Notices
Yep, another freaking delay, sorry. Last update kinda wound me out.
Rolls
Velodryn Kaas tries to figure out the properties of the Great Ruby
1d20=11
Velodryn and his accomplices learn little about the nature of the ruby, despite his connections. There are no records of its existence even in the oldest of recorded history. No obvious differences to a regular ruby aside from its size and somewhat unusual coloration that can be chalked up to impurities that only serve to make the thing even more valuable. Of course, it is exquisitely cut, just a big status symbol for the rich and powerful, it is a thing best handled with care.
It does not contain any of the Ki that is nowadays so rare in the world, as it very likely predates KI. And, Kaas does not employ any Magi, strictly "Stand users", Vampires and Vampire "Stand users"
, One of Kaas' friends who has a bit of skill with conventional Magicka remarked that he felt a faint magical energy within the room where the Ruby was stored, where there was none of it before. Though, he was unable to tell what KIND of magical energy. If the Great Ruby indeed has a magical aura, then it is barely perceptible, and only someone or something incredibly in tune with magic would be able to discern whether the ruby has magical power and what kind.
The Katari assault Kaas' Tower, for the Godkiller Scroll.
The Katari 1d20=8
Velodryn Kaas 1d20=18
Despite sending their best, The Katari are utterly unprepared to face Velodryn and his Ghouls, especially on their home territory. Velodryn knew of The Katari's arrival well in advance and had time to set up his defences and prepare ambushes and traps within the tower. The Katari were led to believe that the tower was sparsely defended for whatever reason. They entered the tower to find only a few Ghouls standing in their way that were easily dispatched, and Velodryn ordered the Ghouls to give it their all, to give the impression that he truly was as weak as it seemed. He let the Katari walk deep into the Tower and get comfortable. But it was then, when the trap was sprung, the Katari were surrounded. Every bastard in the Tower had been piled into a single large room and the exits were closed behind the Katari.
The Katari were good fighters, in addition to being "Stand Users", but having to face such a large force was too much even for them and they were surrounded. If they stabbed one Ghoul and accidentally left themselves exposed, another would be right there to stab right back at the warrior. The Katari fought with all their might as the Ghouls tore into them and through concentrated effort and a bit of luck, they managed to open a way through their enemies and back out of the Tower, though it came at a high price. Most of the Katari that attacked the Tower were lost in the fighting or died afterward to their wounds.
Khagatai's attempt to lure Gharlor's folk into a battle
2d20=9+16
Khagatai was far more clever this time around, electing to force those of Gharlor's folk to either raid his construction efforts or potentially risk having a deeply entrenched enemy forces right on their doorstep, and Garlor's folk took the bait. Khagatai even made sure to sufficiently support the construction crews with military units, to make the Garlor's folk take Khagatai efforts, and thus trap, seriously.
In fact, the crews were even a little too well protected, in many cases the warriors of Gharlor's folk were unwilling to commit to an attack due to the military presence, until they found the very obvious weak spot, that Khagatai had laid out for them and where he was waiting for them, high above the clouds, a vague black cloud that seemed to shimmer against the bright desert sky. The pile of wood wasn't construction materials, but rather intended as a signal, and when the fire was lit, the raiders of Garlor's folk realized the mistake that they had made.
Khagatai's Black Sky-Legion vs Gharlor's folk
Advantage: Khagatai
+3 Sky Ambush (First roll only)
Khagatai's Black Sky-Legion 1d20=8+3=11
Gharlor's folk 1d20=2
And the plan was there: "Swoop down from the sky, just like your grandpa, slaughter everyone and instill yourself in the minds of the survivors as a nightmare that will haunt them for the rest of their days", But the execution... wasn't. The descent angle was TOO steep and several Chaos Dragons ended up crashing into the ground, but in many cases they still crushed warriors of the Gharlor's folk as they hit the ground. But the actual execution was of little concern, the raiders were utterly shocked by the ambush and went into a panicked retreat, but it was too late, and the Sky-legion was upon them and there was no way they could outrun a dragon, even on a giant spider. While some of Gharlor's folk attempted to defend themselves, a blade or a spear does little against crystal-hardened dragonscale and the shields made of chitin or wood do not hold up against Chaos Flame. The battlefield became just another wasteland of black sands and copious amounts of Chaos Crystals growing from it, some with dessicated corpse of Slugmen impaled upon them.
