As you prepare to break the wizard, an idle thought flits through your mind. What are some good targets for your cult? The two closest town to Canord are Avar, where you currently are, and Henord Crossing. There is something of a rivalry in between the two. The villages in between are largely owned by the Lord Southbend, who rules from Castle Southbend, a little further to the north, built where the two rivers almost merge before splitting again. It’s quite a bit larger than Avar or Canord, and is frequently visited by traders.
But enough of such idle thoughts. You have a wizard to convert. As she leaves with the dawn, you follow her, carefully skulking in the shadows and remaining hidden from her eyes and her more…esoteric senses. When she stops to at about midday, that is when you strike. Unfortunately, you missed a ward of some kind she set up, and lightning arcs into your flesh. If you were a mortal, that would have almost certainly killed you. But you are not, and so as she turns and starts to stammer out a spell, eyes wide with horror, you grab her head and force it into you. Whirls of darkness assault her soul, her essence, her thoughts and memories. Claws made of your hatred and lust for power rip at bulwarks of identity, and a long and exhausting struggle ensues. If you were simply trying to break her, this would be simple. But instead it is painful work, and she manages to mount several counterattacks before you gain enough of a foothold to rewrite memories. And then it is a simple task to make her recall being your loyal follower from birth.
You step back, panting with exertion. The wizard rises from the ground, her eyes slightly glazed. Her head lolls to one side. “Master…” she pants. You command her to go south, to teach your followers, and send word that she is coming. Then you begin to stagger back to Avar. Once you reach there, you slip into the attic, and begin to lend your aid to the Seducer. Given your state of exhaustion, you cannot do as much as you would have liked, but your Seducer does well enough anyway. More people start coming to hear her speak, and some begin offering donations to help fund her “church.” More people start coming upstairs and swearing to you as well, including a pair of guards from the wealthier side of town. The Seducer’s Sign begins popping up here and there, carved into the eaves of a roof or scratched onto a cobblestone.
The other Seducers, perhaps spurred on by the success of the High Seducer, work frantically to gain new recruits as well, and several more join, although no one of importance.
Most of your attention is in Avar however. You pick two of her followers who won’t be missed, and turn them into Seducers as well, before giving them instructions to find new territory to begin corrupting.
While this goes on, your Hunters arrive. For now, they begin picking off the occasional merchant, leaving the corpses scattered in grisly displays. The response is swift – nearly 50 guards begin hunting them, with crossbows, axes, and support from two priests. They are competent and efficient, and your Hunters begin to slow their attacks. But they think there is an opportunity to strike inside the town, with so many of its professional guards outside.
As evil energy continues to leak from your form, you direct it towards Canord, hoping to further corrupt the thorns. Desecrator proves an excellent tool for this, and the thorn barricade grow tall and thick enough to rival Canord’s walls, their barbed points dripping with venom. Some of the thorns have grown as well, turning into massive things nearly a foot long. There is neither crack nor seam in the horrible barrier, but when one who follows you approaches, the thorns pull away, although the long thorns tend to dangle just above their heads.
The Doom-Seers and Seekers continue to experiment with raising wisp wights, and they have some success. They managed to replicate the process, however, doing it deliberately is slow, costs resources, and requires use of both a zombie and a specter. The wizard arrives, and wants to know what she should teach them first. Her mind has mostly recovered, but she knows nothing of how to use Evil in magic.
Meanwhile, Kreth continues his rampages. However, by now he has exhausted every nearby village, and he does not wish to go too far. Only a few random farmers join your undead ranks.
The construction goes well, however, anything further will require experts or doing something new like building additional walls or creating traps. The forging ceases, and your smiths and artisans wonder if you have any projects for them. And in Avar, once more you hear word of an oncoming threat…an order of priest militants called the Spears of Cavana, a god of knighthood has heard word of the “desert raiders” who use terrible monsters in battle, and they have sent some of their knights to investigate. Numbers range from fifty to two thousand – you have heard no reliable reports of anything other than that they are coming.
Full status
Current Status
Name: Klx-Dryklfx
Time: 5.5 months
Physical Might: 60+6 (- 2 injuries, -3 thorns, + 12 worship
Mental Might: ] 52+6 (- 10 grappling with a soul, -2 thorns, + 12 worship)
Followers
13 Boneys, 92 thralls, 280 soldiers, 9 seducers, 65 peasants, 2 guards, 10 Hunters, 1 High Seducer, 14 Doom-Seekers, 2 Doom-Seers, 1 mage
Slaves
95 slaves
Servants
17 wisp wights, 2 brutes, 372 zombies, 79 skeletons, 50 wisp wretches, 9 weeping sores, 18 specters
Cults
The Broken
Members: 13 Boneys, 68 thralls, 280 soldiers, 14 Doom-Seekers, 2 Doom-Seers, 1 mage
Slaves: 97
Resources: 37(-30 construction,-15 raising a wisp wight, +5/week demonic crops, +5/week iron mines )
Power: 22 (5 spent worshipping you, 6 spent on training, 6 spent on construction, 5 spent gathering resources)
Unnamed cult
Members: 9 seducers and 24 thralls, and 36 peasants split among 7 locations, 1 high seducer, 29 peasants, and 2 soldiers
Resources: 0
Power: 10 (3 spent worshipping you, 4 spent recruiting)
Fortresses
Canord
Strong walls (45), Deep moat (25), Thorn Wall (20) Demonic crops, plentiful mines, Strong aura of domination
Champions
Kreth Woemaker
Physical might: 14
Mental might: 14
Other: Magic Cloak
Duthrax Soul-Render, First of the Thrall-Herds
Physical might: 5 + 1
Mental might: 3 + 1
Other: Duelist, skilled commander, Herald
The symbol competion is till open for you, Kreth Woemaker, and the Boneys.