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[NUKE9.13]

Alright, so. What're we going with? Omada's original suggestion minus staff corruption, plus wolf cult and raising minions?
Also, how many of the maybes in Omada's suggestion do you plan on doing this turn? Do you want to head over to the Ura tribal region right now, or is that a longer term plan? If not, then where do you want to go, unless you plan on spending a week in the ruins of Hoimura?

[omada]

The first maybe can be substituted easy by the Wolfmaster, in the long run the zombie horde will become a wolf horde if they don't find and recruit a necromancer on the way.

The ura tribes part is a mid-term plan, we first need to get better info on the empire so we can fight and conquer it on different battlefields.

So, people?

One or two villages to the south to grab more power and wolves and then east?

I like the wolf cult idea. Going forward, we could make our own little grand demonic pantheon. Maybe have our followers go and do their own thing depending on their competencies, run their own cults and operations and thus have domains assigned to them. The new gods of the new way, all  ultimately serving the master plan their master demon. I mean, who's to say the gods of this world weren't like that themselves, just beings that gained so many followers and power they became godlike?

I like this, but I'm not sure about its practicality. To do this, we would need quite a few more children, which kinda puts a drain on our powers of I'm not mistaken. I'd say this is more of a long-term goal.

Even if it don't work like that and we and our childrem don't become gods, i liked the idea.

[Strongpoint]

Alright, so. What're we going with? Omada's original suggestion minus staff corruption, plus wolf cult and raising minions?
Also, how many of the maybes in Omada's suggestion do you plan on doing this turn? Do you want to head over to the Ura tribal region right now, or is that a longer term plan? If not, then where do you want to go, unless you plan on spending a week in the ruins of Hoimura?

I assumed that all maybe are long term stuff and don't support it.

I prefer to move south, south, south but don't mind south and then east

[NUKE9.13]

Previous Update (Burnt Silver) | This Update (The Wolfmaster's first howl) | Next Update (Welcome to Seiyojin)

Grab three little chunks of evil, offer it in liquid form for the children to suck to call their attention, then put one of the medallions on the neck of one.
Put the staff where they tried to burn us and suck all the evil needed in the staff. If the village's evil is not enough, torture one by one till get enough corruption
after that we should do something with the others that didn't succumb to madness or pledge their devotion... Torture and give the killing blow to the Malkus.
Grab whatever the shit our troop can to arm our new cultists, grab swords melt cooking pans, nothing that would slow down us.

I don't mind it but I -1 and attempts to corrupt the staff more. It is not urgent and more forces are plain better.

Torture captives (let Malkus keep few if he wishes, his attempts to convert his playthings to our cause are amusing) and burn corpses
Use existing and generated evil to
- Raise more skeletons\spectres from a local cemetery
- Convert some skeletons into hollow remains.
- Summon some deep blue imps (Colour of the night, flying, experts at using ranged weapons) and arm them with bows\slings if any left from the villagers
- Use converted villagers to form "The cult of the wolf" They should worship wolves(public part) trio of wolves and their father (secret part). Their current order is to follow the army and worship Nokluvgn and his wolf daughters. Later we may send them elsewhere
- Pick the most evil of converted villagers and buff him to a
WOLFMASTER (if he\she dies in the process, repeat until success) Wolfmasters are similar to Wordbearers but their power focused on controlling canines allowing them to amass armies of dogs and wolves if needed. He\she may start using his power to control local dogs to serve as mates for brutewolves and additional troops
- If we still have resident evil after all, we may corrupt the staff more but it is not the priority

- Name the sword - Blade of Eternal Ash
- Name daughters - Mkilzk meaning Three in demonic

Raid a tax collector or someone for more information about the Tokzoku Empire

One or two villages to the south to grab more power and wolves and then east?

Or something like that.

You have your new followers participate in the torture of their former friends. Some of the terrified villagers beg for mercy, and you can see several of your converts wavering, but your presence keeps them on the dark path. Other villagers spit in their captor's faces; this results in a boot to the head, and a boost in your cultists' loyalty. In the end it matters not whether they are defiant or grovelling, the knives come for them all. Your cold-hearted followers flay their skin; their blood is collected for your child(ren) Mkilzk to drink, the human hide set aside for later use. The inexperienced cultists are clumsy in their flaying, and many of the victims die from their injuries. Oh well. At least their corpses make a nice snack; much like grapes, humans taste better peeled.
Agonised screams sound throughout the ruins of the village as the surviving victims are set upon by all manner of improvised torture device. Evil saturates the air of the village, just waiting to be put to use. And to use it shall be put.

