. “I already know the suitable locations. I propose we commence our great work then?”
”By all means,” Artifex said as he stood from the outcrop he had been sitting on ”Let us begin.”
There was no quake or shift in the ground. Nobody in Ketrefa felt it, but it happened. Just below the lowest cellar, stone and dirt began to vanish into thin air. Carving great caves and halls that kept going down. This happened across Galbar, near the Sunlit temple, below Solkra as well. In Mydia, the great half-buried statues now marked the causeway towards the grand entrance of a Labyrinth there. When all the dirt and stone was removed, new stone appeared out of nothing. This time it was chiseled and carved with reliefs. Half-broken mosaic floors gave certain halls a more colorful appearance. While painted walls showed instructions to learn the spell required to continue. Massive vault-doors were formed from stone and placed in their respective locations. Then, finally, the last chamber was formed. Filled with a bounty of arcane knowledge.
Within the gardens, the first of the Lilith Nymphaeaceae sprouted. Small, lily flowers that floated over beautiful ponds. Ready to blossom into demons, to protect the Labyrinth.Nests of veracious termite like beasts fused with stone and magic grew out of maze’s finely carved halls like tumors that would spill their ravenous broods out into its halls. Statues and engravings were carved and then given life so that they might awaken and assail intruders with limb and lance. Deadly traps where hidden, their slashing blades, stinging spikes or dead drops ready to teach the unwary off guard when triggered by mechanisms or magic. And at the very bottom of it all, the false undead stood jealous guard over the final bountiful spell chamber.
Less deadly where the puzzle rooms, where tests of cunning or wisdom would keep the ways beeper into the dungeon. Some would require the learning, deciphering and casting of spells, while others still the interpretation of stars or signs, the insight of Augers or Inventors, or the solving of riddles. Yet more were mechanical in nature, requiring the lining up of beams of light, the pushing of large stone blocks into place, the repairing of strange cog based machines, the construction of bridges, the navigation of shifting portals, playing an ancient board game against a golem and numerous other tests of logic and cunning.
The Labyrinths were also filled with the false impression of once being home to an ancient long gone race. Underground farms flourished and then overgrew their boundaries, eerily empty living quarters and business districts sprawled out from the labyrinth proper or where a still deadly part of it, wells were dug to reach underground streams, temples to the nameless god of magic took pride of place within them, vaults of mundane treasure and a scattered array of common items that could have stood the test of time where placed to entice mortals to continue exploring. Every effort was made to ensure that it looked like a people might once have lived within the dark and twisting walls of the Labyrinth.
Murals and reliefs upon the walls began to create the false history. Shown scenes of conquest, victory, discovery and tragedy. All lies, made believable by the existence of other proof. Pottery and tablets were spread around as well. With that final addition, the Labyrinths’ their silent creation was complete. Now they laid in waiting, across the world, for the mortals to find them.
Qael’Naath visits Artifex and asks for his help. Artifex, always interested in new construction projects and wanting to get away from the conflict in Ha-Duna, agrees to hear him out. The god of magic explains that he wants to create the Labyrinths to challenge mortals, not just on a basis of strength but also agility, knowledge and wisdom. He describes his ideas to the god of construction and shows where they would be based: under ancient locations like Ketrefa or the ruins Qull spread about. Artifex agrees to help and the two begin designing the Labyrinths together. They do an initial plan on paper and then visit the resulting prototype that Artifex had his insect workers build for them. They hang out in a nice meditation room/demon spawning room and discuss mortal sin. Artifex then makes an undead looking construct called an Arcrypt Keeper, designed to look like the evilest undead wizard imaginable, which are charged with defending the last room and blessed with the ability to use the spells there in by Qael. Which holds information on the God-Forged spells. Then, finally, they create a false history detailed in reliefs, murals, broken tablets and other things. As to trick the mortals into believing these labyrinths were made by a long lost, Galbar-spanning race. Which destroyed itself through their own sinful ways.
After the design is complete, the Labyrinths are constructed in silence below the ancient locations.
