Well, killing is our way of showing love, but we can chain her and force her to bare half human, angel and demonic seeds. For all of eternity. Or whatever those things that came out the lake are.
Heh heh heh heh heh.
You unfurl your wings and take off after her. Between the rain and the waves, visibility is poor, and she has become little more than a faint glow in the distance, but you fly as fast as you can, until you can barely make her out, flitting between the waves, occasionally diving beneath them and reemerging elsewhere. She notices you following her, and fires a few halfhearted beams back at you. So focused on catching up, you are barely able to dodge, and feel a deep, unnatural coldness spreading where on of the blasts brushed against you. For several minutes you continue chasing her; she is faster, more nimble, but you are fuelled by rage and insatiable curiosity at the nature of this mysterious entity. Soon the opposite shore of the lake comes into view, and she begins to slow down.
You are gaining rapidly on her when she splits in two, each half flying off in a different direction. You start chasing one at random, but it soon becomes apparent that you chose the wrong one to follow, as it gradually fades into nothingness. Cursing, you spin round and speed off after the other, hoping to still catch her.
No such luck. You don't even find a trace of her, even after spending an hour circling over the forest. Eventually, you are forced to return to Fellshore.
In Fellshore, cultists are cleaning up rubble left behind by the earlier kerfuffle. The lake beasts (which you decide to call Klrntvs) have been relatively well behaved in your absence, having returned from the woods and parked themselves on the beach, where they have not eaten a single cultist. You order them to help with the cleanup, and they eventually obey, using their giant tentacles to pick up fallen trees and rubble, sorting them into piles. The damage to the village is considerable; five houses have been destroyed, dozens of trees crushed or uprooted. It may be possible to blame this on the storm, but perhaps you would rather abandon Fellshore, and move your cultists elsewhere. After considering it for a moment, you decide to
-Leave Fellshore behind. It may be compromised, after all.
-Stay in Fellshore, at least for now. You have invested too much time here to just throw away.
Meanwhile, blissfully unaware of the events transpiring in your lakeside village, the members of the New Way in Nuulyd welcome the aid of a quartet of Ultraviolet imps (or is that Ultraviolent?) The -to human eyes- faintly translucent creatures are hard to see during the day, making them excellent spies. The New Way makes the most of these abilities to discover the weaknesses of potential recruits, so that they can tailor their efforts to their individual desires. The fourth imp spends its time following the mayor- noting her preference for aged Tokzoku wines, her distaste for loud music, and the mountains of work that she heaps upon herself. When the imp judges that she is at her most stressed, a cultist is summoned, to again offer her a chance to relax at a New Party- a quiet affair, with only a few attendees drinking fine wines, Tokzoku vintanges as it happens. She looks like she hasn't slept in five days, or eaten in two, and after taking one look at the still-considerable pile of paperwork, she throws up her hands and reluctantly agrees to attend the party.
The event is suitably downplayed, taking place in the walled garden of a small mansion, with the promised Tokzoku wines, and a band playing soft, relaxing music. A dozen years are lifted off of the mayor's face as she reclines in a pile of cushions and nibbles at a small cake- though in her relaxed state, she seems disinterested in discussing theology. At the evening's conclusion she professes to being pleasantly surprised, and promises to attend more events in the future.
Meanwhile meanwhile, the Duke's men set out to find a copper mine to purchase and/or renovate. They find a suitable location tucked away in the woods, a mine abandoned a few decades ago due to decreasing demand. The owner, a minor nobleman living in an old fort nearby, is eager to sell it to them. After a few hours of bartering they agree on a relatively low price, with the condition that the nobleman receives 1/10th of the profits. Mining engineers and teams of workers are hired to restore the mine to working order, and then dismissed. The workers are confused; they assumed they would be the ones working the mine. Not so, explains the Duke, this mine shall serve as a place for lowlifes to repay their debt to society. This upsets them, and they complain about having their jobs taken away by criminals. The Duke dismisses their complaints- further aggravating the province-wide feelings of discontent.
The first load of criminals is due to arrive shortly; the Duke sends word asking how the mine should be run. You reply that
-The Duke shall hire outside experts to run the mine, operating as a legitimate business (albeit one running off of convict labour)
-The New Way shall run the mine, even though none of them have any experience in doing so. You don't actually care about the copper.
-Black imps shall oversee the workings of the mine, and armed cultists will guard it to prevent word of the supernatural nature from escaping.
-The mine shall be run in some other way.
Meanwhile meanwhile meanwhile, the Duke tries to find some way of starting a war in a non-suspicious manner. Unfortunately none of his vassals are particularly rebellious, nor does he have anything resembling a casus belli on any of his neighbours. If you want him to start a war, he will need a reason. Which shall be
-None! He doesn't
need a reason. Just march some soldiers somewhere and start killing people.