You channel Evil into Hoimura's cemetery, enlisting the long dead into the skeleton war. The ground shakes and splits as they arise from their graves, marching forth to do your dark bidding. The ten most promising specimens you direct into pyres, charring their bones, shrouding them in smoke, and instilling them with additional strength, making them into hollow remnants.
It is with a mixture of satisfaction and dread that you see a host of spectres arise from their tombs to serve you. Hopefully these will not be as inclined to poetry.

You use some of the Evil to summon several Midnight* Imps. The creatures pop into existence and immediately seek cover beneath the eaves of surrounding houses. The sunlight does not do them any harm per se, but they much prefer darker conditions. They are skilled at hiding in shadows and attacking from a distance using their intrinsic magic. Unusually for an imp, Midnight Imps may on occasion use mortal weaponry, though they lack the strength to use larger bows, preferring slings or small hunting bows.

You gather the remaining Evil and summon your converts. You select the strongest looking one and bid him step forward. He does so somewhat nervously, kneeling before you. With two brutewolves by your side, you place an emaciated hand on his head and pour both a measure of Evil and some of the brutewolves' nature into him. He starts to spasm as the evil flows through him, and starts to snarl at nothing. Then he dies. You sigh, and summon the second strongest contender. He comes before you even more nervously than his predecessor, somewhat understandably.
You repeat the ritual, and immediately things start to go better. His body absorbs the Evil far more readily, and though you see a primal rage building in his eyes, he manages to restrain himself. As you continue to infuse him with Evil, his hair starts growing, he grows taller and muscular, and his teeth become sharper. When you have finished, he truly looks the part of a Wolfmaster. He lets out a triumphant howl, then commands the brutewolves to sit. Had he not been recently empowered, that would've resulted in him losing a limb or two. As it is, they obey without question.
You tell the remaining fourteen that they are now members of the Cult of the Wolf, that they shall worship wolves, Mkilzk, and you, and that the new Wolfmaster shall be their leader. Suitably impressed by their leader's transformation, the cultists readily agree. They fashion cloaks of human skin, and celebrate their new status by sacrificing the torture victims who had not yet succumbed to their injuries. You take some of the power for yourself, and return the rest to them- though not in the same form as you grant the New Way; where they experience hedonistic delight, the Cult of the Wolf feels the irresistible call of the wild within themselves, instilling them with primal strength and resistance to pain. 

As the new cult prostrates itself before her, you bend down before Mkilzk and offer her a droplet of pure Evil. One of her bodies tastes it gingerly, and decides that it is acceptable. You try putting a medallion on them, but they are still too small. You conclude that at the moment, her mortal form needs time to grow before she can start to truly expand her powers. Not that that should take very long at all; her growth rate is extremely high.


You torch Hoimura on your way out and head south. Your undead horde easily overruns the next village you come to, further bolstering their numbers. Another, somewhat larger village requires the intervention of Malkus and your wights, but their resistance is short lived, and your horde swells even further. With a now rather respectable horde of roughly 400 undead, you turn to the east.
Cold winds assault you as you climb higher into the mountains, causing Malkus and the cultists to complain. You ignore them, and continue on.
You pass through a few small hamlets, which you raze 'n' raise, following directions extracted from tortured peasants to what they consider to be the most important place in the region. This takes you even higher into the mountains, where the air begins to grow thin, before you finally reach the settlement.

Perched precariously on the slope of a towering, white-peaked mountain sits a collection of well-built structures. Several pagoda-esque wooden towers rise from the corners of the central compound, which itself is several stories tall. Smaller buildings are attached to it by covered walkways. The whole thing has gabled roofs made of quality tiles, with slightly sloped whitewashed walls of either stone or brick.
Whilst it does not resemble the fortifications you saw in Fozdoch, this settlement looks easy to defend, and those large buildings probably contain plenty of supplies intended to see the occupants through the winter. Perhaps it would be wiser to move on, and seek softer targets? You confer with Malkus to get his tactical opinion, and come to the decision that
-It's not worth the hassle; there will be juicier targets further east, which may be as good a source of information as this.
-You are not one to back down from a fight. Your undead horde will make short work of any defenders within.
-Making a decision with so little information is foolish; you shall send in spectres to spy on the settlement, and perhaps infiltrate it yourself.