Artifex start 5/5 mp/dp
2 construction dp (empowered by stoneworking) carving the Labyrinths main structure
1 construction dp for traps and puzzles
2 civilization/construction dp create the impression that a civilization once dwelled within the Labyrinths (stone furniture, bronze tools, old buildings, places to acquire food and water, cultural artifacts etc)
Labyrinth Golems 2 MP (empowered by stoneworking) extraordinary Species These creatures can stand still for centuries. Appearing as statues until an adventure walks into their trap. They can also roam the corridors and rooms of a Labyrinth, forcing you to engage these stone constructs. While made of stone, the central mana crystal core that animates them is a weak point. Destroying will destroy the golem. It should also be known that the animation core is utterly useless and will in fact render to dust if taken out of the Labyrinth. Leaving the golem’s other parts as just simply stone.
Teramites: 1 MP (empowered by insects) extraordinary Species Termite-like creatures that live within labyrinths and are generally the same size as wolves while their queens are about the size of bears. Their bodies are augmented with stone, similar to that used to build golems, that makes them a part of the Labyrinth, allowing the bugs to feed of its ambient mana when prey is rare, while also allowing them to coordinate and cooperate with the labyrinths other magical defences. It also prevents them from escaping its depths into the wider world as they cannot survive beyond it. They have limited flight, tough armor and their semi silicon bodies make for a decent basis for magical components.
Arcrypt Keeper: 2 mp extraordinary Species + 1DP from Qael (blessing to cast the god-forged spells explained in their spell chamber) Animated constructs made from bones of beings that never existed. They consist of a mindless and soulless undead skeleton bound in golem-like exoskeletons that hold their desiccated remains together. Each one is a mage that has a small roster of magical spells at their disposal that they will use to attack intruders into their labyrinthian home. While they are sometimes found within the “Tombs” of the civilization, where foolish adventurers might awaken them from their false slumber, they are most often found guarding the final spell room (acting as a final boss of sorts) and will often use some of the very spell they are guarding in combat. When killed, they crumble into dust as time finally catches up with them. Also they look like axolotl people.
Artifex end 0/0 mp/dp
2/5 arcane monuments
4/5 constructs/automatons/golems (+ 4 from golems + Arcrypt Keeper)
4/5 for Biokinisis
5/5 mad science
1/5 for medicine
2/5 culture (+2 for fake civilisation)
3/5 for diplomacy
Qael Naath start: 5MP/5DP -5 MP >> Excavating and moving around the ground, earth, metals and stone to create the Labyrinths - 2 DP >> Extraordinary race: Lilith Nymphaeaceae plant - A black and red water lily-like flower that grows on small, artificially made ponds within the Labyrinths. These lilies remain dormant until a mortal sapience enters their vicinity. When they bloom, the demon spell is cast upon the water below. Before soon the lily is consumed by the black mass. This actually causes a demon to be spawned and attack the intruders. The demon spawned by a lily will, if the threat is gone, try and attempt to return to a pool of normal water. As to deliver the lily to it’s new location. - 1 DP >> Spell rooms - spell chambers which are chambers in which a specific spell has to be cast in a specific way before they can continue. For example: a round room in which a certain duo-spell dance has to be performed depicted upon the circular walls. Once the spell is performed, the gate open and they can continue. - 1 DP >> Bless the Arcrypt Keepers with the ability to cast the God-Forged spells they are protecting. Qael Naath end: 0MP/1DP
wordcount: 1293 (+6) Bowser: Level 7 EXP: ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (58/70) Bowser Jr: Level 6 EXP: /////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (55/60) Kamek: Level 6 EXP: /////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (59/60) Location: the End - central island
Bowser roared in pain as the acid lapped around his cat feet, before biting down on the Ender Dragon’s tail with his massive fang filled maw to silence his weakness. Gripping onto her harder with one hand and his jaw he used a hand to rip the Luck Bell off of his collar, reverting his form back to normal in which he still wore his (rather disheveled at this point) wedding outfit, complete with steel soled boots. The shoes started hissing and fizzing as the acid tried to gnaw through the massive set of dress shoes the king was wearing, saving his scaly feet from more damage.
In the meantime he pocketed the bell and then grabbed one of her legs with his hand and then deployed the boxing gloves on his hat. Two massive mechanical arms popped out from either side and began to rapidly bat away at the dragon’s hide with a series of jabs and hooks.