-A manufactured border dispute with a neighbouring province/country. Claiming a few wealthy villages as part of Fözdoch, and demanding they be handed over, then declaring war when they are not.
-A manufactured border dispute with the Ura tribes; claim that they are migrating through Fözdoch and demand they pay taxes.
-Something completely different.
Terrible luck on that chase there. Well, you win some, you lose some.
Kind of boring, really.
Well, I'm sure she won't show up ever again, so let's all just forget she even existed.
Name: Nokluvgn
Age: 8 months
Physical might: 49 (+3 p/w: province-wide suffering)(-1: injuries sustained)(-2: creating ultraviolet imps)
Mental might: 45 (+3 p/w: province-wide suffering)(-1: injuries sustained)(-2: creating ultraviolet imps)
Followers:245 (156 cultists, 8 cultists (armed), 29 trained cultists (armed), 40 mercenaries (armed), 6 Wordbearers, 7 knights (heavily armed), 1 Duke)
Slaves: 12 (4 priests, 1 high priest, 7 guards (armed))
Servants: 59 (8 Brutewolves, 3 Smokewraiths, 15 spectres, 3 giant-rat-packs, 10 black imps, 4 ultraviolet imps, 8 skeletons, 4 Hollow Remnants, 3 fungal druids, 6 zombies, 3 lake-beasts?)
Cults:
The New Way: Low organization. 195 members (106 cultists, 8 cultists (armed), 29 Nails (armed), 40 mercenaries (armed), 6 Wordbearers, 5 knights (heavily armed), 1 Duke)
Slaves: 12 (4 priests, 1 high priest, 7 guards (armed))
Power level: 27 (18 used)
Of which: 4 spent improving the labyrinth in Fellshore, 3 spent recruiting in Nuulyd (sneaky-like), 3 spent recruiting & replacing in Brylib, 6 spent training cultists (24/32), 2 spent training cultists (magic, 8/10).
Secrecy estimate: Somewhat at risk in Oegorda (you think), but fine everywhere else.
Resources: 871 (+40 p/week: Duke's income)(-7p/w: building labyrinth)(-300: establishing new mine)(-5: Mischa's experiments)
Locations: Fellshore: Fortress (damaged)
Nuulyd: Merchant & town council & jail connections.
Castle Brylib: Court connections+.
Oegorda: Nokluvgn may have been detected here.
Fözdoch Province (misc): No special features.
Other: With the aid of the ultraviolet imps, seven new cultists were recruited in Nuulyd. Two were recruited in Brylib.
Champions:
Mischa Alwiz: The Duke's 'loyal' companion, now corrupted by the allure of evil.
Physical Might: 1
Mental Might: 7
Knowledge: Magic, adequate Necromancy.
Possessions: Grey imp (knowledge of human & demonic magic, disguised as a crow)
Other: Attempts to construct the vessel go poorly; none of the materials she chose were capable of containing a soul indefinitely. She purchases some new materials and tries again.
Malkus Rom: The captain of the mercenaries in the Duke's employ, he proved an especially eager convert, requiring only the most minor of rewards before pledging his loyalty to you.
Physical Might: 9 (+2: Devil-horse)
Mental Might: 2
Knowledge: Competent Tactics.
Possessions: Devil-horse (A huge black horse with demonic strength and intellect; +2 physical strength, greatly increased mobility)
Other: Continues to aid in the training of Nails.
"Kate": A female Wordbearer, trained in combat and provided with arms and armour, now the vessel for your demonic offspring.
Physical Might: 6
Mental Might: 4
Knowledge: Adequate Mesmerism, basic Magic.
Other: 1.5/9(?) months pregnant. Mischa reluctantly agrees that she is making progress, and agrees to show her more advanced magic.
Demon-Brutewolf offspring: 0.25/2.5(?) months to birth
Physical Might: ?
Mental Might: ?
Other: The mother becomes even more aggressive than before. Mischa gives up on asking her for captives after they all arrive torn to shreds.
Fortresses:
Fellshore: A small fishing village nestled between a small lake and a forest (with mountains not so far in the distance), now undermined with many tunnels and chambers forming a twisted maze, lit with smoky torches, where the shadows form strange shapes in the corner of your eyes.
Smallish labyrinth (10, increases secrecy)(being upgraded to Medium Labyrinth 56/200), Crude wall (construction halted. Defence value of 5. 32/100)
Hidden altar: A suitable place to sacrifice to you and praise your dark name. Recently upgraded to a nicer version. Mostly a cosmetic upgrade, though.
Author
Topic: Demonhood 2 -Number of giant minions lost: between 0 and 3- (Read 143839 times)