The ones who did make it out, ran toward their own lands, to tell of the Black Wings taking flight again and the nomads of Gharlor's folk in the northern part of their territory were sent into a panic and retreat to the south.
(The Black Qhanganate has taken a section of Sandstone Nomads territory)
The Miragians attempt to bomb the Red Court and frame the Black Qhanganate
1d20=20!
The scholars and Magi, too preoccupied to notice the Miragians smuggling blasting powder underneath the University to level the whole structure, and the schemers' plan was masterfully executed copious amounts of the stuff on all of the structure's supports to make sure it crumbles, and causes the most damage possible to the surrounding areas. And the hidden stashes of explosives were never found before the fuse was lit. Just as planned, all the powder kegs went off, the university was turned into a pile of rubble, killing everyone in it. And when evidence was found pointing to the Black Qhanganate as the culprit, an ancient symbol of the Black Qhanganate, from the days of the Second Crusade, queen Arythia was furious beyond belief, and so were the archmagi of the University, many of their finest were lost in the explosion, those who wanted to learn about Chaos and things relating to the Aetherials.
And with the recent military action by Khagatai, it wasn't hard to see how she might have thought that the new leader of the Black Qhanganate had set his eyes upon the lands of the Red Court, attempting to weaken it by destroying their university. Soon, Arythia began using her connections in the University to recruit an army of mages, not just Chaos magi, but mages of all kinds. But mages were not the only ones she wanted on her side, she sent a messenger to the Dark Elves, asking whether they will aid her, should war break out. The Shadowguard, officially part of the Stand Hunters, were also recalled to the Red court, to provide their espionage and assassination skills, and soon enough one of the elusive Shadowguard appeared before the Miragians too, bearing a message requesting Miragians cooperation, unaware that the Miragians were the ones who set them up the bomb in the first place.
Word even reached Arythias ear of a distant and secluded order of "Paladins" headed by someone called "Rheis Vairn the Second", Supposedly a self-taught Light mage and the leader of a sect of battlemagi especially trained to fight against the Aetherials and those corrupted by Chaos, and someone that had a Light sprite following him around, also hasn't aged at all for... years now.
the Angry Babbler attempts to sail to Ukalia
1d20=4
What the Angry Babbler, in his angry babbling madness, failed to realize about his divine inspiration, was that the kingdom of the High Elves, is high above the seas, on the floating continent of Dragolia.
Many times did he sail beneath Dragolia near the western tip, longingly looking up toward it, and shouting incoherent and angry nonsense and profanities into the sky, that is, until a storm hit and his dingy little boat was toppled by the raging seas. He woke up sometime later, far to the south, on a northern-ish island on the Moss Trolls' island chain.
He was found less than a year later subsiding off of bugs and fruits and still babbling angrily, by Moss Troll settlers.
Purple Leaves attached to The Host attempt to make leaf-tubes
1d20=5
The attempts by the Purple Leaves attached to The Host to launch spores further by creating leaf-tubes are thwarted by The Host. The process itself is successful, spores produced by these spore-tubes land significantly farther than they would otherwise. Its just The Host that is the problem, he caught on quickly and with his constantly improving control over his body thanks to the constant tug-of-war, he has retreated even further into the infected areas, into the deadlands in the east, where everyone is already infected or dead and the land is covered in purple vines.
Donkebab Looks for the Most Moral batperson druid
1d20=9
Donkebab's look for the most absolutely possible moral batperson is in vain, every one she looks at is guilty of some immoral sin, regardless of how small, Some cheat on their mates, some don't judge fairly and partake in favoritism, in exchange for favors or otherwise, some are liars, some use their positions for personal gain. In the end, Donkebab realizes a harsh truth: there is no one that is absolutely moral, so she has to pick the least sinful, rather than the most moral, and settles on an old druid, whose only true sin has been helping himself to extra food at times at times of abundance, food that technically belonged to others, but no one went hungry because of his appetite, but it does explains the other batpeoples' suspicion of his extra weight, because he isn't a good hunter.
