The castle is well and truly yours. Even its Lord serves you, albeit reluctantly and rebelliously. Now you shall begin to…improve it, and make it something dark and terrifying, for it shall be the domain of your firstborn. First, you instruct your followers to begin constructing horrible stone grotesques. Blocks of stone are dragged up from a few small quarries near Henord Crossing. They form several dozen gargoyles of varying sizes, ranging from taller than a man to about the size of a dog. Most of them feature some variation of four arms, although how they connect changes from one to another.
Each one has several twisted sigils and a name carved into their surface, and you briefly lay a hand on each one, channeling enough power to call back a soul and shape it into an instrument in your service, binding it to both your will and the castle. It is a draining and time-intensive process, and you don’t have time to completely animate all of them, but you leave a small but potent force of creatures of living stone.
You also create an aura of reanimation in the castle, stretching across the walls and several hundred feet out. Anything which dies within that area will come back as a zombie. The process is difficult, and you must take several thralls, nailing them to the inside of the highest tower in the castle, one for each cardinal direction.
Lurrothel travels north to the castle, sleeping in the former Lord’s chambers, and two Reavers come to join her. She constructs wards, keeping a few of the slaves with her at all times to use as living larders. Complex magic soon coats the walls, hardening the stone, repulsing arrows and catapult stones and siege ladders, absorbing magic and sending it back out as crackling bolts of lethal energy. Even the gargoyles receive some of her magic, making them slightly more durable.
Now you fly north, hunting for the wife of Lord Southbend using the information you forced him to give you, finding her in Avendor, in a small but luxurious townhouse. You are seen by several of her servants, and you rip them apart, leaving yourself soaked in blood as you enter her chamber. She turns, her eyes widening with horror, and she frantically retreats, pressing herself against the wall in a vain attempt to escape.
Her horror and fear do not fade in the slightest as you tell her about what happened to the castle, what happened to her husband. You offer her a place in your service. She refuses, vowing to join her husband as she takes the offered knife. It is the work of a moment to force her soul to stay in her body, even as her heart ceases beating. It takes even less to force her to obey you.
When she returns home, she finds her husband. Her barrage of invective and abuse can be heard across the castle, as can his pitiful wails. They grow louder when you inform the Lord who is attempting to sob that he will be responsible for raising your child. You don’t bother to mention the curse. He will learn soon enough. However, you modify the time delay slightly, as how quickly your child will grow will depend on the extent of his or her demonic nature.
Meanwhile, you issue a variety of orders to further strengthen your realm. The horde of zombies at Southbend begins to labor at digging a moat, connecting it to the rivers. The excess dirt is piled up to make a rudimentary breastwork, and a rough drawbridge is constructed in front of the gate.
You reanimate the dead at Southbend, creating a small army of wisp wretches to join your forces. There aren’t as many as there should be - those you ate left no bodies behind, as did those burned before the castle fell. Still, nearly a hundred corpses with all their skill and weaponry join your ranks.
Four of your Dark Priests begin to further dedicate the castle to you, taking the best-carved gargoyle and placing it atop the blood-soaked altar, writing legends of your glory on the walls. You pick one and name him to be a Dread Priest, then send another four to help spread word of your glories. They join the Doom-Seekers and Doom-Seer, supporting their more practical demonstrations with rituals, dogma, and sermons. People begin to grow more dedicated in their worship, and several of the more devout farms grow crops as corrupted as those of Canord. The priests, however, continue to resist, refusing to swear to you. They are surprisingly devout, enough to make the Doom-Seer slightly uncomfortable.
You decide to reward Duthrax, naming him Thrall-Lord. You take Herald, and find some innocent blood in a nearby farm, soaking the blade in it as you speak to the blade in demontongue, reshaping its essence and granting it new strength. You order him to pick out lieutenants to raise to Thrall-Herd, and he requests permission to run some training exercises or raids to help judge who should be granted that honor. His already formidable armor is further decorated and enhanced to help protect him from enemy magic.
Caliwick tinkers with the Greshspawn, examining the changes centuries in slumber have caused. He repairs some of the damage caused by time buried in sand and enhances their stinger so that it inflicts a deadly venom. He manages to partially restore their reproductive capacity as well – the creatures they create will not be full Greshspawn, but merely vicious and cruel insects the size of a man’s fist with a bottomless appetite for flesh.
Kreth eagerly turns some of his attention from corrupting the land to encouraging worship of himself among the Barrow Bows. He does still put some effort into turning nature into something nightmarish, and makes some progress, as more poisonous thorns spread across the land and wolf packs multiply in number. Some of the Bows are sent around Southbend, to hunt for bandit groups and monsters, along with usable paths. Aside from the rivers, there is a semi-ruined road that runs partway towards Southbend. They find a few small bandit gangs as well who prey on river traffic, and press a few of them into joining.