Name: Nokluvgn
Age: 9.75 months
Physical might: 64 (+2 p/w: province-wide suffering)(+2: Sacrifices)(-2: Leakage)
Mental might: 71 (+2 p/w: province-wide suffering)(+3: Worship)(-3: Leakage)
Followers:312 (191 cultists, 7 magically trained cultists, 50 Nails (armed), 1 Finger (heavily armed), 40 mercenaries (armed), 3 Lesser Wordbearers, 4 Wordbearers, 2 trained Wordbearers (armed), 1 Wolfmaster, 7 knights (heavily armed), 7 mining engineers, 1 Mayor (lesser Wordbearer), 1 Duke)
Slaves: 18 (4 priests, 1 high priest, 7 guards (armed), 6 captives)
Servants: lots (12 Brutewolves, 3 Smokewraiths, 30 spectres, 5 giant-rat-packs, 10 black imps, 4 ultraviolet imps, 5 midnight imps, 95 skeletons, 14 Hollow Remnants, 3 fungal druids, 290 zombies, 3 Klrntvs, 8 Wights)

Cults:
  The New Way: Medium organization. 243 members (117 cultists, 13 Acolytes, 50 Nails (armed), 1 Finger (heavily armed), 40 mercenaries (armed), 3 Lesser Wordbearers, 2 Wordbearers, 2 magically trained Wordbearers, 2 trained Wordbearers (armed), 5 knights (heavily armed), 7 mining engineers, 1 Mayor (lesser Wordbearer), 1 Duke)
   Slaves: 18 (4 priests, 1 high priest, 7 guards (armed), 6 captives)
   Power level: 24 (15 used)
     Of which: 4 spent recruiting, 6 spent constructing underground temple in Nuulyd (11/100), 2 spent arming Nails, 3 spent training new acolytes (12/12)
     Secrecy estimate: (somewhat risky)
   Resources: 1106 (+30 p/week: Duke's income)(+5: Copper mines)(-4: arming cultists)(-22: constructing underground temple in Nuulyd)(-5: Mischa)
   Locations: Nuulyd: Merchant & town council & jail connections. Mayor converted.
     Castle Brylib: Court connections+.
     Oegorda: Nokluvgn may have been detected here. No wizards to be found.
     Fözdoch Province (misc): No special features.
   Other: With the mine fully staffed, work can begin on the new underground temple in Nuulyd. Digging begins beneath the temple, the jail, and the large mansion used as the New Way's headquarters. 5 Black Imps aid in the construction; the other five are working in the mines. Mischa's acolytes finish their training in basic magic, and all the Nails have been provided with weaponry. In other news, a tax collector and his bodyguard disappeared this week. No one knows what happened to them.

  The Arms of He Who Beckons: Medium Organisation. 54 members (54 cultists)
   Power level: 7 (4 used)
     Of which: 3 spent on extra training to stand out, 1 spent recruiting.
   Resources: 0
   Locations: Army camp near the capital. Divided amongst several units of trainees.
   Other: Some more effort pays off, and their superiors recognise their enthusiasm and commitment. More recruits are tempted into joining

  The Cult of the Wolf: Low organisation. 15 members (14 cultists, 1 Wolfmaster)
    Power level: 4 (4 used)
      Of which: 3 spent worshipping Nokluvgn, 1 spent worshipping Mkilzk.
    Resources: 0
    Locations: Following Nokluvgn
    Other:

Champions:
  Mischa Alwiz: The Duke's 'loyal' companion, now corrupted by the allure of evil.
    Physical Might: 2 (+1: the Vessel)
    Mental Might: 12 (+5: the Vessel)
    Knowledge: Magic, adequate Necromancy.
    Possessions: Grey imp (knowledge of human & demonic magic, disguised as a crow), the Vessel (An urn containing 100 souls and a chunk of Nokluvgn's essence; +1 physical and +5 mental, enhances spell-casting stamina. Large and unwieldy, requires knowledge of Necromancy to use)
    Other: Starts devoting cult resources to finding traces of Necromancers in the province, past or present.

  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: 11 (+2: Devil-horse, +2: Blade of Eternal Ash)
    Mental Might: 4 (+1: Burnt Silver Medallion)
    Knowledge: Competent Tactics.
    Possessions: Devil-horse (A huge black horse with demonic strength and intellect; +2 physical strength, greatly increased mobility), Blade of Eternal Ash (+2 Physical, captures souls of its victims (increases Mental)), Burnt Silver Medallion (+1 Mental, attracts Evil and repels Good)
    Other: Cold.

  "Kate": A female Wordbearer, trained in combat and magic and provided with arms and armour, now the vessel for your demonic offspring.
     Physical Might: 6
     Mental Might: 5
     Knowledge: Adequate Mesmerism, basic Magic.
     Other: 3.25/8(?) months pregnant.

  Mkilzk: The child of Nokluvgn and a female brutewolf. Triplets. They have wings, bladed tails, and horns. Her fur ripples like smoke, yet is solid. They only has one soul.
     Physical Might: 0.5 (child)
     Mental Might: 1 (child)(+1: Worship)
     Other: 0.25 months old. Growing extremely quickly. The worship by the Cult of the Wolf empowers her mentally, though her mind is still underdeveloped.

