Notices
Y'know, its basically the norm at this point, if i have a delay, i'll probably have something big for the next update.
Rolls
Purple Leaf Disease's spread outside Thairmar
1d20=17
The wilderness in the south-eastern borderlands of Thairmar seems to be home to a large amount of wildlife: Rabbits, Foxes, Squirrels, Deer and more. And with the Purple Leaf Disease being as contagious as it is, as soon as an infected animal comes in contact with one that isn't, the parasitic disease spreads to the new host. And as soon as the animals start feeling the symptoms of the disease, they run in whichever direction in a panic, potentially coming in contact with even more uninfected animals, repeating the cycle. Wildlife is thus far the most effective vector for the Purple Leaf Disease, at least for this strain, because of the hosts' behaviour. Still the disease as whole is very likely to stay contained in the grasslands to the south as a whole, due to the sparse wildlife and habitation of the deserts.
(The Purple Leaf disease has spread a fair distance outside Thairmar, and a region in its eastern half has become uninhabitable.)
Rasha Yorma and the Great Ruby
2d20=2+5
Rasha Yorma may be a good Geologist, but she's no Dwarf, and yet all her conclusions lead to the same place, she has NO IDEA how such a gem could have formed. And in the gemstone's cut state, it is nearly impossible to figure out what it looked like originally or what its nature was. All her knowledge and logic says that a gemstone THIS BIG is impossible have formed naturally by any Geological process she knows of.
Rasha has always had a bit of a trouble hearing things so it is no it is no surprise she could not hear the faint humming. She heard alot of other things, but if any kind of noise emanates from the Ruby, it is too faint or blends too much into background noises to hear. Serlor Vivret insists that he hears the hum, and Rasha suggests that someone or something with a very keen ear might be able to discover more about this supposed humming.
Kaas' ghouls attempt to steal the Great Ruby.
1d20=17
Well, steal is perhaps the wrong word. There is no way to steal something that well guarded on every step of its journey. There was only one way to get their hands on the Ruby, and that was by sneaking enough Ghouls onto the ship to kill every one of the King's men guarding it and commandeer the vessel. The critical mistake on Streamland's part was sending only one ship, loaded with troops and ballistae, yes, more than enough to take on an entire pirate fleet, but they did not expect an attack from within, picking off every one of their men one by one.
And even though they did succeed in commandeering the ship, there was no way they could bring a Streamland warship into the port of any civilized nation, so it had to be intentionally beached east of Thairmar for the Ruby to be transportable to the Kaas' dungeon stronghold. Unfortunately for the Ghouls, they did not manage to kill everyone on the ship, a single young knight managed to survive by hiding out in the ship's hold and after the ship beached, he followed the Ghouls back to Kaas' dungeon from a distance, and then heading to report its location, and that of the ruby to Zalalastan, who have always had a problem with Kaas and his Ghouls.
Purple Leaves attempt to take control of The Host
1d20=12
The purple leaves, with their rapid growth, manage to rewire The Host's motor functions, granting them control... partially. The old connections are still there, and the two nervous systems are constantly fighting over control of the body. Most of the time, its the Leaves that are in control, but The Host has some amount of control over the body, too, being able to, with significant effort, prevent the Leaves from doing some things, such as infecting someone.
The Host himself has reaped some benefit from the Leaves: Having been a scholar before his infection, he lets the Leaves have control for most of the time, to do things such keeping the body alive and fed while he spends his time thinking and being just generally along for the ride, but as soon as the Leaves try to do something he doesn't like, he fights with the Leaves over the control of the body.
It is very likely that this constant Tug-of-War between The Host and the Leaves will see the The Host's control of the body increase over time.
The Battle of Four Armies.
(Lokhund Raiders vs Piyerta-collou and Kani-collou vs Jøtok Vinterjak and Lokhund Revenants vs The Combined Arms against Lokhunds)
Lokhund Raiders 1d20=13
Kani-collou 1d20=18
Lokhund Revenants 1d20=15
Counterforce Armada 1d20=16
Piyerta-collou 1d20=1!
(1=Death)
Jøtok Vinterjak 1d20=18
(1=Death)
The attack by the Kani-Collou on the Lokhunds was entirely unforeseen by the Lokhunds as the Crabmen swam up on the Lokhunds' Longships, climbed aboard and began to rip into the Houndmen, Elves and Bearmen with their large, strong and sharp pincers, the Lokhunds, always with their weapons at their sides were quick to retaliate but the hide of the crustaceans was tough and offered great protection against the weapons of the Lokhunds, yet many a hatchet and point of a sword or a bearman's fist found its mark in the soft parts of their shells.