As the king held fast as the dragon was assailed by those who had gotten clear from the acid, with some of them, like the hat kid, even using the king himself as a launching point to rain down blows on the boss. Arrows flew. Lasers pewed. Explosives exploded. Fists pummeled. Hell was rained down on the dragon as she struggled to escape. She writhed, bucked and kicked bowser in the face and hands repeatedly like a mad horse, taring her own body as she sought to escape his clawed and fanged grip. With one final jerk and kick she managed to escape from the king’s three fold grip, booting him in the face as she went for good measure and taking one of his teeth with her in the process.
She didn’t get away without more punishment however, as Poppi came in to deliver a mighty series of blows, though the heroic robot lost a leg in the process and ended up spiraling away with Tora hot on her heels. Or one of her heels anyway. The other was scooped up by Kamek’s sole remaining clone, a white mage, who flew after the bot to return the lost pot to her.
Bowser wasn't going to let her leave easily either, and unleashed a torrent of fire from his mouth that licked at the dragoness as she took off again. Despite being half dead the fire, or acid, burning inside her had not dimmed and she continued to aggressively attack her enemies. She aimed for the ones on the towers, tail swiping at them, creating another shockwave attack in the process that threatened to blast anyone standing atop them back off.
Further down the island's incline Bowser Jr ever so carefully lifted up his clown car to make sure that his ears were correct and that the acid flood had finally finished flowing past. He sighed in relief to see this was the case and then took in how the battle was going, taking particular notice of Bowser’s inaccurate fireball hucking that the kin had returned to once the Ender Dragon got airborne and mobile again.
The boy scratched his chin for a moment while his two allies kept up their enlargement of the king and then had an idea.
”Bytans roll out!” he called out, summoning a gaggle of ball shaped Bytan strikers, the madly grinning, one eyed, self replicating minions of the subspace army, on the other side of his mini trenchline.
”Go over there,” the prince ordered, directing the spheres away from both himself and the rest of the team. The balls obeyed, beginning to replicate themselves as soon as they rolled around by popping more of themselves out of their eyeballs.
”PAPA! PAPA!” he called up to his titanic father, before pointing to the mob of Bytans and telling the King his plan. Bowser was briefly skeptical, but then nodded and went along with his son’s plan. He turned towards the Bytans and opened his mouth wide, before inhaling a massive torrent of air using his vacuum breath ability. The Bytans, being much smaller than the super sized king and lacking any kind of surface grip thanks to their ball shape, were swept up along with this wind and up into Bowser’s mouth, which they got stored like seeds in a hamster’s cheeks rather than being swallowed. With them continuing to replicate inside his mouth, Bowser turned back to the Ender Dragon and then used a gout of flame breath to launch the Bytans at her like a fiery shotgun blast,sending dozens of burning Bytans blasting up into the air towards the Ender Dragon in a spray wide enough that even Bowser’s poor aim and worse target leading abilities didn’t matter in the slightest.
Part of hail of burning balls hammered the dragon, while the rest flew onward out into the void, or, in some cases, rained down on the far side of the island. There was fortunately none of the team that far from the fight, but there was a number of Endermen, some of which got clipped but the shower of Bytans. Those not killed by the falling beach ball sized creatures (all of which dissipated a few moments after impacting the ground) were enraged, and tuned their ire towards the being that had dared attack them. It was in this way that Bowser ended up with a swarm of angry lanky monsters suddenly appearing around him which began wailing on his feet with a vengeance.
”WHAT! HAY! GET LOST! OW! STOP THAT! STAY STILL SO I CAN STOMP YOU!” the king complained, attempting to stamp the monsters out of existence to no avail due to the slow speed of his attacks giving the Endermen to teleport or just walk out of the way.
”I’M COMING PAPA!” Jr cried out upon seeing his father’s predicament, grabbing his oversized magic paintbrush and running towards the mini mob of Endermen.
”Be careful young master” “kyu kyu” Kamek and Mimikyu cried in concern after the boy as he recklessly ran to a fight he could actually get involved in.