Fortresses:
  Fellshore: Was a small fishing village nestled between a small lake and a forest (with mountains not so far in the distance), it has now been razed. It is 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 76/200)
    Hidden altar: A suitable place to sacrifice to you and praise your dark name.

  Copper Mine: A recently reopened mine. Converted engineers and Black Imps oversee the work of the prison labour.
    Copper Veins: Generates income (5 resources p/w) if fully staffed (requires 100 workers and 10 overseers)(currently at 100 workers and 12 overseers, generating 5 r p/w)

[NRDL]

Send our smoke wraiths in, do reconnaissance of the area, see where their defences are strongest, and what assets this town has to bear.

[Parisbre56]

Send spectres to investigate the beneath the mountain for hidden entrances we could use to sneak past their defences. Even if none are found, maybe we could find a weakness in the mountain and collapse part it (and thus part of their defences) with some small expenditure of our demonic power.

[Strongpoint]

Capturing this one and converting it to be our undead fortress is actually an interesting way to finish the campaign... but it doesn't look easy to capture with available forces especially if they have at least few competent priests\wizards

I prefer to bypass it. Even scouting is somewhat risky.

[omada]

before +3 province wide suffering
now +2

before 40 duke income
now: 30

A tax collector vanished. Maybe it was a coincidence, but maybe someone is plotting against the duke. If the cult don't realize it or don't prepare itself it deserves a punishment.

Capturing this one and converting it to be our undead fortress is actually an interesting way to finish the campaign... but it doesn't look  easy to capture with available forces especially if they have at least few competent priests\wizards

I prefer to bypass it. Even scouting is somewhat risky.

Or maybe if we get deeper in enemies territory we can only find harder and harder places to invade, till we find ourself trapped.

Send spectres to investigate the beneath the mountain for hidden entrances we could use to sneak past their defences. Even if none are found, maybe we could find a weakness in the mountain and collapse part it (and thus part of their defences) with some small expenditure of our demonic power.

+1
Maybe there is some abandoned mine or something that we could just summon a bunch of black imps and attack it from inside.

Or maybe we should also sense evil inside and observe the common-folk dreams from the distance and see if there is someone easy to recruit from the inside. This way we can also discover about their numbers and if they have priests and stuff.


Bonus: Look how sweet. in the long term plan the prejudice will make easier to blame the ura tribes, cult of the wolf? That MUST be something from those savages.

[Xantalos]

before +3 province wide suffering
now +2

before 40 duke income
now: 30

A tax collector vanished. Maybe it was a coincidence, but maybe someone is plotting against the duke. If the cult don't realize it or don't prepare itself it deserves a punishment.

Angel-backed rebellion detected.

[Puppyguard]

-snipped to save space.-

+1
I like this plan.

Send the smoke wraiths in first.
Then we go in ourselves and break someone's mind, but subconsciously so they act normally.
Then, with one on the inside we have them open the gates when (if we do anyway) we attack.

[Ardent Debater]

We are formidable indeed, but I don't believe we capable of sieging this fortification without suffering tremendous losses, as they likely have magical support. Here's my plan to slowly conquer the fortification, it should take only a week.

We search the dreams of the fortification and detect any magic users or priests in the fortification. We'll forcibly possess any priests in the fortification, and have them preach corrupt doctrine to the people in the fortification, spending 5 Mental Power to allow them to openly preach convincing heresy. As for any magic users, we'll expend 5 Mental Power to convert them to our service in the New Way, promising them unlimited power, these recruitment attempts will be tailored to the magic user's personality to maximize the odds of them converting. We could use more magic users in the cult, and perhaps Mischa would appreciate the company.

If any magic users refuse to follow us, we mentally dominate and possess them. We will attempt to tempt the 20 most evil and charismatic people in the fortification to our cause in the New Way, and enthrall any who refuse us. The new converts and thralls will go about their lives as normally as possible and attempt to subtly learn as much about the fortification and the empire as a whole as they can.

In the span of one week, the converts and thralls will sabatoge the fortifications and attempt to convert their close friends to the New Way. We will haunt the rest of the fortification's guards with constant nightmares and temptations, easing the recruitment process.

When the week has passed, we will wait until nighttime, and alter the night watch to ensure that only our supporters are on watch. We will give everyone sleeping extremely lucid and enjoyable dreams to keep them asleep, and personally lead our undead horde into the fortification. We will then sneakily kill every Good and devout man and woman in the fortress, consuming their souls. When that's done, the undead will swarm the buildings and drag everyone out into the center of the fortification kicking and screaming, and restrain them.