Piyerta-collou, The mother of the Kani-Collou, crushed many of the Lokhunds' ships with her great claws, but the Lokhunds and Brudines, the ones to never to accept defeat, attempted to climb atop her and hack at her with their axes, no single Hound or Bear-man could do much damage, but with time, small cuts would begin to accumulate on her body.
Blood, both red and blue covered the decks that the sudden pouring rain did nothing to wash away. A terror from beyond the grave was on the horizon, its arrival marked by the black clouds and the fierce rainstorm. A second great fleet of Longships arrived to the field of battle, these ones, their sails were ragged and should have not carried any ship, destroyed hulls that should hold no water. Crewed by walking rotting corpses of ancient lokhund warriors that had no place to be doing so, carrying weapons rusted beyond the point of any repair by two centuries worth of time spent in the sea. The greatest one, at its helm was the First Jarl of the Lokhund, Jøtok Vinterjak.
He was on the quest for retribution for the innocent lives taken by the Lokhund Raiders and met their fleet on the seas with their own. But this was a battle with no allies and the dead were just as fair a game to the Kani-collou as the living ones. And when the Crabmen boarded the ships they found that the corpses that should crumble to the ground at the slightest touch, were powered by some unnatural force that made their decayed flesh as hard as iron and their rusted weapons as if forged by the best smiths of the world.
But the Kani-collou were numerous, far more than the Revenants, while many of the Crabmen were lost to the rusted axes of the undead Lokhunds, just as many of the Revenants were sent back into the sea. But there was one ship that the crustacean menace could not get a foothold on: The Great Longship of Jøtok Vinterjak. Whatever force powered the Revenants, was even greater within Jøtok, and any Kani-collou that dared board his ship were cut down swiftly by his axe, at times cutting many of the Crabmen in one fell swoop.
And when Piyerta-collou attempted to crush Jøtok's ship, she was met by the First Jarl himself, Just like the Lokhund warriors who climbed up onto her claw, so did Jøtok and began running upwards, with trailing his axe behind him, the difference? His axe cut deep, and he made it up halfway her back before she released a ear-piercing shriek and began to violently shake her body, tossing Jøtok off of her.
But the damage was done, a deep, long gash running from her the tip of her right claw all the way to the top of back.
Yet the Kani-collou were not the only ones to feel the bite of the Revenants' axes, The raiders from the north crossed blades with their undead brothers countless times over the course of the battle, sometimes on the ships of the living, sometimes on those of the dead. And for every fallen Lokhund warrior that was sent back to the afterlife by the weapons of the living, one of them would too be dragged along with them. And they all would meet on the eternal battlefield beyond life, or drink and feast at the same table in the great hall, no one's sure but whatever awaits warriors in the great beyond, it is not for the living to know. Piyerta-collou, when she threw Jøtok, threw towards one of the raiders' ships, and with speed. The impact punched a hole in the deck and Jøtok wasted no time in feeding the Lokhund on the ship to his axe. It was the first and last time they had felt fear.
But it wouldn't be just Lokhund and Crabman blood that would be spilled that day, the fleet assembled by the nations of the world for the purpose of stopping the Lokhund raiders sailed to meet them on the seas, but where they expected to find a fleet of Lokhund ships, they instead found a bloodbath, with wrecks of ships and corpses floating in the sea and three armies engaged in battle with eachother.
And they would make their presence known from afar, with a bolt of pure Arcane energy turning Jøtok Vinterjak's Longship into planks and splinters. They had officially entered the battle, and while the Counterforce there only for the raiders, but they had no allies in this battle.
The Kani-collou, as always climbed up onto the ships of the fleet, but on them, they found foes far more formidable than any Lokhund. The armor of Human crusaders was tough and their blades sharp, Magi, both of Arcana and of Chaos could turn a Crabman to ash before they got in close, the agile fighters of the Bleg and Jahtari could easily dance around their claws while cutting them to shreds with exotic weaponry. Still, Kani-collou had the numbers advantage, as no one of the nations was willing to commit a large force of troops to the endeavor of stopping the Lokhunds, and the Crabmen would take many of the alliance's ships in bloodied combat. Piyerta-collou attempted to crush their ships, but was always driven back by large siege weapons, both mundane and magical, some of the ships were specifically targeting her with their siege weaponry, seeing as she was already wounded and it was an opportunity to kill her. She took many hits from the ships' weapons and shrieked in pain with each shot that landed.