The Avar Society throws a more subdued and discussion based gathering, which features a trip outside to view the productivity of a zombie workforce and demonic crops. Some of the merchants are inquiring about purchasing zombie draft animals, and several more become regular attendees of the Avar Society’s affairs.
The Artisan’s Tourney didn’t have quite the same success. People come, but they are reluctant to listen to the advice of the Shapers – it seems they consider themselves perfectly capable artisans on their own. However, people do come and they do listen, and while little in the way of corrupted goods are spread amongst the people, several more ordinary forms of corruption take place, and the numbers swell once more.
The mud around Avar deepens and widens, and within several creatures stir, animated by your power. Mud elementals now roam in the moat.
+1 Create a wife for Our lord Slave. Beautiful cunning and deadly. Her Job ist to watch over the Lord and find Out His Secrets. Also she ist to protect the child.
The castle is well and truly yours. Even its Lord serves you, albeit reluctantly and rebelliously. Now you shall begin to…improve it, and make it something dark and terrifying, for it shall be the domain of your firstborn. First, you instruct your followers to begin constructing horrible stone grotesques. Blocks of stone are dragged up from a few small quarries near Henord Crossing. They form several dozen gargoyles of varying sizes, ranging from taller than a man to about the size of a dog. Most of them feature some variation of four arms, although how they connect changes from one to another.
Each one has several twisted sigils and a name carved into their surface, and you briefly lay a hand on each one, channeling enough power to call back a soul and shape it into an instrument in your service, binding it to both your will and the castle. It is a draining and time-intensive process, and you don’t have time to completely animate all of them, but you leave a small but potent force of creatures of living stone.
You also create an aura of reanimation in the castle, stretching across the walls and several hundred feet out. Anything which dies within that area will come back as a zombie. The process is difficult, and you must take several thralls, nailing them to the inside of the highest tower in the castle, one for each cardinal direction.
Lurrothel travels north to the castle, sleeping in the former Lord’s chambers, and two Reavers come to join her. She constructs wards, keeping a few of the slaves with her at all times to use as living larders. Complex magic soon coats the walls, hardening the stone, repulsing arrows and catapult stones and siege ladders, absorbing magic and sending it back out as crackling bolts of lethal energy. Even the gargoyles receive some of her magic, making them slightly more durable.
Now you fly north, hunting for the wife of Lord Southbend using the information you forced him to give you, finding her in Avendor, in a small but luxorious townhouse. You are seen by several of her servants, and you rip them apart, leaving yourself soaked in blood as you enter her chamber. She turns, her eyes widening with horror, and she frantically retreats, pressing herself against the wall in a vain attempt to escape.
Her horror and fear do not fade in the slightest as you tell her about what happened to the castle, what happened to her husband. You offer her a place in your service. She refuses, vowing to join her husband as she takes the offered knife. It is the work of a moment to force her soul to stay in her body, even as her heart ceases beating. It takes even less to force her to obey you.
When she returns home, she finds her husband. Her barrage of invective and abuse can be heard across the castle, as can his pitiful wails. They grow louder when you inform the lord who is attempting to sob that he will be responsible for raising your child. You don’t bother to mention the curse. He will learn soon enough. However, you modify the time delay slightly, as how quickly your child will grow will depend on the extent of his or her demonic nature.
Meanwhile, you issue a variety of orders to further strengthen your realm. The horde of zombies at Southbend begins to labor at digging a moat, connecting it to the rivers. The excess dirt is piled up to make a rudimentary breastwork, and a rough drawbridge is constructed in front of the gate.
You reanimate the dead at Southbend, creating a small army of wisp wretches to join your forces. There aren’t as many as there should be - those you ate left no bodies behind, as did those burned before the castle fell. Still, nearly a hundred corpses with all their skill and weaponry join your ranks.
Four of your Dark Priests begin to further dedicate the castle to you, taking the best carved gargoyle and placing it atop the blood-soaked altar, writing legends of your glory on the walls. You pick one and name him to be a Dread Priest, then send another four to help spread word of your glories. They join the Doom-Seekers and Doom-Seer, supporting their more practical demonstrations with rituals, dogma, and sermons. People begin to grow more dedicated in their worship, and several of the more devout farms grow crops as corrupted as those of Canord. The priests however, continue to resist, refusing to swear to you. They are surprisingly devout, enough to make the Doom-Seer slightly uncomfortable.
You decide to reward Duthrax, naming him Thrall-Lord. You take Herald, and find some innocent blood in a nearby farm, soaking the blade in it as you speak to the blade in demontongue, reshaping its essence and granting it new strength. You order him to pick out lieutenants to raise to Thrall-Herd, and he requests permission to run some training exercises or raids to help judge who should be granted that honor. His already formidable armor is further decorated and enhanced to help protect him from enemy magic.
