Turn 2: Endless WarArk Hi has his forces wait until nightfall, then approach the compound. They will surround it, and then Ark Hi will attempt to channel away any anger or fighting spirit of the defenders through his affinity for Rage mana. Ark Hi has his herd gather behind him in the cover of night, and using a point of fortification magic bashes down the gate. Ark Hi and his herd will rush in and kill those who resist and subdue the rest. The defenders should be caught by surprise, and the speed of the attack will deny them a chance to prepare a proper defense. Ark Hi desires to preserve his small fighting force, and gain many slaves to prove himself to the older demons. He imagines the inhabitants of the fruit camp are not hardened warriors, and thus susceptible to this.
If a Nagoth objects to this plan or calls Ark Hi weak for it, Ark Hi will tear it’s head off.
(Gotcha, thanks! Question about regaining mana, do we need to perform a ritual or sacrifice, or for example being near a fearsome battle be enough to gain Rage mana? Also, could I absorb the energy put into a wall or building, destroying it and giving me fortifications mana? This would be after ritually preparing it so it’d be very difficult to do during a siege.)
Edit: Changed action.
[+0] Your attempt at bashing down the gate is woefully inadequate.
[+4][+4] Your attempt at storming the gate is considerably more so.
[+2] The Nagoth fight adequately.
[+4, 2xBoon] The fruitlings possess a hero, who performs amazingly.
[+2][+0, +Flaw][+2, +Boon][+0] One of the Fruitling Herds is indeed ready for battle, but as anticipated the other three are poorly armed and trained, and it shows.
The resulting battle is pitched. Your attempts at divine destruction fizzle out, and you are forced to handle the gate using only your prodigious strength, size, and knowledge of architecture. You slam into the gates, but the defenders valiantly hold the line. Now that you can see the fruitlings, they remind you of nothing so much as fat slugs, using long bladed branching tongues as arms. They are not built for war, but they are zealous in defense of their homes.
Even so, the battle would have been quickly resolved in your favor were it not for a surprise: The fruitlings do, in fact, possess a Hero leading them. While not exceptional in martial talent, he seems possessed, standing toe to toe with a demon of war and arguably winning. Were it just the two of you, he would nonetheless have been overwhelmed, but with the aid of his Herds you are fought to a standstill.
Your own Herd is the tipping point on your side, swarming in and out of your titanic battle with the enemy's champion and host. While they are not well suited to siege, they are adept at feasting upon the weak, and the peasant hordes of your foe are certainly that. On their side, the hero's epic duel with a demon lord is worthy of legend. As a result, you manage to capture a Herd's worth of fruitling prisoners, while the fruitling hero greatly reinforces the morale of what he has left.
-
As you retreat to lick your wounds and consider the next course of action, you notice that your new slaves seem to be doing poorly. The Nagoth explain that Fruitlings don't live long outside their husks; not that they'd avoid killing one for long enough to find out, but they follow the patterns of things that can't survive without constantly returning to a dwelling. Speaking of which, the compound has been weakened in manpower but strengthened in resolve, which you think evens out to a net increase in difficulty assaulting it.
Few would call the Worm loving or nurturing but it did have an instinct to seek out and support the most pathetic and weakest of creatures. It burrowed deep into the mire, leaving a trail of furrowed dirt covered in slime and devastated plant life from where it's acidic maw snatched a bite in passing. Eventually making it's way to the pathetically hungry whelps of some horror, infantile polyp of an origin unknown and uncared of to the Worm. The Worm idly scooped a mouthful of the Polyps, and the ground they were on, into it's maw, swallowing them as it considered the rest.
The infinite loops and spirals of the Worms body twisted an curled around themselves tightly, drawing into knots and pulling against each other, flesh squelched and tightened, before with a squishy tearing sound a long twisted loop of the Worms body was ripped free and tossed to the ground next to the group of Polyps. Drops of corrosive sludge dripping from either end of the excised section caused an immediate reaction, the plantlife that survived it's burning brush burst into wild and monstrous growth as the coil of Worm flesh was heavy with its blessing of growth. The Worm nudged the mass of flesh into the group of Polyps, then moved backwards, leaving them to their macabre feast on its own flesh.
The Worm uses a Growth Mana to Grant a Blessing of Growth to the group of horror Polyps, but not without cost. They will grow wildly and monstrously to be sure, but twisted from their origins into a manner more suited to serve as a Herd to their god of Hunger and Growth.
((Not sure how much we can do in a "turn" so I'm putting in a second bit... Not sure if it's too much, but if so feel free to ignore!))
