Blah blah stuff blah blah loads of number crunching blah blah
You lean down from your throne of corpses, and speak directly to Dal'Kahh's prisoner. Do you think yourself a hero, you ask.
He spits in your face.
Do you think yourself a good man, you ask.
He spits again.
Do you think yourself incorruptible, you ask.
Perhaps due to a dry mouth, he actually answers this question out loud (the previous questions were answered quite clearly in his own mind). He swears that no effort of yours could ever corrupt him.
Oh really, you say. You think your mind- or anyone's mind, for that matter- safe from my influence?
He indicates that so long as he remains faithful, his mind shall be his own.
Then tell me, you say, what is your name?
That's easy, he says. He then thinks for a moment, and his face falls. No, he whispers, it can't be.
Oh, but it can, you respond. Perhaps after you have come around, I will remind you of your name.
You command Dal'Kahh take him away somewhere. The seed of corruption you have planted will take time to mature, but the fruit will be all the sweeter for it.
Drawing on the death and destruction in the town, and your own overflowing power, you raise a bunch of corpses to do your bidding. These simple zombies are similar to slaves, but on account of not actually being alive will quickly succumb to decay. Still, they are cheap, and easy. These forces you put to work rounding up the surviving citizens, who you separate into groups depending on their morality. The children you convert easily. The 'evil' adults take a little more persuading, but with few other choices they eventually decide to join you. The 'good' adults you set aside for later. The remainder you enslave.
The slaves and some of the new cultists are sent to Barrspring, to supply and operate the Forge-Temple. Akataki is rife with skilled smiths, and you have no trouble finding eight to work the forges of the Forge-Temple. Once the slaves arrive, and things get set up, they will be able to churn out weapons and armour at a fantastic pace. One of the first things you have them forge is a new suit of armour for Dal'Kahh- it won't do to have him running around in regular armour.
You also dissolve the distinctions between the branches of your cult. Though it is difficult to travel to The Church of the Flames of Madness from Akataki, your Acolytes at CFM manage to devise ways to operate the sending circles there, allowing small amounts of goods or materiel to be moved between Barrspring and Dolnar.
Your new cultists comb the ruins of Akataki for anything useful, and help shepherd slaves and captives around. Once things have been arranged, you have them arm themselves. The ruined forges of Akataki are put into use one last time, and shipments of arms are delivered from Barrspring. Eventually, most of your cultists have weapons and armour, and been shown the basics by those with knowledge of fighting.
The non-weapon remnants of Akataki is gathered up, sorted through for items of value, and given to eighteen cultists, who in the guise of regular merchants head off downriver, to travel the world and establish your presence throughout.
Some of the captives you send to Barrspring to feed the furnaces. The rest, you torture. Their screams of agony and pleas for mercy provide you with strength, which you spend on creating a host of new monstrosities.
You raise hundreds of the fallen citizens as zombies. Almost five hundred shambling corpses rise from death to serve you till they rot. They should prove a useful workforce, or fodder in a battle. They retain the strength they had when they lived, though not the mind, and their hideous appearance should cause some concern amongst enemy soldiers.
Your minions uncover the remains of the stables. Twenty horses lie dead or dying. A waste, to be sure. You bid them rise, granting each a demonic intelligence, and creating- well, this.
The Sintaurs themselves have considerable strength, and a demonic intelligence which makes them a fearsome foe. However once they catch a victim- or are provided with one, which you do now, granting twenty of your captives to the newborn Sintaurs- they become far more potent. They absorb the victim's mental strength, and a portion of its knowledge, and sap its strength, whilst granting more strength to its arms. Once them have absorbed a few victims, they will have acquired considerable knowledge- and assuming many of those victims were acquired on the battlefield- great skill at arms. Their fearsome appearance, the horrible fear of falling victim to one, and the anguished cries of the still-sentient victim as they strike against what will often be their former allies, all make it a great weapon of terror.
You capture a bunch of rats. A quick burst of demonic power sees them grow into twisted, evil, Giant Rats. You release them back into the ruins to multiply. Their infiltration of a city might go unnoticed for some time, during which they can cause significant damage. And in packs, they could easily take down humans. They don't look very scary, though, and their minds are mostly just... ratlike. They will be hard to control; without personal management, the best you can do is release a few packs near a city and let them cause chaos by themselves.
