The castle stands and defies your will. They huddle behind their walls and pray for the Legion to come to their aid. They shall learn that walls and numbers provide no protection against your wrath. You and the five fastest Hunters stand before their walls, distant enough that they will have no way of sensing your presence. With a whisper of power, you begin to bring further changes upon each. Their flesh thins and darkens, growing into something seemingly insubstantial which cannot be seen in shadow. Their mouths seal shut, but in exchange, they gain the ability to mimic sounds and cast their voices as they will. You reach out to pluck out their eyes, touching each with a fragment of your magic, allowing them to see wards and enchantments. Then you replace the eyes you have taken, and so five Night-Stalkers stand before you, barely visible even to your eyes in the long shadows of evening.
They hear your command, and as one they turn and run, long strides covering the ground. They weave amongst themselves as they run, and you soon cannot tell which was the first to feel your blessing and which was the last.
You turn your attention back south. Your followers go from village to village, recruiting hunters and trappers and herdsmen who spend all their time upon the desolate plains. Most go reluctantly, some go eagerly, but in the end, 400 hundred men and women are inducted into the Barrow Bows. They give whatever knowledge they have to Kreth – what plants heal and what plants kill, where the dangerous animals make their nests and dens, where water can be found – and hunt for places to make ambushes and traps. Kreth suggests that he might be more able at turning the land into a lethal trap for your enemies if he had some followers of his own…perhaps the Barrow Bows?
Amongst the Broken, you pick out 20 who know flesh, who can carve it with their knives and blades. Each of them is granted the barest fragment of your power, enough to allow them to warp flesh and bone, albeit on a surface level. Unfortunately, you discover something Kreth learned long ago – it can be incredibly difficult to teach mortals how to use Evil because it is something you know so instinctively. Fortunately, however, Caliwick taught Lurrothel enough about mutation she was able to teach the Doom-Seers, who in turn teach the Shapers.
Lurrothel attempts to imbue stones with warding magic to bind spirits. You aren’t quite clear on what happened, but it seems that she created a solid, living ball of fire which hurts to look at. While it can’t move, it’s rather annoying, especially since Lurrothel is trapped inside, although she still lives.
Caliwick was the one who found her, as apparently, she did this right on top of the now buried ruins of one of his binding circles. He ignores that for now, hunting down his others – he created many hidden caches of varying types, not anticipating he would get trapped inside his castle. Many were destroyed by the victorious crusaders. Many more fell to rot and decay. Some survive though. Several valuable tomes on necromantic magic are uncovered, their pages covered in scrawled blasphemy and corrupted demon-tongue. Spires of stone to serve as focuses for terrible rites are pulled from the earth. And grasping hordes of undead are dragged from their graves. Wisp wretches and skeletons march forth to join your armies, and Caliwick promises more dreadful monstrosities will awaken in time.
Throughout your conquered lands, Dark Priests and Doom-Seekers roam, reanimating animal corpses to serve as beasts of burden and constructing simple shrines. Many wonder…can such a thing truly be evil? Interestingly, several with the potential to be Doom-Seekers and one who could become a Doom-Seer are found among these farms, and they are…encouraged…to join you at Avar. A few scattered undead are set to work in villages, given tasks like building roads. Word of a glorious feast is promised for the village which does best with your gifts.
In Avar you stand on the walls, looking down at the churned earth. Below you men toil to repair and reinforce the gate, as the living ward is wracked by agony from the constant vibrations this work causes. At Canord, you made the plants and fields into a weapon and a shield. Here, you shall make the earth itself your servant. Raising up Desecrator, you gather power in the pommel before shooting it out the blade. Streams of energy burst forth, and the ground churns. The mud thickens, spreading and expanding into something unnatural. It trembles now, quivering, and occasionally noxious bubbles in it burst with a disgusting “Pop!” You can sense something beginning to take shape in it, something similar to both the fence, the mud, and a zombie. It will need time and power and perhaps more before it can form though.
The Avar Society makes little progress. Few are interested in proclaiming their willingness to serve you, not while Castle Southbend stands defiant. The Ceaseless Consumption has a great deal more luck, and many join them, convinced by the spreading rumors that the defeat of the Legion is inevitable.