As the Polyps started their feast of Growth, the Worm turned it's attention the Wretch Hero it had sensed. A creature of Hunger like the Worm, perhaps if it was sane (by the Worms standards) an accord could be sought, if not, it would make a fine meal.
The Worm approached the being rapidly, it's coils propelling it with a frighting speed, it came upon the wretch suddenly, rearing up to reveal itself in all it's pustulant glory. Crudely attempting to overawe the creature as the Worm made it's simple message. "Serve. And. Consume. Resist. And. Be. Consumed." before moving forward with it's coils and loops and as ever gaping maw. "Serve. And. Consume." The message insistently pressing on the Wretch both vocally and from some deep pit within it's stomach as the Worm appeals to the hunger lurking within the creature.
The Worm makes a simple offer to the Parasite Wretch Hero, serve the Worm and share in the upcoming feast of flesh that will consume this land, resist and become the first meal. If it resists the Worm will combat the hero, trying to immobilize it in it's infinite loops and coils, crushing it, and offering it one final chance to serve, which if it refuses again, the Worm will consume it. Either way, at the end of this the Worm will return to the Polyps to take command of the Herd.
((Also, does the Eternal Maw ability mean that I can metabolize Growth mana into Hunger mana on a 1 to 1 basis?))
[+0, 2xFlaw]
Much to your dismay, your Miracle succeeds only in rendering the polyps sticky and sessile, prone to gluing down to one spot from which they cannot leave.
[+3, +Boon]
Your negotiations with the Parasite Wretch Hero go much smoother, in that it shrieks at you in primal hunger and joins your cause. Hunger is not a verbose master.
The Troubleshooters gold mandibles contort into a smile. "The Great Nagoth speaks of a race of flesh obsessed giants who practice sorcery and may inhabit 'A place of light' not far from here. I think I would like these mortals as pets. If you would find them for me, and tear them down by taking the mighty among them as meals or slaves, I would come later and claim them. I will spend time and a unit of my mana improving your herd of Nagoth should you agree to do this, and a second unit of mana when you succeed. Does that sound like a good deal to you?"
The First Tyrant laughs. You are as yourself as ever. How could I decline? There must be conquest. With the state of these forces as they are, it may take a great deal of butchery to subdue such beings; this is a point you should consider if you wish to see them preserved. In any case, I must see to further training before these near-beasts could even contemplate a structured assault.
Ravana's warband will seek additional building material, particularly in the nearest sections of the Mire; he will take this as an opportunity to drill them further in discipline and organisation as well. In between expeditions we shall locate a suitable area on the mesa for a primary war camp, and begin clearing and preparing it, first building a central firepit and then some basic sleeping structures (such as tents, if the Nagoth have or can find any suitable hides), expanding to whatever level of development our resources will currently allow. The Nagoth, of course, do not need to understand the purpose of such things to follow instructions in building them.
He also takes a moment to reflect on the activities of his new lieutenant, Ark Hi. He hopes the young demon is motivated by more than a desire to prove itself; initiative is one thing, but overextension is quite another. Still, brash confidence is one of the less-appreciated benefits of inexperience. There is no need to interfere now, simply to watch in the interest of prudence.
The other two, though... those are a bit concerning.
[+3, +Boon]
The Nagoth are surprisingly adept at dredging suitable building materials out of the muck. Most of it seems to be chitin and mud, though truth be told you have some difficulty discerning plant from animal here. The Nagoth call this blend Mirestone, which you suppose will do.
They also fish out a pearl. It would be fist-sized to a normal mortal, smooth but irregular, and iridescent as one might expect. The Nagoth tell you a curious tale, claiming it is crystallized spirits. This is curious because the Nagoth are not a terribly spiritual people; when asked what, exactly, they think a spirit is, they explain it's a thing some things can eat. Casual analysis of the pearl does not reveal its true makeup, but it's rather fetching at any rate.
[+2, +Boon]
With the Nagoth harvesting, you set to work building. The mesas consist of six columns around a central one, so you claim a pillar for yourself, clear away most of the corpses and debris, and begin setting up shop. Mirestone works like a very, very chunky concrete, producing grotesque and alien forms but setting up into a solid series of sleeping and cooking areas, including an especially attractive ritual firepit. Not that the Nagoth have grasped cooking yet, but they are pleased to have a place to sleep and organize once more.
Mother will approach a Wretch camp and take control of its herds.