You turn a few injured citizens into two new Baneghouls, and raise the ghosts of the nine fallen cultists as spectres. Wild spectres arise throughout the city, though they hide themselves from you and your minions.
Out of curiosity, you summon another imp. This one black, covered in bristly hair, and cursing and swearing amicably as it comes into creation. It immediately starts digging into the ground with its mole-like claws, only coming up again to ask where it can find a drink. You direct it to the lake, but it states that it shall go mad if forced to drink anything with less than 5% alcohol. You summon it a barrel of wine to shut it up. It claims to be a novice soapmaker, and asks if you need any of those. You pick it up and throw it to Barrspring, where it might be useful somehow.
Finally, you have the remaining live but wounded citizens of Akataki brought to a bough of trees just outside of the town, and tied to the trunks. The terrified mortals beg to be released, but you ignore their cries and pour your energy into mutating them. Screams of agony indicate that it is working.
The trees lose their leaves; they shrivel, until they are naught but husks. Meanwhile, the flesh of the humans billows outwards, surrounding the tree completely, merging with the shrivelling bark. The people scream in agony as their bodies pull themselves backwards, merging into the tree. Their spinal cords split at the neck, with the branch growing larger and longer until it is the neck and the head thereon that is the branch, to the spinal cord that now forms the core of the tree. The trees own branches fall off, but from the flesh/bark burst solid branches of bone, like giant ribs. Flesh slowly covers the bones, and little flaps of skin spring up, made pale green by the chlorophyll within.
By this point the screams have stopped, as the minds of the victims have broken and merged with those of the trees, who are not big on screaming. So you enhance their minds as well, as that they may suffer. The faces, now receded into the fleshy trees, start to groan softly, a slow, but constant indicator of discomfort.
From the branches of these flesh-trees will grow fleshy limbs, which might be fed to ghouls and other cannibals if the 'real thing' is not available. However if you wish to have the trees provide a decent bounty, they must multiply. Grow. Cover more territory.
It is the work of moments to make it such as that the 'female' trees can with a provider of sperm become 'pregnant'; the offspring of this union would emerge from the flesh of the tree resembling a human child, but would merely crawl around until it found a suitable place to plant itself. The male trees could impregnate mortal women, with the same results.
The only problem is that mortals do not often copulate with trees. After mulling it over, you decide it best to give the trees a desire to mate, tendrils by which they might grasp a suitable passerby, and a capacity to hypnotism- a grove of flesh-trees in heat would appear to mortal eyes to be an enchanting, beautiful grove, full of... flowers, and sunshine, and such like and so forth. By this manner they might lure in and capture mates, ensuring their propagation.
Your cultists have armed themselves, and prepare to head out into the countryside to subjugate the surrounding villages. Meanwhile, you should
-Have your horde of zombies rebuild Akataki, to serve as a home to your cultists.
-Patrol along the route to Dolnar, to slow word of your actions from reaching the rest of the world.
-Do something else
Last update: Quality. This update: Just get the damn thing done so we can move on. I apologize for the severe drop in quality, but this update involved a lot of numberwork, a lot of mechanics to
make up refine, and a bunch of other stuff which is frankly boring. This does mean that the game will be larger-scale from now on. Minor servants have been merged into Packs, and I'll be looking to round numbers where-ever possible. And, of course, now things get risky. Which is to say, !!FUN!!
(see alsoDEATH)Also I am really tired. Like, crazy tired. Holy shit would you look at the time. It's past nine!
In the morning.I meant to go to bed
three hours ago.
Name: Krlnkir Yrlvnt
Physical might: 66 (-1: Leakage)
Mental might: 72 (-2: Leakage)
Followers: 253
Slaves: 488 | 100 (captives)
Servants: 552 (480 Zombies, 5 Amberärsh Packs, 5 Giant Rat Packs, 18 Spectres, 20 Sintaurs, 2 Baneghouls, 2 Armoured Baneghouls, 5 Fire Elementals, 1 Red Imp, 1 Black Imp)
Cults:
The cult of the Tall Man. Low organisation. 218 cultists in three locations
Power Level: 85 (WARNING: CULT IS BEYOND SECRECY) -10 Looting, Torture, Enslavement and Coversion -3 Organization -6 Research -66 Training
Resources: 9 (-60 Missionaries)(-132 Arming Cultists)
Cultists: 67 Cultists, 144 Armed Cultists, 6 Acolytes, 1 Acolyte (control).
