Combat for this turn!
Pyrite:
You flee from the river, clawing at your head and torso, trying to remove whatever unseen object has latched onto you! You travel about fifty meters, before your strange assailant finds some way to anchor itself to something, causing you to trip and fall. As you struggle to get up, you feel some great force enter your body through your ears and mouth, and then experience a brief agonizing headache before passing out...
...
You come to several days later in the same spot, seemingly unharmed. As you dust yourself off and head back home, however, you hear a strange background noise inside your own head. As you focus on this static, your powers of translation kick in, revealing it to be some sort of conversation.
"No... Master... I'm telling you! This one is good! Not only are his goals and beliefs the sort that match up well with ours, but he is worshiped as a god by the brown haired ones as well... I've applied the usual changes, but this isn't some dumb verile goon. We shouldn't treat him as such."
"How is he to be used, then? If not in the usual way? You walk on several thin universes here. I have little patience for your failures..."
"At best, he can be an ally. At worst, we can likely drag him back to me, and I can scrap his free will completely, and use him as a puppet who just happens to be divine. I've left a one way com channel in his mind, so he can listen in to my discussions when I want him to. I will have him used in the usual way for starters, give him time to get used to us, and then see where we stand..."
"That is acceptable. Do not fail me again Aibiiiishopothq. You are near the point where you are worth more to me as a meal than a minion. If you screw this one up, The Pits Of Docoq'lim will be well fed. Now if you excuse me, I must get back to my business. Don't bug me about your petty captures again."
The static shifts and fades, until only the first voice can be heard in your head. "Well... Perhaps I shouldn't have turned the one way com link on too soon. You are up right? I'm not quite familiar enough with Brown Haired One brains to know for sure... I am Aibiiiishopothq, Sorry about the rough handling; I lack the means to communicate with beings that exist entirely on your plane, unless I get in their head, and at that point, I might as well just make the changes I want to make anyway. Nothing major; Just left us a backdoor to control your mind brought about by emotional lows, and modified your seed and procreative drive so that you will spread our ichor with your blood. But don't worry about it, just go about your business as normal, an let us transcend mortals beyond their universe and mortality..."
You have suffered an Utter Failure in Combat!
+New Malus: Horizion Seeder
+New Malus: Horizion Actions
The Ambush at Beach Pass!
Tulwor gives the command to push through the new Orcish force in an attempt to pin them against the wall! The Bellians quickly respond, but in a panicked and somewhat disorderly fashion; Most of the new siege engines are left behind!
Despite this poor start, it seems as if the Bellians may have their way regardless. A flock of Ketari's barkers swoop in to attack the Orcish Siege Force, providing enough of a distraction to prevent them from imeadiately attacking the Bellian rear. Wild Red's pirates also choose not to commit too deeply to a direct attack against the Bellian's either; Once they get out of range of his cannons, the Pirate Lord orders most of his men back to the ships, so that they may be maneuvered back into range.
With the other enemy forces out of the way, the 1st Kiatown Army begins to make progress against the smaller Orcish Host between them and their city. The battle is bloody, but with superior numbers and assistance from their god, the Bellians begin to push the force that had intended to flank them into a position where they themselves are pinned between the Army and the City Walls; Sadly, the Kiatown Garrison, perhaps paralyzed by the recent death of their military command, and perhaps under orders not to leave their post, provide little help save for some largely inaccurate fire from their longbows and balistas.
In spite of their best efforts, however, the 1st Kiatown Army fails to decisively defeat their targeted foe before the other hostile hosts deal with their distractions and begin to move in. The Barkers, although fierce and in possession of the advantage of flight, are more hunters than disciplined fighters. As they kill Orcs, they begin to drag them away from the battlefield to feed, and eventually none of the remain in the fight. Free from further airborne oppression, the larger Orcish Force launches a brutal attack on the Bellian rear, reducing the heads of Bellian soldiers to bloody pulps with their massive war-hammers.
Wild Red, meanwhile, manages to get his fleet back into firing position, and begins to rain cannonballs and grapeshot onto the 1st Kiatown Army. The pirate lord himself leads a large number of his men onto the beach once more, and seems intent on personally challenging Tulwor before a small band of Bellian Soldiers, intent on having the honor of killing the Pirate Lord themselves, cut him off. For his own part, Tulwor reluctantly decides that his might is better used attacking the Orcs than attempting to duel an already occupied enemy leader.
The Pirate's fleet, however, seems somewhat less straightforward and honorable than its lord. Several minutes after they start firing, somebody gives to order to focus their shots on Tulwor. The Giant God, knowing full well that a cannonball would be more than enough to harm him, manages to bat a few back at the fleet with Helmhammer, and to doge a few more, before the focus fire becomes overwhelming and he is driven from the battlefield.
Seeing the situation is dire, Ketari decides to swoop in and get involved with the fight herself! As she approaches the battle, however she spots her brother fleeing cannon fire, and to her dismay, notices a cannonball heading straight at him from a blind angle! Heroicly, the bird eater dives, assumes her woman form, and takes the blast for Tulwor. Her left arm is promptly blown off, and the blow stuns her so badly that several more cannonballs are able to find her and inflict serious damage before her brother can return the favor, and haul her to saftey.
With their gods out of the picture, and the Garrison not providing any real help, the first Kiatown Army is faced with an unwinable situation. They fight valiantly, but the combined Orcish and Pirate forces kill or capture them down to the last man within sight of their own city walls!
The Enemy has Prevailed!
The first Kiatown Army has suffered an Utter Defeat, and has been destroyed!
The Orcish Siege Force has captured the Bellian Seige Engines, and has moved up to the walls of Kiatown!
The New Force has moved into the jungle, and has begun capturing the Bellian Farms and settlements outside of the city walls!
Wild Red has returned his fleet to Selma's Gate to mop up what is left of Meltip's Fleet, Sell Captured Bellians into slavery, and likely regroup and prepare for an attack on Kiatown!
Kiatown is now facing naval blockcade, AND bombardment and seige from the Orcs. Moral is low, and people will begin starving soon unless somebody finds a way to supply them with food.
New Malus for the 1st Barker Pack: Fondness of Orcish Blood!
New Malus for Tulwor: Shameful Defeat!
Ketari's humanoid form has been greviously wounded! She is stuck in the hated form for the next month while she her woman-body recovers, and is as such unable to properly sit the throne or perform any action that requires fine manipulation of objects next turn!