"Do not flee, little things! Mother only wishes to help you. Nagoth on the mesa raid you, burn your homes, murder your children, yes? They call you Wretch, but to me you look far more noble and deserving than those beasts! Mother will help you; make you strong to crush those Nagoth and prove yourselves!"
If successful, Mother will use two Motherhood mana to bless the wretches with greater fertility and make their children stronger.
Look around for any great Monsters in the mire that might be consumed for Monster mana. If something suitable is found metabolize the Monster mana, as more can be acquired soon.
[+0, +Flaw]
Alas, your proposal sounds too good to be true, and the Wretches immediately bolt for it. Dejected, you start looking around for monsters to eat.
[+3]
You find a shaggy thing, which you follow around until it leads you back to a nest of shaggy things. They look suspiciously silky, but give off an air of transformation and shame. You suspect this is the rough equivalent to a werewolf den.
Still, you suspect you can eat them, so you bubble and grow, feeling stronger if poorer.
Okay, some very important questions here:
What is the Nagoth's life cycle like? Can I assume that it's the same as humans or is it a strange crab thing? Or do they spring from the ground when exposed to wanton murder?
Is the Great Nagoth still fertile or is it too old and/or warped by dark magics?
My power says "May spawn Heroes as a mundane action, even without a partner." The word even there gives me, uh, ideas.
Additionally, can true demons be born when two demons love each other very much? Asking for a friend.
You would best describe the Nagoth life cycle as "antagonistic." Courtship appears to take place exclusively between Nagoth of differing strengths, with both participants fairly enraged and contemptuous of the other. Perhaps not surprisingly they are not big on parenting; they lay a large number of small eggs in relative safety, but then leave them to their own devices. The young hatch quickly, resemble very, very tiny adults, and voraciously eat anything and everything smaller than them, siblings included. They grow quickly and gradually integrate into society, such as it is, as they become large and strong enough to be taken seriously by established tribe members.
The Great Nagoth is almost entirely sterile from foul magics; it's not impossible for it to produce offspring, but only a being as devoted to such topics as yourself would be able to tell that. Successfully breeding The Great Nagoth (social quandries aside) would likely require an extreme amount of patience or a Miracle.
You reflect on the love lives of true demons, and recall that breeding is indeed a valid source for some of them. Usually these are the more organic ones, but more elemental beings sometimes produce offspring simply by their presence or proximity to each other, which some mortals consider quite romantic.
Hearing no reply from Ravana, the Troubleshooter shrugs. The Tyrant must be lost in its own thoughts, so Abandon decides to get back to it's own business as well.
Abandon attempts to rally, organize, and take stock of his predecessor tribe, The Blindeye. He will then give them a mortal leader who might lead them to be something other than killing machines by spending a point of Emotion Mana to grant the strongest among them the gift of Empathy.
I feel confident that they have all been sacrificed to summon you.
If this is true, then Abandon instead decides to hang out with Mother like he said he would, studying and interviewing the wretches before, during, and after the amorphous demon tampers with them.
You confirm that the Blindeye, along with all other tribes save what were once the Spineback, have been utterly exterminated. Indeed, this ritual end to a thing likely produced more Mana for your summoning than an equivalent sacrifice had they members still living. You do confirm that they likely have descendants around, however: Nagoth courtship, rough as it is, does seem to produce a fair bit of flow between groups.
[+3]
You go and talk to the Wretches, taking the form of a large but preoccupied Wretch to convince them you are worthy of respect but needn't be feared. They are indeed very Nagothlike, possessing a few noteworthy but minor distinctions in appearance, and generally being smaller and thinner than their presumably better fed cousins.
The Wretches passionately hate the Nagoth, because the Nagoth have a more advantageous position to raid and pillage from. Conflict between the two is savage and frequent, though these Wretches have taken the lull in Nagoth activity as an opportunity to raid their soft neighbors rather than press any advantage against the Nagoth. They thus consider Mother's offer an obvious trap, as nothing would possibly offer them something so sweet as a chance to butcher their hated foes.
As far as you can tell, the two groups are rather similar in general behavior and outlook. The one exception is that the Wretches lack the Nagoth's genocidal cycling, because they're too fragmented and mobile for such a thing to be viable or necessary. They maintain the deeper idea that only the strong should survive and the weak should be butchered, however, and individual tribes massacring each other is not unheard of.