”Leave papa alone” he yelled at them, before splashing ink at the offending Endermen with his Gadbrush. The splash of goop splattered two of the Endermen (and the ground between them) who vanished in a rage as the toxic fluid began to slowly chew at their vitality. ”Haha! Now for the rest of you,” Jr taunted, right before the two Endermen reappeared and attacked him instead of the king.
”Ah!,” jr cried out in surprise, blocking one’s swipe with the brush’s length while the other slashed at his armored back, causing him to stumble forwards towards the first monster, who broke past his fumbled guard and slashed his eyelid with a claw. Doing the best he could with this momentum, jr headbutted the leg of the first Enderman with his horn, splodging a large glob of green slime onto the Enderman’s leg in the process while the impact itself caused it to teleport away. A distant explosion heralded its subsequent end.
The other was still on him however, slashing at his back. Jr pivoted, jabbing at its lanky talons with his Gadbrush as it towered over him, warding off its swipes and staining its void black skin with extra goop in the process. It vanished again, and this time jr used the time it was away to spin round, painting a zone of ink around himself with his brush so that when it reappeared the Enderman landed atop this hazardous zone, forcing it to jump away again out of the goop. Its life running low it came at Jr one last time, only to receive a Swoopin Stu, which was a cross between dumbo octopus and a water balloon, to the face when jr grabbed the freshly spawned slime based lifeform by its head fronds and tossed it at his attacker. The stu exploded into a shower of ink, coating most of the Enderman and draining the last of its vitality, causing it to spasm once and then keel over dead.
”These things. Are the worst,” Jr complained as he rubbed his scratched eyelid. The entire fight had lasted only a dozen heartbeats, and there were still a number of the lanky foes assailing Bowser’s feet. He might need some help with he rest, the boy silently admitted to himself.
wordcount: 1230 (+6) Bowser: Level 7 EXP: /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (52/70) Bowser Jr: Level 6 EXP: /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (49/60) Kamek: Level 6 EXP: ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (53/60) Location: the End - central island
”GAHHHH, MY EYES” Bowser roared as he stumbled backwards into one of the towers as a result of having been showered, lightly, in the face with acid, crying with pain like someone who’d had jalapeño juice thrown into their eyeballs. Suffice to say was not pleasant. Fortunately for him, the combined assault by the team (which had saved him from having his face melted off in the first place) waylaid the dragon as well, who stumbled over into a tower, fell to the ground and proceeded to get shot and stabbed a whole bunch.
This provided the koopa king with enough time to summon Heel into one hand. He then proceeded to use the Rabbid supporter’s healing power as an eyedropper, holding the rather upset bunny over each eye in turn and giving him a squeeze to force a blast of healing energy out of his backpack and directly into the affected area. His nose and lips still stung from places where acid droplets had struck him, but at least the king could see again. This was right in time for him to block a powerful tail swipe from the dragon with the energy buckler on his mecha-mit, the orange shield defecting the blow from striking either the king and Geralt. Unfortunately the hit shattered the process of deflecting the attack, rendering both its offensive and defensive abilities unusable for the time being.
Gaige-tron was not so lucky to have Bowser there to tank the dragon’s blows and ended up being crushed while saving the courier from that vary same fate. Bowser barely noticed her being taken out of the fight (and in-fact was something of a danger himself to the team in a very similar manner due to his obviousness to the location of their tiny forms as he stomped about) while the other three members of the troop visibly winced when the bot was trampled, and then where relieved when the cats evacuated her wholly intact body to safety. It was, to the trio, very nice to know there was a way to survive trampling what with two giant dragons roaming around the increasingly cramped feeling island.
The Ender Dragon took wing again and proceeded to flap around at a low-ish altitude to spit loogies down on the team as they recovered from her wind blast. Bowser blocked a few of these with a scaly arm and hands, practicing batting them out of the air, to protect himself, his family and his allies. The acid bit into his scales, stinging and itching wherever it touched, but was unable to truly wound his armored and scaled form when it hit where he wanted it to and Blazermate’s lingering overheal quickly patched over any minor inconveniences it managed to cause. In retaliation he spat out numerous fireballs and, while most of these now equally enlarged flaming projectiles ended up simply slowly sailing past their intended target, a couple struck true, mostly against her massive wingspan, washing their impact sites with fire.
