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[Lord_lemonpie]

The Folly Crusade

Code: [Select]

Crusaders: 3d20=2+15+18
Sandstone Qhanganate: 3d20+2= 22+15+11As the Crusaders leave their homelands, they encounter their first and foremost enemy: attrition. Though Duke Slugimex spent years rallying the faithful to his cause, he organized little in the way of logistics. Starvation, beasts of the wild and the burning sun of Eightstone's Desert has burned its way through the crusaders, and after a seven-month march, the famished vanguard arrives in the lands of the Gras Qhangan. There, they are immediately ambushed by fast sandstone archers, riding their spiders. The vanguard is annihilated, leaving the rest of the army weakened.

As the army regains it's energy by pillaging and burning their way through the sparse settlements of the Sandstone Qhanganate, they are continually ambushed, beaten and raided by the Nomads. This prevents military action, though the Nomads themselves are still vastly outnumbered by the massive army of crusaders, and refuse to commit to a full scale assault.

After a month, the Crusader Army finally starts charging. Though every battle is a meat grinder, ambushes await them around every corner and the Nomads refuse to submit to the rule of their former oppressors, the army makes a slow and steady progress. After carving out a small realm, the admirals decide to stop the offense and instead focus on holding the line.

Soon, discord breaks out between the higher ups of the Crusade. As the state is too far from either the Slugman Duchies or the Hrilithian Celestial Empire to properly be administered by them, a new leader needs to be chosen from the ranks of the Crusade. Added to that is the fact that the farms many crusaders were promised, turned out to be arid tracts of land, filled only with sand, rock, and thorny vegetation. Civil unrest seems to tear apart the 1st Crusader State before it is even properly established. For now the impressive military manages to hold it together.

In a surprise turn of events, the 1st Crusader State finds itself guaranteed by the Dorathian Kingdom. Though the Dorathians care little for the politics and religion of the nation, they see it as a perfect buffer state between their nascent coastal colonies and the Nomads.

Spoiler: Map Update (click to show/hide)

[Lidku]

Year 156
The intra-order of the Vahucci cult was pleasantly surprised that the Cruasade meant to be a fluke of distraction actually succeeded. Though the details of the Crusade itself were packed with abject failures and full of laughable Generals who lead scores of men to their dooms- it was frankly little of what the Vahucci cult cared for in the slightest. Now with a parceled Crusader state to operate covertly from the Vahucci cultists waste no time traversing the deserts in search of the anomaly detected in this region. They had to be very careful though- the appointed military junta over the newly minted Crusader state weren't under the direct control of the cult and direct discovery would blow the whole project into smithereens.

When the Crusade had finally drew to a close, Namek upon hearing the news of what happened suspected the worst. From his own contacts from within the HCE the seasoned demon hunter knew that a cult dedicated to his former rival were deeply influential behind the scenes in both the HCE proper and the outlaying Slugmen Duchy states. They somehow must've learned of the Godkiller Scroll's location or was just tipped off the general location of it somehow. Abandoning his former task of investigating the Aetherial incursion from the chaos realm, Namek flies at full speed toward the Qhaganate. He had to hurry!

Meanwhile a strange human merchant with a large professional retinue who is seemingly also only active at night sets up a shop-base within the nascent Crusader state. What many don't realize is that he's actually a Vampire who could not only suck blood, but drain Ki as well. It was Velodryn Kaasi from Agrila, but now he operated under a cover name only deemed as Bob. He like the Vahucci cult also knows of the anomaly and wants what energy it bares for himself, for his OWN consumption. Though Velodryn didn't know exactly what his query was, just that it churned with potent Ki and seemed to be somewhere within the deserts of the Qhaganate.

A three-way race now ensues for the forbidden Scroll.

[Detoxicated]

Year 157
The Lokhund adventurer Bands Begin attacking the smaller armies of the HCE.

The Hammerhead Tribe Begin a massive octopus breeding program.

The Qhanganate Grants the Cleansing Star to its Most Prominent Army.

[Avetruetotheimperator]

Alright, seems like the conference has all the gods that want in. Guess I should post the intro now?

[Lidku]

Pretty much, everything seems in order for the go ahead!

[Strik3r]

YEAR 157.1

With the ongoing race for the Godkiller scroll, Azerth peering through the veil between the two worlds, too sensed the dark energy emanating from the artifact. And if it drew the demon hunter, Namek away from investigating them, it must be important for the mortals. This was an opportunity, to potentially get their hands on a powerful artifact, to increase their foothold on earth and maybe even to get rid of mortals powerful enough to pose a threat to the Aetherials.

Because of the Anomaly's apparent importance, Azerth chose to take a risk: To open a new Chaos rift, in the heart of the Sandstone Qhanganate, beneath the sands.

This rift, while smaller that the main rift is sufficient to deploy a decent sized army of Aetherials to scour the desert for the source of the energy. However, they will avoid any direct confrontation with anyone searching for the scroll but will instead attempt to corrupt and deceive them into aiding the Aetherials, they will only resort to combat should they need to take the scroll by force.

Meanwhile in the main Aetherial domain, dangerous and twisted experiments are about to bear fruit.

[Lidku]

Year 157.2-3
Now the cult of Vahucci knew beyond a reasonable doubt that what they were looking for was in the desert somewhere. Under the guise of policing the more anarchist tribes not controlled direct by the Qhaganate, the cult along with their small band of sympathizers in the Crusader state- a mixed squadron of Ki-Knights and Men-At-Arms, the search for the scroll would intensify.