And in Castle Southbend, blades are beginning to be unsheathed. Worms of Avarice you created worm their way through middens, while Night-Stalkers hide in the quarters of a few terrified servants. Whenever they have an opportunity, they sneak out. When they return, their hands are red, and the servants avert their eyes, trembling in a fear of worse than death. Priests are slain in their chapels, and their skins stretched over the altars they prayed at. Fifty mercenaries and nearly as many members of the garrison died throughout these dreadful nights, and over a hundred were executed or murdered by fellow mercenaries. The Lord of Southbend turns inwards, spending much of the day in his study. Some of the smaller bands and servants begin to flee, desperate to hide from what they know comes.
Terror grows in Southbend, and in the towns and villages and castles north of it. Your army grows, despite unfortunate setbacks. Even as a legion moves to destroy you, you gain power and followers.
Name: Klx-Dryklfx
Time: 7.5 months
Physical Might: 90+6 (-4 mud corruption,- 10 Night Stalkers, -15 Shapers, - 8 Worms of Avarice, +21 worship)
Mental Might: ] 90+6 (-4 mud corruption,- 10 Night Stalkers, -15 Shapers, - 8 Worms of Avarice, +21 worship)
Cults
The Ceaseless Consumption
Members: 7 seducers and 72 peons split among 8 locations, 1 high seducer and 73 peons
Resources: 0
Power: 13 (4 spent worshipping you, 3 spent recruiting, 4 spent spreading rumors)
The Avar Society
Members: 1 seducer, 14 peons
Resources: 0 (+4 “donations”, -4 party)
Power: 2(2 spent throwing parties)
Unnamed Cult in Southbend
Members: 8(5 Night-Stalkers, 3 servants)
Resources: 0
Power: 5 (3 spent making discord)
Fortresses
Canord
Strong walls (45), Deep moat (25), Thorn Wall (25), Weak wards (15), Traps (15) Demonic crops, plentiful mines, Strong aura of domination.
Avar
Basic Walls(25), Living Ward(15), Demonic Mud Moat (10)
Demonic Realm
1900 Peons
36 resources (-5 shrines)
+17 power/week, + 15 resources/week
Demonic Armies
13 Reavers, 2 Doom-Seekers, 50 thralls, 100 zombies in Canord
The Broken – 836 chaff (52 thralls, 451 zombies, 227 skeletons, 17 wisp wights, 89 weeping sores), 276 light infantry (137 Spear-Thralls, 139 Sword-Thralls), 137 heavy infantry (28 Demon-Touched, 109 wisp-wretches), 130 ranged (130 Archer-Thralls), 22 mages (3 Doom-Seers, 19 Doom-Seekers), 5 heavy cavalry( 5 mounted god-slayers), 5 infiltrators (5 Hunters), 33 support (18 Dark Priests, 15 Shapers), 10 siege (8 armored brutes, 2 crushers), 17 incorporeal(17 specters) in Avar
Barrow Bows – 400 scouts (rangers) in between Avar and Southbend
Champions
Kreth Woemaker
Physical might: 10
Mental might: 10
Other: Magic Cloak
Duthrax Soul-Render, First of the Thrall-Herds
Physical might: 7 + 1
Mental might: 3 + 1
Other: Duelist, skilled commander, zombie horse, Herald
Lurrothel, Weaver of Nightmares
Physical might: 1
Mental might: 6
Other: Necromancer, skilled at wards and dream magic, currently trapped within a living, possibly holy fire
Caliwick the Arch-Necromancer
Physical might: 2
Mental might: 11
Other: Necromancer, Soulbond, Living Legend
Artifacts
Desecrator
+6 physical, +6 mental
Bringer of unholy rot, Reanimator, Focus of Power
Magic Cloak
Unknown properties
Herald
+1 physical, + 1 mental
Inspiring song
I decided to readjust the way I kept track of your followers since the cult system was meant more for small or hidden groups. I also dediced to group up your active army by unit type. Feel free to suggest alternate organization schemes.