Slaves: 368 (-1/week:Replacing lost miners) | 100 (captives)(-7/week:Furnace)
Locations:
Barrspring. 0 Resources. +50 Resources per week (Forge-Temple) Connected to Akataki.
Akataki. 5 Resources. Connected to Barrspring
CFM. 4 Resources. Isolated. (Can use sending circles; 10% chance of losing sent/summoned resources/people)
Champions:
Alyshtr Yrlvnt: Half-demon. 0.75 months old.
Physical Might: 0 (note: in an emergency, her demonic powers would protect her)
Mental Might: 1
Other: Red Imp pet (will act as bodyguard, entertain with fire magic and demonic tales)
Knowledge: Demontongue.
Dal'Kahh the Avaricious: Armed Cultist with demonic strength and Barrsdoom.
Physical Might: 10 (+3 Axe)(+1: Armour upgrade)
Mental Might: 4 (+1 Axe)
Equipment: Barrsdoom (Axe; +3 to physical might, +1 to mental might. Inspires friendly troops, causes fear in enemy troops)
Unamed Guard: Former Akataki Guard with aspirations to heroism. Slowly being corrupted.
Physical Might: -4 (Rebellious)
Mental Might: -2 (Rebellious)
Fortresses:
The Church of the Flames of Madness. Formerly Dolnar Asylum, HQ of Barrtal monster hunters.
Mighty Walls (50). Moat (5, slows attackers). Weak Wards (12). Evil Stones (cause illusions and madness to attackers, also act as a second set of Weak Wards(10)). Rampant Spectres (cause madness to attackers. May randomly attack occupants (friend or foe))
Sacrificial Chamber: An excellent location for worship and sacrifice.
Workshops: A large forge and a series of workshops allow cultists to refine resources much more efficiently. Would be more useful with a steady supply of raw materials, but lets the cultists repurpose, recycle, and repair enough to generate a small amount of resources.
Library: A (slightly empty) library and series of studies allow cultists to learn the arts of magic. Contains scrolls on: the creation of Amberärshs; the basic principles of Necromancy; the learning and casting of Dark Bolt; The operation of Sending Circles.
Sending Circles: A pair of raised daises, linked to a similar pair in Barrspring, which can send and receive objects given a source of power. The Acolytes studying at the Library can use these circles.
Source of Evil: This place has a long history, and much of it unpleasant. The reserves of evil seem nearly bottomless. It has built up to such a level that it seems to generate evil on its own (in small amounts). This makes it an excellent place for summoning or necromancy.
Barrspring. Iron mining village in the eastern mountains.
Hard to get to. Stone Wall with Corrupted Steel Gate (30, may cause fear to attackers, also acts as a weak ward (5)). Cursed Steel Ballistae. Treacherous Terrain (defensive bonuses)
Barrspring Iron Mines: Renowned as a source of high-quality iron, these mines could easily provide enough ore to keep the furnace of the Forge-Temple busy. The mines are an evil place now; dark power fills the air, and infects the ore. It is currently inhabited by a host of wild spectres. Slaves and followers work the mines, acquiring ores for the Forge-Temple.
Forge-Temple: An unholy place for worship and forging. A great furnace which takes live sacrifices as fuel, feeding liquid metal to four dark forges. Currently employing 120 slaves, 35 cultists, and 8 smiths, producing 50 Resources per week.
Sending Circles: A pair of raised daises, linked to a similar pair in Dolnar, which can send and receive objects given a source of power.
Akataki. Burnt remnants of a town in the eastern mountains.
Damaged wooden pallisade (5). The town reeks of decay. An evil aura hangs about the town. Wild Spectres haunt the ruins.
Pillaged Farmsteads: If repaired, and supplied with a workforce, would provide food for humans.
Akataki Trees: A grove of Flesh-trees grows in the ashes. Once it has had a chance to expand, will provide food for cannibals.
Author
Topic: Demonhood. -Slumbering for an indeterminate number of Strange Aeons- (Read 237510 times)