The Counterforce's orders were to kill Lokhunds, it was not specified that the Lokhunds must be alive. And they had no intention of letting the walking dead onto their ships. So they preferred to attack from range, with either bows, magic or balistae. However, many of the Revenants boarded their ships anyway and the united forces found the dead more than match for their blades and they would often shrug off a fireball. However, they could not get a foothold on the ships and the Magi and the archers of the alliance kept harassing them from range. Most attacks on their ships were driven off but of the few losses of ships that there were, one was the greatest. Jøtok Vinterjak was enraged by his ship being destroyed and was seeking retribution, and he would take the Counterforce's greatest ship for himself, an eye for an eye. He swam all the way to it in the ice cold water, his undead stamina unending and his rage only quenchable by the death of those who destroyed his ship. He climbed onto the ship and promptly emptied it of life with his axe, and took the the alliances greatest ship for himself. No armor of the humans or agility of the beastmen would spare them from his wrath, the most foolish ones of all threw themselves overboard, into the cold, icy waters, a coward's death.
Despite the loss of their largest ship in the fleet, the Counterforce was sent to kill Lokhunds, and Lokhunds did they kill. With blade, arrow and magic fire. Their forces were specially composed to counter the Lokhund raiders, not kill their undead brothers or bipedal crustaceans. The fur of Hound and Bearpeople burned easily, with a bright and violent flame and their ships would not stand up to a ballista shot or the rams of the larger human ships. But the Lokhunds were not at all helpless and while they lacked any Magi, their axes were still sharp. And when the Lokhunds did board the alliance's ships, the fighting spirit of the Lokhunds and Brudines was unmatched by any Human or beastman and any fight between the two forces ended many lives on both sides.
In the aftermath:
The Lokhund raiders' forces are completely decimated. The smarter ones fled, the foolish ones kept fighting a lost battle, and either died, or were captured by the forces of the alliance. Either way, this group of raiders will most likely never raid again. With the Lokhunds forces adequately trashed, the Counterforce to Lokhunds began making their exit, although breaking the Revenants' hostility was not an easy feat. The alliance turned their ships around and fired warning shots from their seige weapons at any ghost ships that tried to give chase. The Revenants soon got the message. The Kani-collou, Their mother, Piyerta-collou was gravely wounded in the battle and they broke their attack when they heard the last of her pained cries. Rather than react with even greater hostility as everyone expected, the Kani-collou instead all retreated from the ships at once, and swam toward her and crowded around her in mourning. Jøtok Vinterjak, through some means of psychic communication, ordered all of the Revenants to stand down, to let the the crab people mourn, to let the humans and their allies go. He had gotten what he wanted: Retribution. And so he sailed off toward the north, with whatever was left of his own fleet, and led in his new flagship.
After that battle Jøtok Vinterjak would become known as "Jøtok Vinterjak the First Jarl of the Lokhund, the undead god of Blood, Vengeance and Honor", the one who people call out to when they cry for vengeance, for blood for blood spilt. And the one venerated by the ones who would pass up a chance to kill their worst enemy when they are vulnerable. And blood, blood is more than just the red stuff that comes out when you cut someone with a blade. Our blood flows through our children, and our fathers' and mothers' blood flows through us and same goes for them, and it keeps going, all the way up to the very first one. In many ways, Blood... is kinship, family.
The Vanishmountain Hailstorm
2d20=20!+1!
The hailstorm does not discriminate and destroys anything in its way, this sadly includes any dwarves and their settlements caught in its path and the carnage is absolute, after the incident, there are only a few survivors remaining as a result.
The freak weather incident shocks a new realization into the dwarves that survived: All that dwarves have ever done is dig downward, but if the earth can not be trusted to protect them and a single cloud that can produce a hailstorm that can destroy said earth then the only way to be safe, is to put the earth above the clouds. Dragolia floats, surely an island big enough to support a city or two can somehow be lifted into the sky?
Khagatai and the Black Qhanganate vs. Gharlor's Folk
Black Qhanganate 1d20=6
Gharlor's Folk 1d20=16
Sandstone Qhanganate or Black Qhanganate, it doesn't matter to the nomads of Gharlor's Folk, and even though Gharlor is long gone, they carry on his spirit of indipendence and rebellion. In many ways, the attack by Khagatai unified the disparate nomads the same way that Gharlor did when he himself led them and once again they beat back the Qhanganate. They weren't as numerous the forces of the Black Qhanganate, but they moved quickly through the desert sands and struck from where Khagatai didn't expect them. Khagatai didn't have the military experience that his grandfather did, nor did he have the power of the legendary and infamous Black Sky-Legion behind him, a name that by itself causes terror in people and keeps crusaders up at night. While some believe that the Legion was "taken"
from Khagatai because of his soft approach to leadership, the truth is that the Legion belonged to and was given to Hagatai, his grandfather, and they do not obey Khagatai.
Khagatai's forces mostly consisted of corrupted Slugmen and various corrupted giant spiders. Gharlor's Folk was about the same, except not corrupted. but Gharlor's Folk, despite their inferior numbers, outmaneuvered Khagatai at every turn. There are rumors that the nomads of Gharlor's Folk received training from Miragians. Whatever the case, Khagatai could not pin down the nomads and was forced to return to the Black Qhanganate because of attrition.