Jr meanwhile could mainly only watch as the others took shots at their foe while being frustrated at his lack of long ranged firepower. Still. He got to watch his father go to town kaiju style, which was, to jr, always cool to watch. Passive observation ended however when the dragon dive bombed them with another air blast. Fortunately for the trio Jr was prepared this time, having retrieved a fishing spear (that he’d meant to use for its intended purpose but never got round to practicing) from his duffel bag and jammed it into the spongy stone with a few smacks of the necro-smasher ahead of time. He grabbed Mimikyu with one hand, Kamek in the other and then bit the spear horizontally, gripping it with his jaw to prevent them all from being blown away just in the nick of time. The light trio where lifted off of their feet, but Jrs fangs held true and kept them all from smashing into something or being tossed into the void
As the trio blew in the wind Bowser’s enhancement flickered, the king losing some size as he completely shrugged off the air blast and simultaneously lessened its impact for those blocked by his bulk.
”Kamek! Keep it together down there!” the king yelled at his head minion as his form wobbled from the disruption in consecration caused by his powerup's power sources being waved around like a pair of windsocks.
”Yes sire! Sorry sire!” Kamek called back after the blast passed them and he and Mimikue were put back down by a panting jr. The boy’s trials were not over however, as the Ender Dragon then hovered up and over the top of the island, either completely oblivious or unfazed by the loss of its final healing crystals to an exploding rubber ducky, and started barfing up acid.
”Eww. ok. We should move” jr said as the flood of acid started to drain down from the summit of the island, threatening to make the entire area a deeply unpleasant foot corroding wet floor hazard.
”That’s it. I’ve had enough of you flying around like you’re all that. Get down here!” Bowser roared up at the Ender Dragon as she did this, thundering up the side of the hill and leaping upwards in a very floaty looking jump, hand outstretched to grab her tail and drag her down to the ground. Hard.
”or not.” Jr corrected himself as Bowser began his run, while the mage and Pokemon both eyed the incoming wash with concern. Rather than grab them to run away and disrupt their magic, jr stepped forwards and began drawing on the ground in front of them with the green goo he now secreted from his wrists and new pompadour like horn. As he did he summoned a small team of koopa troopas and commanded them to ”get my car!” to which the Koopa replied with a “yes your majesty” before hurrying around the back of the pillar to do just that.
After they left the goo started exploding, blowing a shallow trench-line in the soft end stone following jr’s drawing . When the koopas came back, carrying the car between them like a bunch of Pikmin, jr got them to toss him it. The much stronger jr caught the lips of the car in one hand and quickly dismissed his troops. Then he grabbed Kamek with the other hand and pulled him close while using the foot on the opposite side to scoot Mimikyu underneath him. Then, right as the acid was about to hit, jr pulled the clown car down over the three of them, turning it into a little bunker rimmed by a drainage ditch. The acid sloshed down from the island summit, and then down into the ditch, and then along its route to lower ground behind them, causing it to drain to either side of where the trio were hiding under the clown car. Splashes of acid leaping up from their fall into the ditch that might still have harmed them instead struck the hardy shell of the clown car, burning off its paintwork but leaving those hiding inside safe to keep Bowser big enough to wrestle with the dragon. Or, in Jr’s case, free to drink several bottles of water to quench the thirst his goop drawing had created.
Artifex stood within a war room. It was new, freshly built within the tower Artifex had hosted Gibbu in and its most prominent feature was a strategy map of Ha-Dûna and its surrounding area. The god still seethed at the offence given by this “Sigeran” and at (some) of Ha-Dûna’s practical excitement at the prospect of roaming out into the world and doing battle in his name.
Rather than lash out immediately, Artifex had first driven his rage into productivity, forging this war room and using what little eyes he had in the area to garner an understanding of the situation therein. The prospects for those upon which the blades of Ha-Dûna would fall were not good. It was true, they had their new walls and the knowledge of how to use them and together they could hold a numerical advantage over the city they were all to spread out and disunified to actually pose much of an opposition. They would need time to amass their strength against the coming storm if they were to stand a chance.