A lemon tree goes berserk in the Dark Elves land
1d20=18
Random lemon trees going on murderous rampages are great reminders of the fact that the area owned by the Dark Elves, is still a land corrupted by Chaos, that is becoming more corrupted with every day. The tree throws lemons out of its branches by shaking itself so violently that any normal tree would have been snapped in half, and these aren't normal lemons, these ones have been turned rock-hard by the Chaos Corruption, many dark elves die by the way of a rock-lemon to the skull, and any one that attempts to cut the thing down, gets crushed by the impossibly fast tree, soon the base of the tree is littered with corpses of dark elves. Supposedly, one of the dark elves who did try to cut the tree down survived, at the cost of his legs. His peers are now mockingly calling him "Legs McGee"...
The best that the elves could do was cordon off a large section of land with signs that said "Caution: Murderous Lemon Tree" and hope that the thing just... Stops, at one point... it hasn't, thus far.
Zalalastan attempts to stop the Purple Leaf Disease with extreme measures
1d20=19
It is an extreme measure, but destroying the wilderness as to render it uninhabitable to ANYTHING, is a way to stop, or at least re-direct the spread of the Purple Leaf Disease. With the help of Fire Magi, Zalalastan has burnt a large section of wilderness to the west of their lands, but east of the current extent of the disease to the ground. This will act as a barrier, that will prevent the disease from crossing over it, but it can still go around it, eventually. And the land will heal over time, again allowing animals, and thus the disease, to survive there.
The human nations aid against the Purple Leaf Disease.
2d20=10+20!
The aid of the human nations doesn't really amount to much more than the aid already offered thus far, that is to say, beyond containing the disease with fire, or prodding Red Leaf hosts around, there really isn't much they can do.
However, a thing that hadn't been tried before now, a thing too... Controversial to try, in desperation, had to be, and it turns out, unfortunately to be a staggering success.
Even though no one knows this, the Purple Leaves are a thing with their own consciousness, and consciousness can be altered, and the leaves feed on purity of thought, sanity. So, Vision Dust, when it comes in contact with the Purple Leaves, is like poison to them, they absolutely HATE Vision Dust, receding and withering if a sufficient dose is brought in contact with them, leaving their host alive and merely suffering from the typical effects of Vision Dust. Vision Dust, though, is an exotic narcotic, partly made of crushed Chaos Crystals, a thing that is becoming increasingly hard to get, and the only source of new chaos crystals? The baleful Chaos Flame of Chaos Dragons, a source that may well be extinguished soon, if the brewing war is to break out between The Red Court and the Black Qhanganate. Not even the most powerful of Chaos Magi, Arythia has ever successfully synthesized a Chaos Crystal, despite many attempts.
YEAR 284.1
Speaking of Vision Dust, an interesting thing has happened within Dalai. A washed-out slugman, who used to be a mage, thus, somewhat in tune with magic, was consuming Vision Dust, one of the Chaos Crystals had not been crushed properly, a larger chunk within the drug. The slugman didn't notice it but due to the improper processing of the crystal, and maybe the Slugman's magical background, the resulting visions from the dust were... abnormal, as far as the drug's typical effects are concerned.
Normally the drug results in delirious, rapidly changing visions, brief flashes, things like that, but the single uncrushed crystal piece caused something else entirely: A pure, unbroken, continuous vision.
The Slugman saw a vision, first he was above the clouds, then his vision tilted down, down there was a beautiful, large city in the middle of the desert, the vision tilted up again and looked around, around were black shapes, in the distance, flapping massive wings, and other smaller shapes, buzzing around like a bunch of flies around the larger shapes. After a brief moment he heard what sounded like a Slugman, yet decidedly different, darker somehow, yelling what sounded like a battlecry, although he could not understand them. The words were there, words he had heard before, but made no sense. And then, his sight was tilted down again, and he began falling, toward the great city in the sands. He could feel the wind rushing past his body. As he approached the city from above, he saw a massive crowd of people, all gathered for some kind of celebration, all slugmen. As they looked up toward him, they began to scream, they all did, and began to scatter in a panic. And then, he felt it, the burning heat passing through his throat and then a foul taste and then, a burst of crimson red flame burnt the terrified slugmen to ashes, Crystals sprouted in the flame's wake, Chaos Crystals.