YEAR 279
Despite never having come in contact with any other sentient beings thus far, Elysians have started doing some things, that may be the first steps toward civilization.
Up until now, Elysians have been sleeping under the bare open sky, basking in the Light of their "Mother Tree", The White Tree of Elysium. But sleeping out in the open, they've had no protection from the elements or predators, as the effect of repelling wildlife is not present on them, like it is for the White Tree. Unlike true sugar gliders, they can not make homes inside the branches of trees. The only tree whose branches would be large enough are those of their mother tree itself, and they absolutely refuse to harm it.
And so, they have taken to digging burrows and dens into the ground to sleep in, most typically near the bases of trees, where the roots of the tree provide structure and support to the earth. Where the land permits, the openings of the burrows are pointed toward the White Tree.
The burrows are almost always small, shallow and cramped, just big enough to fit into curled up and a bit extra to get in and out. This is largely in line with their nature as ascetic and cooperative foragers, as their diet consists almost entirely of fruit collected from the branches of trees and small invertebrates such as grubs, bugs or arthropods. They rarely care for personal possessions and are always willing to share food with others of their kind.
At the same time, they have begun to organize into small "packs" of individuals. It is uncertain whether this true or not, but supposedly, their "word" for these packs is same as the one for "twig" in their "language". These packs are always matriarchal in nature, meaning always headed by, what are assumed to be, females, even the "leader" of all Elysians, the "Arbormaid" or the "Tree Keeper" is, as the name suggests, female. The position of females is peculiar among Elysians, they are viewed by all Elysians as both strong and powerful and as something fragile and delicate that need to be protected, at once. It is probable that this, almost self-contradictory thinking results from their connection to the White Tree and their view of it as both a mother figure, as something that gave birth to them, something that towers above all others, yet at the same time, something that they protect by instinct, and this line of thinking extends to their own kind, and perhaps, if they ever meet any other races, to them as well. However as a whole, Elysians consider each and every Elysian equally important, and the position of leadership is just another role in the pack, a duty to fulfill, granted to those who are responsible enough to fulfill said duty and responsibility toward their peers.
As a curious side note, said leader almost always has the biggest crest, crest that is made out of crystal and grows over time, however Elysians' lives do not depend on these crystal growths and many Elysians trim or remove their crest crystals regularly with no ill effects, except the pack leaders. As the Elysians are still quite young as a race, the largest crests are still quite small, and it is unknown just how big they could grow.
Summary(year!) 275.3, TamerVirus
((i bet, You knew EXACTLY what i was going to write here))
The University Secures, Contains and Protects the Endless Bazaar.
Year 275.4, King Zultan
The Purple Leaf Disease hits a highly concentrated area of wildlife on the Thairmar's southeastern border and expands rapidly.
Year 275.5, Naturegirl1999
Rasha Yorma, a geologist, attempts to make sense of the Great Ruby, but her geology knowledge fails her.
She also does not have good hearing and is unable to hear the Ruby's hum.
YEAR 277, Strik3r, Lidku
The Avarian Empire sells off the Great Ruby to Streamland's King. However, it is intercepted along the way and captured by Kaas' men
Kaas's hideout's location is discovered.
Year 277(2), Naturegirl1999
The Purple Leaves attempt to take control of The Host's body, and partially succeed, however, The Host can still fight against their control.
The Host uses the "takeover" of the Purple Leaves mostly as an autopilot system.
Year 277.1,TamerVirus, TheRedwolf, Detoxicated
The Battle of Four Armies happens at sea. And it was a complete bloodbath indescribable with words.
Piyerta-collou died in the battle.
Jøtok Vinterjak ascends to true godhood, also has a cool ship now.
Year 277.3, IncompetentFortressMaker
A super-hailstorm destroys a mountain and kills a lot of dwarves.
Dwarves realize that its not safe on or under earth anymore, the only remaining place? The skies.
Year 277.6, TankKit
Hagatai has died of old age. His grandson Khagatai takes the throne.
Attacks Gharlor's Folk as the first thing, and is beaten back. Rumors of Miragians training nomad guerrillas are unconfirmed as of yet.
Year 278, King Zultan
Kingdom of Zalalastan has begun building a wall to keep the Purple Leaves out.
Also has cut off trade and immigration from lands that have come in contact with the disease.
Year 278.1, auzewasright
The Kingdom of Streamland sends supplies to bolster the defenses against the black Quaghanate
Karhan, realizing their danger, sends all of their best doctors to try and help treat and contain the purple leaf disease.
YEAR 279, Strik3r
Elysians have begun to dig burrows and dens.
Also have rudementary social structure now.