”If the people of Ha-Dûna won’t engage in more constructive distractions, if they want war and death and slaughter, then they shall have it!” Artifex announced to the floating sets of glass butterflies he basically set to follow him everywhere so he could keep a closer eye on their automatic business. The god (in imposing horned insect form) conjured a stone from the air and began to whittle it, carving stone with the ease of wood. Stone dust and splinters fell away until the god was satisfied with the small stone sculpture he’d made. The small statue was the size of a doll, and had a wide smooth base to help it standard upright. It looked like a humanoid grasshopper wearing segmented armor and what looked to be a full face helm with the top slit off around its neck that led into a dark interior.
The god examined the miniature a few times, before nodding and putting it down on the strategy map atop one of the rocky hills surrounding the city of Ha-Dûna.
The sun was setting in an alabaster sky above the highlands around Ha-Dûna. Below in the forest her exiled daughters and sons made camp. Fires were stoked. Meager meals were prepared. Libral amounts of nettle tea was set to boiling.
Spirits were low and perhaps none were lower than those of the Mothers. The nascent order of mothine women charged with upholding peace and protecting the weak had failed their first real challenge. The ascension of the war god Sigeran and the inevitable return of the ways of conquerors and raiders by the city’s people that would follow was antisma to everything they were supposed to uphold.
Aimil sat around a cock fire with a few of her fellows, the first and so far only of their blessed kind.but what did it mean to be blessed by gods who had been foiled, struck down by one that had been considered lesser. Their discussion then, as it had so many nights before,turned to theology. Aimil was getting sick of it, but some of her sisters seemed to have endless energy to invest in the matter.
“I say again. It must be a test! We have been brought low yes, but that does not mean we are forsaken! We must have done something wrong, which is why the gods allowed this to happen,” Mairead, a young mother with ruby and bronze colored wings insisted, “and only once we root out what has displeased them, and then we will be returned to the grace of the gods once more.”
“The gods did not allow this. They intervened, and yet all they could do was let the faithful run,” Sorcha, her wings black and her moonsilver helm still dining her head, retorted bitterly, “you are too young to remember the days when the gods didn’t intervene all willy nilly.”
“You make it sound like its a bad thing, that the gods are paying us special mind”
“All I’m saying, is it wern’t always like this. Who’s to say it always will be,” Sorcha continued “and really, who’s to say they’re able to manipulate things as finely as you say? What did they even do on that black day? Messed with the sky mostly. Made a deer-”
“They gave us wings and silver,” Mairead retorted
“Sure sure. And give the druids power too. But that’s the thing. It’s always people. And wasn’t power that the bastard used to turn the people against the other gods. It was words. It was words from the moon too when the city turned its attention to temple building.”
“And cursed the weapons and bones of those who attacked the innocent, and build the walls around the villages”
“It’s all words and gifts or curses. What I’m saying is they work through people, and if the people don't work with them then maybe they can’t do much.”
It would have been poignant for Artifex’s opening move to have revealed itself then and there, but instead it was about 20 minutes later after Aimil had wrangled the conversation round to the night’s smiting that the statue hit the table. When it did, the side of the hill close to Ha-Dûna exploded as a tall giant of stone and metal pulled itself from the earth, as if it had been entombed within it and had now come back to life. It stood, dirt and stone crumbling from its form and looked towards the city it towered above.
In the camp and in the city the humans looked at the distant figure with fear and awe even as it faded into the twilight and asked themselves “what does it mean”
Artifex next carved several dozen smaller statues, each depicting swarms of hulking insectile beasts with many wings, spikes ridging their limbs and two giant scythe-like blades in-place of hands. As each was placed down on the table next to the first figure, a swarm of man sized monsters spewed forth from the mouth of the statue down below, forming a growing swarm that buzzed around their new home and master.
”Let us see how they like to be the subject of raids, hmmm? If they wish to fight without honor or mercy, let them fight something incapable of either. Go, my titan, sweep away”
The statue, surrounded by a cloud of locustine minions, obeyed, marching forth into the night and vanishing from the sight of the exiles as it headed for the outskirts of the city. It struck the outskirts of it, the plague of giant locusts descending to devour crops of farmstead after farmstead. When the dawn arose, fields lay empty and those farmers that had attempted to fight the horde lay dead, their bodies rend in two by the monster’s blades. It also found the titan standing clear as day stood atop an insurmountable rocky mountain overlooking Ha-Dûna, making sure that they knew it was not going anywhere.