This particular tribe is led by a Hero named Scarback. She apparently suffered but survived some horrifying injury, leaving a distinctive scar along her back plate. Perhaps predictably, she's surly and bitter about Mother driving her out of her camp, but seems surly and bitter in general. She rattles off a long list of entities she possesses a grudge against, including:
-Something called a Husk apparently owns an "oasis for weaklings to feed on each other" here in the Mire. Further prodding leads you to suspect this is some kind of trading post, though Scarback herself predictably struggles to explain exactly what they do there or why. Said Husk is apparently one of the "soft folk" who normally avoid the Mire like a plague, or more aptly like a brutal death at the hands of the roving Wretch tribes that dwell there, so this is unusual. This particular band of them drove her off and resisted her attempts to eat a delicious morsel that had fled to the oasis, which enraged and frustrated her.
-A great centipede-like beast is hunting her, and has already ambushed her warriors once. She expresses no knowledge of what has enraged or enticed the creature, but when prompted suggests it may think her warband weak, or resent her for stealing prey or eating kin.
-Something is recruiting Wretch tribes and delving into ruins for some nefarious purpose. Scarback is unable to describe this entity, but you get the feeling the barrier is language moreso than ignorance. Under further prodding she describes it as "like rotting flesh," "a sorceror-but-not," and "the rising tide." You get the distinct impression that she admires or respects the entity in some way, but it has scorned her by not seeking out her services, so she resents and wishes to ruin it.
In addition, she seems to despise every other Wretch tribe and soft folk settlement she's aware of.
Build
[+3]
The Great Nagoth erects some grim but functional mounds to inhabit.
Hunt
[+2]
The pale bladed spawn of Mother begins voraciously seeking out food, as the Nagoth are wont to do. The slithering things inside the mesas provide fresh, if boneless and slimy, meat.
Settlement Materials:
1 Nagoth Chitin
1 Eye of the Horror
2 Slug Meat
Central Spire:
[0/3] Nagoth Mounds [Basic Nagoth Chitin Hives]
Ravana's Mesa:
[1/2] Ravana's Camp [Basic Mirestone hovels, Ritual Firepit]
The Worm
6/6 HP
-
Sessile Polyps
-
2/3 Growth Gullet
2/3 Hunger Gullet
-
Endless Coil: +3 Growth Gullet. Your blessings related to growth continue to expand of their own accord.
Eternal Maw: +3 Hunger Gullet. You may consume any source of power to produce Hunger Mana.
Abandon
6/6 HP
-
3/3 Illusion Gullet
3/3 Emotion Gullet
-
Heartcaller: +3 Illusion Gullet. May take a form evoking any desired response in those you deal with, even if you have no way of knowing what that form would be.
Deepest Need: +3 Emotion Gullet. By interacting with others, may generate a task that will automatically deal or heal one Defeat to them.
Ark Hi
6/6 HP
-
1 Nagoth Raiders [Homeless]
-
Hammer of the Spat Curse: On being bested by someone, suffer a Defeat from frustration and bitterness.
1 Fruitling Drones [Captives]
-
2/3 Rage Gullet
2/3 Fortification Gullet
-
Blazing Heart: +3 Rage Gullet. Warriors under your command suffer no discontentment for the costs and consequences of battle.
Iron Tide: +3 Fortification Gullet. You count as two identical entities when involved in siege or fortifications.
Mother
7/7 HP
-
3/3 Motherhood Gullet
0/4 Monster Gullet
-
Allwomb: +3 Motherhood Gullet. May spawn Heroes as a mundane action, even without a partner.
Heartless: +4 Monster Gullet. Your blessings and curses warp their recipients both physically and mentally, rendering them alien and wrong to their people and their former selves. Creatures in great anguish feel temporary relief by following your commands.
Ravana
8/8 HP
-
1 Nagoth Raiders [Ravana's Camp]
-
Spirit Pearl
1 Mirestone
-
0/4 Terror Gullet
0/4 Strength Gullet
-
Tyrant's Claw: +4 Terror Gullet. You emanate an aura of unnatural fear to those around you and those under your rule. Those you focus your gaze upon directly are paralyzed with terror.
Fanged Crown: +4 Strength Gullet. You emanate an unnatural sense of authority and legitimacy regarding anything you have claimed by force. Others feel disgrace upon any who refuse a challenge from you.
Bladecrag
1/1 HP
-
Warzone: On suffering a Defeat in battle, deal a wounding Defeat to its inflictor.
Parasite Wretch Hero
3/3 HP
-
Ever Writhing: May feast to remove a Defeat.
Author
Topic: The Five Crowns of Nagoth [Turn 2: Endless War] (Read 4289 times)