Meanwhile Namek had finally arrived back to the Sandstone Qhaganate after a year of non-stop flying. He was heavily fatigued, but he had to destroy the scroll before any were to claim it. It was a profound mistake of him to not do so in the very beginning. Namek being highly sensitive to Ki emanations recognized the chaotic signatures he was suddenly feeling- they belong to the forces of Azerth. This wasn't good at all! If Azerth and its minions were here then things would only get worse! Namek attempts to hunt down the punitive army. If he succeeds in this, he'd move on to destroying the Vahucci cult's presence next.

Of the patrols looking for the the forbidden scroll, it was Velodryn in his mercenary force who was closest to finding the secret area of the Godkiller scroll (still though, the Vampire didn't have a slightest inkling of what it actually was- only that it had alot of Ki reserves) just by asking questions of the local tribesmen through bribery and his unnatural undead charisma.

[Strik3r]

OOC: the Aetherials will also get the corruption roll against Namek. If it succeeds, the Aetherials will convince Namek that they want the same thing: To prevent the scroll from falling into the wrong hands. A half-lie.

With the Vampire, they'll attempt to corrupt him with promises of power far greater than the artifact can offer.

The cult, they'll lie to the cult and tell them that the Aetherials are the progeny of Vahucci, that they should serve his chosen.

[MaxTheFox]

Year 157.2-3: A strange ghost ship with a literal skeleton crew has risen from the depths of the ocean and begun harassing traders and ports all over the world.

((OOC: Did you forget to expand the Foxfolk borders as per the action, or is there something I missed?))

[Avetruetotheimperator]

Year 13-Something:
After all gods that wanted to show did so, Dorath begins the discussion. First, he talks of the present danger Ki presents, a power that can allow mortals to kill gods. Obviously this is too much for mortal hands, especially allowing for dark tyrants to rise up and take command of mortal civilizations. Therefore, he proposes to the body around to...Limit it. Control it to ensure an orderly livelyhood.

[Naturegirl1999]

So do we add on, to signify this happening in the same time?

Year 13-Something:
After all gods that wanted to show did so, Dorath begins the discussion. First, he talks of the present danger Ki presents, a power that can allow mortals to kill gods. Obviously this is too much for mortal hands, especially allowing for dark tyrants to rise up and take command of mortal civilizations. Therefore, he proposes to the body around to...Limit it. Control it to ensure an orderly livelyhood.

Eightstone nods in agreement, writing that every god can understand starts inscribing itself on her sandstone skin “Yes, limiting would be good. What about splitting Ki into different kinds of magic energy? Based on where it’s located? Desert Ki being different from forest Ki, and those being different from Ocean Ki? If one of the subgroups of Ki get too powerful, they can split into smaller subgroups. Each subgroup becoming even more specialized, e.g. if desert Kibecomes too powerful, the power will split between Sand Ki, Glass Ki, Heat Ki, sandstone Ki, etc. each type only being able to be used on whichever. Desert Ki being used in the desert only, sandstone Ki only being able to be used on or modifying sandstone

[King Zultan]

Year 158: The cat like humanoids have completed their construction and it appears to be a massive zigarot built at the base of The Monolith where they have built an alter on which they sacrifice creatures.

[MaxTheFox]

So do we add on, to signify this happening in the same time?

Year 13-Something:
After all gods that wanted to show did so, Dorath begins the discussion. First, he talks of the present danger Ki presents, a power that can allow mortals to kill gods. Obviously this is too much for mortal hands, especially allowing for dark tyrants to rise up and take command of mortal civilizations. Therefore, he proposes to the body around to...Limit it. Control it to ensure an orderly livelyhood.

Eightstone nods in agreement, writing that every god can understand starts inscribing itself on her sandstone skin “Yes, limiting would be good. What about splitting Ki into different kinds of magic energy? Based on where it’s located? Desert Ki being different from forest Ki, and those being different from Ocean Ki? If one of the subgroups of Ki get too powerful, they can split into smaller subgroups. Each subgroup becoming even more specialized, e.g. if desert Kibecomes too powerful, the power will split between Sand Ki, Glass Ki, Heat Ki, sandstone Ki, etc. each type only being able to be used on whichever. Desert Ki being used in the desert only, sandstone Ki only being able to be used on or modifying sandstone

The Dual Deities agree with Eightstone, and also propose types of Ki for Order and Chaos. Those could only be used by individuals who led a very orderly or very chaotic life, respectively.

[Detoxicated]

Year 159
The octopus breeding program has been a success by the Hammerheads. They have now big amounts of rideable war octopus at their hands AS Well AS a few behemoth octopi.

The Sharkmen tribes Begin a Second huge raiding season of the human coastal cities. This time they loot pillage and steal the children to Feed on them.

[Strik3r]

YEAR 160

With nearly another 20 years of uncontested growth and activity for the Aetherials, the borders of their domain have once again seen an increase in size and they have been busy performing dark and twisted experiments that have yielded two new developments.

The first of these is the "Black Core". A miniature Chaos rift encased in a small orb of thick black crystallized chaos. It spews out chaos energy drawn straight from the unlimited source that is their home realm. Being encased, the rift can not be used for transport and will collapse should the orb be shattered.

Secondly, the Aetherials have been experimenting on the mutated wildlife of their domain, creating Agglomates, abominations fused together from the biomass of multiple creatures. An Agglomate can be composed of anywhere from 2 creatures to potentially hundreds or even thousands. Their weakness however, is that the presence of chaos energy is needed for the Agglomates to maintain their form.
Thus, the Aetherials have begun consolidating the weak, but numerous mutated wildlife of their domain into smaller numbers of more powerful Agglomates.

While the current Agglomates are relatively small in size, consisting of only few large animals, it is only a matter of time until the Aetherials scale it up.
(OOC: the name "Agglomate" comes from the english "agglomerate", meaning "a jumbled mass or collection")