Aimil’s dreams were filled with a strange nightmare of grasshoppers attacking small anthills, descending upon them, ripping them apart and then carrying off their food and young back to their nest. It was a cycle that repeated again and again against hill after hill against all kinds of different ant hill they reached one where the ants closed off the entrances to their hive upon the arrival of the locusts. They did not sit idle inside their home till the locusts eventually tore them apart, and instead used runners to summon ants from other nests. They came, ants of all shapes and sizes, and hemmed the grasshoppers in against the ant hill, and then together the ants from within and from without crushed the grasshoppers between them.
Aimil awoke and had to mull this over for a while before bringing the ideas the dream had inspired to the others. They should go their separate ways, she suggested, to the towns around the Ha-Dûna, and try to convince them to not simply stand alone or submit to the city’s might, but to set aside old rivalries, grudges and animosities and come together as one people to stand against a common foe. Arguments were made this way and that about whether they should go, who would go where or what they should do and how they would keep in touch, but in the end it was agreed. The towns needed to work together if they wanted to survive the tyranny of the city and they would be their messengers and guids towards this new reality.
Artifex nodded satisfactorily as he witnessed this. With any luck his opening gambit would buy them time to do what they needed to do, but only time would tell if it would be enough.
The god stepped away from the table and awaited his opponent’s next move.
Artifex is pissed about Ha-Dûna’s return to war which directly opposes his and Gibbou’s attempts to prevent exactly that. He makes a war room dedicated to the area and then creates a giant animated statue filled with human sized locusts with synths for hands to give Ha-Dûna a taste of its own medicine and also distract them while the Mothers attempt to unite the villages surrounding the city into something like a federation or a mutual defence pact.
Mothers +5
Start 5MP/5DP
1 mp (3 insect discount) for Razor Locust, an extraordinary species of human sized blade armed locust monsters who are bound to the will of the Locust Titan. Ravenous and deadly, they plague the land around the titan, but are unable to travel more than a km beyond it and must lay their eggs within it, thus restricting their ability to spread.
The scythe-like blades that they use to reap crops are imbued with a power that makes the crops grow back faster than they normally would. Their chitien is as tough as copper armor but does not corrode and the teal parts of it make for useful reagents for insect related Magics or Inventions.
2 construction dp discounted by stoneworking to make the legendary beast, the Locust Titan, a giant animated statue 50 meters tall. The statue is incredibly resilient, and home to the ]Razor Locust swarm who dwell and lay their eggs within its hollow chest. The Locusts are its primary weapon as the statue itself deliberately avoids destroying structures, and while the beast can match the speed of a galloping horse its movements are too predictable to reliably trample anyone actively attempting to avoid being squished by it. The intelligence within the statue also keeps the swarm in check, ensuring that it only exacts vengeance upon the desired targets.
1 mp to teach the Mothers about relief armies
1 dp to teach the Mothers about federations
Diplomatic Adepts I (2 civlisation dp addition to the mothers): the order have a basic innate talent for negotiating deals and agreements between towns, cities or whole civilisations.
3mp claim port: Militia: A militia is a fighting force consisting of people whose main profession is not war, but in a time of strife nonetheless take up arms to fight. Milita can range from part time soldiers with some training or even experience in battle to citizens using whatever they can to fight off the barbarians at their gates. Militia are generally unable to hold ground against professional forces and require advantages in numbers, technology, magic, moral, terrain, strategy, fortifications etc. to overcome their disadvantage. They most often don't fight fair as a result.
Groups such as the Mothers can be considered a roaming Militia, for though they do fight it is not their only, or primary, function as an order. The fighters in revolts, revolutions or other civil uprisings generally consist of impromptu formed Militia forces as well. Typically however, a militia guards their own town, city, etc. or is subservient to/acting in support of a more professional army while out on campaign.
Artifex can use this power to create, arm, train, empower etc. Militia forces, their leaders or individual citizen soldiers.
Fetzen
Frettzo
teenangstlife
Lord Zee
Neziul
Ariamis
rush99999
Simply Not Real
Shadowheart