He heard the yelling again, coming straight from behind him, no, from his back.
He banked up to catch a fleeing slugman, the slugman didn't make it far, and an "orgasmic" feeling rushed through his body as the fragile body of the slugman was crushed between his... Talons?
The vision ended there, returning to the effects typical of the drug.
SummaryYear 279.1, Superdorf
the Angry Babbler, a mad-dwarf emerges, From the ruins of Vanishmountain and wanders into the northern wilderness.
Year 280, Lidku
Velodryn Kaas tries to figure out the properties of the Great Ruby, with little success. Although one of his friends does sense a faint magical energy.
The Katari assault Kaas' tower, but are led into a trap and are utterly decimated.
Year 280.6, TankKit
Khagatai regains control of the Black Sky-Legion
And lures Gharlor's Folk's raiders into an ambush, and despite the lackluster execution manages to put Gharlor's Folk on the back foot.
Year 280.7, TamerVirus
the Kani-collou collectively carry the body of Piyerta-collou into the depths of the sea.
Some are spotted sometime later on the shores near coastal settlements.
Year 280.8, Superdorf
The Angry Babbler stumbles his way through the land of the Greenskin Tribes, babbling angrily at any orc or goblin he comes across.
Causes great confusion among the greenskins and continues on, northward
Year 281, TamerVirus
Miragians blow up the Red Court's University, frame the Black Qhanganate and Arythia begins to recruit an army of mages and other specialist fighters in response.
Year 281.1-90, TheRedwolf
Jøtok Vinterjak reforms the Lökhund lands into the Jarldom of Nordica.
A small number of Bloodjarls disagree with the Nordic Reformation and sail and settle on the archipelago to the west retaining the title of lokhundr bloodjarldom.
Year 282.1, Superdorf
the Angry Babbler attempts to sail to Ukalia, but gets shipwrecked by a storm and ends up on the island chain to the south.
Year 282.3, Unraveller
The waters of the gulf between the lands of the Alliance of Blood and the Kingdom of Ukalia are dyed black overnight.
Despite this, the gulf remains just as plentiful in its gifts as ever. In the common tongue it has been referred to as the Bleak Well.
(sorry for butchering your writing, gotta summarize it somehow...)
Year 282.3, Naturegirl1999
Purple Leaves attached to The Host attempt to spread by making leaf-tubes, but The Host catches on, and retreats into the Deadlands.
Year 283, TankKit
The Moss Trolls, after a long period of little activity, begin settling some of the surrounding islands.
Similarly, the Moko and Wharg tribes have begun expanding to the surrounding islands as their original islands become overpopulated.
Year 283, Detoxicated
Donkebab Looks for the Most Moral batperson druid but nobody is free of sin, so she merely had to reframe her objective.
Year 283.1, auzewasright
Zalalastan uses extreme measures to halt the spread of the disease, creating a wall of dead land where nothing, not even the disease can survive.
The three other human nations send assistance against the Purple Leaf Disease, but are only marginally helpful.
It is however discovered, that Vision Dust can cure the Purple Leaf Disease.
Year 284, King Zultan
The Bleg finish the Grand Ziggurat and promptly begin celebrating the achievement.
Year 284, Unraveller
The Monolith Activates again and in the south on the two islands in the lake, all manner of serpents emerge, imbued with consciousness by The Monolith.
Year 284.05, IncompetentFortressMaker
A lemon tree gets corrupted by Chaos and goes berserk somewhere in the Dark Elves land, acquires a killcount rivaling a small army.
YEAR 284.1, Strik3r (Update)
A washed-out slugman mage experiences an abnormal vision in regards to Vision Dust.