Caliwick tinkers with the Greshspawn, examining the changes centuries in slumber have caused. He repairs some of the damage caused by time buried in sand, and enhances their stinger so that it inflicts a deadly venom. He manages to partially restore their reproductive capacity as well – the creatures they create will not be full Greshspawn, but merely vicious and cruel insects the size of a man’s fist with a bottomless appetite for flesh.
Kreth eagerly turns some of his attention from corrupting the land to encouraging worship of himself among the Barrow Bows. He does still put some effort into turning nature into something nightmarish, and makes some progress, as more poisonous thorns spread across the land and wolf packs multiply in number. Some of the Bows are sent around Southbend, to hunt for bandit groups and monsters, along with usable paths. Aside from the rivers, there is a semi-ruined road that runs partway towards Southbend. They find a few small bandit gangs as well who prey on river traffic, and press a few of them into joining.
The Avar Society throws a more subdued and discussion based gathering, which features a trip outside to view the productivity of a zombie workforce and demonic crops. Some of the merchants are inquiring about purchasing zombie draft animals, and several more become regular attendees of the Avar Society’s affairs.
The Artisan’s Tourney didn’t have quite the same success. People come, but they are reluctant to listen to the advice of the Shapers – it seems they consider themselves perfectly capable artisans on their own. However, people do come and they do listen, and while little in the way of corrupted goods are spread amongst the people, several more ordinary forms of corruption take place, and the numbers swell once more.
The mud around Avar deepens and widens, and within several creatures stir, animated by your power. Mud elementals now roam in the moat.
Name: Klx-Dryklfx
Time: 8.25 months
Physical Might: 88+6 ( -6 mud moat, -2 Southbend’s Curse - 30 animating gargoyles, -10 reanimation aura, -12 raising undead, -2 upgrading Herald, + 29 worship)
Mental Might: ] 88+6 ( -6 mud moat, -2 Southbend’s Curse - 30 animating gargoyles, -10 reanimation aura, -12 raising undead, -2 upgrading Herald, + 29 worship) Cults
The Ceaseless Consumption
Members: 7 seducers, 1 high seducer, 3 Shapers and 317 peons in Avendor
Resources: 0 (+10 given, - 10 Artisan’s Tourney)
Power: 17 ( 12 spent throwing Artisan’s Tourney, 3 spent worshipping)
The Avar Society
Members: 1 seducer, 14 peons, 9 merchants, 2 artisands
Resources: 0 (+3 donations, +5 given -8 party)
Power: 3(3 spent throwing parties)
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 (20)
Castle Southbend
Strong Walls (30), Strong Wards (30), Moat (15), Gargoyle Guards (15), aura of reanimation
Demonic Realm
2400 Peons
1 Doom-Seer, 2 Doom-Seekers, 317 Slaves, 4 Dark Priests
45 resources (-5 Avar Feast, - 10 Artisan’s Tourney, - 4 Gargoyles, -1 Duthrax’s Armor)
+24 power/week, + 19 resources/week
Slight corruption
Demonic Armies
11 Reavers, 2 Doom-Seekers, 50 thralls, 100 zombies in Canord
The Broken – 809 chaff (35 thralls, 441 zombies, 227 skeletons, 17 wisp wights, 89 weeping sores), 598 light infantry (299 Spear-Thralls, 299 Sword-Thralls), 269 heavy infantry (28 Demon-Touched, 199 wisp-wretches, 42 heavy swordsman), 230 ranged (214 Archer-Thralls, 17 slingers), 19 mages (2 Doom-Seers, 17 Doom-Seekers), 334 heavy cavalry( 5 mounted god-slayers, 329 deathless knights), 23 Infiltrators (18 Hunters, 5 Night-Stalkers), 26 support (13 Dark Priests, 1 Dread Priest 12 Shapers), 10 siege (8 armored brutes, 2 crushers), 17 incorporeal(17 specters), 180 scouts (rangers), 17 flyers (17 Gresh-spawn) in Southbend
Barrow Bows – 220 scouts (rangers), 15 light infantry (bandits) in between Avar and Southbend
Champions
Kreth Woemaker
Physical might: 18 (+12 worship, - 6 corruption)
Mental might: 18 (+12 worship, - 6 corruption)
Other: Magic Cloak, worshipped by the Barrow Bows
Duthrax Soul-Render, First of the Thrall-Herds
Physical might: 9 + 1
Mental might: 5+ 1
Other: Duelist, skilled commander, zombie horse, Herald
Lurrothel, Weaver of Nightmares
Physical might: 3
Mental might: 8
Other: Necromancer, skilled at wards and dream magic, pregnant with your child
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
+2 physical, + 2 mental
Inspiring song, crimson regeneration
Author
Topic: The Rise of a Demon (Number of ritual wedding duels: 1) (Read 57434 times)