There, we will consume the soul of the most defiant seeming guard, doing our best to ensure he/she is conscious and the process is messy and agonizing. Then, we will raise each of the corpses in the fortification in front of everyone, our supporters will openly declare their support to us and we will demand that those present swear eternal devotion to us, the first few to deny us will suffer as much pain as we can inflict on them, and the first few to swear devotion will receive hedonistic pleasure. A handful of our supporters will be among the captured guards, feining terror, and they will openly "convert", and the peer pressure should sway any of the weaker willed to convert. After five minutes, those who didn't convert are painfully and brutally sacrificed to us, mind, body, and soul.

The nonmagical converts of the fortification will flee to the nearest settlement and claim that the republic has invaded, looted and sacked the fortification and several other villages and that the empire needs to mobilize for war immediately. If we can start a pointless war, our power will grow tremendously.

When we've finished conquering the fortification, we will be very drained, so we will take our horde and attack a few northern villages, amd instead of razinf and raising them, we will torture the peasants and sacrifice them to us, allowing any who would rather convert than have their soul devoured to join the Cult of the Wolf. If we have any surplus evil from the torture and sacrifices, we'll pour it into corrupting the staff.

After a week of razing and sacrificing villages, we will send the now much larger Cult of the Wolf, the brute wolves, and Mklzik to find northern villages and subtly recruit New cultists, and brutally attack travellers, keeping their existence a secret for now.

Regardless of whether my plan gets passed, I also have the following suggestions, to increase Malkus Rom's effectiveness as our Champion and reward him for his month or so of service.

We should corrupt Malkus Rom's armor to increase its durability and resistance to divine magic, as sooner or later, Malkus Rom is going to go up against a Champion of Good, and he'll need "good" armor to succeed. The armor will also have a hidden enchantment allowing it to consume the soul of its wearer if its wearer attempts to betray Nokluvgn.

We should enchant the Blade of Eternal Ash to burn its victims, and allow its user to summon an aura of demonic black fire around the blade at will. With a name like the Blade of Eternal Ash it would be a travesty if we didn't.

We should upgrade Malkus Rom's demonic steed to become stronger and gain the ability to manipulate fire to a limited degree.

Allow Malkus Rom to use the Blade of Eternal Ash to slay a 10th of our captives, to start building up Mental Power. Later on, this will be essential for him learning Necromancy, and he will be learning Necromancy, as any self-respecting demonic knight needs to be able to raise legions of undead in a pinch.

When all of this is done, Malkus Rom should have at least a 15 in Physical Power and be able to singlehandedly raze villages, which will be invaluable to us in the future.

[VoidSlayer]

We don't need to convert the city.  All we need to do is mentally dominate a few guardsmen individually, get like 20-30 under total control and open the gate/silently kill the spotters.

Then our undead and minions can just start murdering the population, raising them as we go, using our mind controlled guys to sow more confusion.

Lets scout first with specters and ourselves in disguise and see if there are any places that some quiet mind control could allow easy access.

[VoidSlayer]

Also if this becomes our necromancer/wolf base leaving Malkus in charge would be a good idea.

But I see no need to grant him additional powers beyond what would be needed to control this base.

We are here to gain strength ourselves not dote on some (deserving of our gifts not withstanding) bloodthirsty mercenary.

[Detoxicated]

long snip

+1 not only will we gain a new fortification, we will possibly cast a war between nations which causes more suffering and agony.

[10ebbor10]

Snip

Your plan seems rather expensive. You're throwing around massive amounts of mental and physical power.

In addition, conversion really isn't as fast as you make it seem. You want to convert sufficient people in a week to dramatically damage the fortifications, allowing us to take it over. But, even in a mine controlled by US conversion of less than 10 people took multiple weeks. Add to that that this is clearly some kind of Temple, which is likely to have evil protection on it, and it's not going to go well.


Here's my alternative.

Send our smoke wraiths in, do reconnaissance of the area, see where their defences are strongest, and what assets this town has to bear.

First, reconnaissance. Having extra information is good.

Secondly, our army is not made to take fortifications. It's made to hunt and raid out in the open. Therefore, we need to get our enemies out of their fortifications or our forces inside.

We know our enemy has ample food to survive the winter, so starving them out is probably not going to work. Water supply may be easier to sabotage. If it comes from a mountain stream, then we can try to block or reroute it. Once the people inside go mad from thirst, we can take over the fortificiations.

The alternative is to attack the enemy from an unexpected direction. Perhaps summon some black imps to dig us a tunnel into their fortress, or try to attack from above?