Krlnkir Yrlvnt
1) Our daughter likes imp pets... Let's gift her one more. Green one at this time. She should see how Krlnkir summons that imp, maybe she'll find a way to make her own imps
2) Offer the guard to become the brothel manager, to ensure that "girls are treated nicely" Order the "girls" to seduce him and lure in constant orgies
3) Teach consort some demonic language and magic... if she survives that, good. If not, so be it. (I think she may be more resistant to demonic magic, she had very close contact with half demon)
4) Move to Grantown
5) Create 27 ghouls (to round it up to 50 and have balanced numbers of different sized ghouls)
6) When the steel skeleton arrives, create an experemental superbaneghoul (need better name)
7) Investigate Grantown's cemetery, if it is possible to create really powerful undead, create. Else save it as a source of evil for warding\imp summonings
Put some wards in city (we will fight with wizards, soon so it's necesarry)
9) Remember early days, and raise amberashs (due to that mass hunting thing we'll have many animals)
10) Only if evil power is left: Start populating empty houses\port\moat with civilian imps (we can always enlist them as an army, but they should be useful as peons, too. Resource base is important). Summon all types of imps: red, black, blue, green, yellow.
New designs
1)Green imp:
Appearance: Froglike
Advantages: amphibian, jump, illusion magic, hypnosis
Disadvantages: cold-blooded, susceptible to fire, no direct damage attack
2)Yellow imp:
Appearance: Jelly, but usually prefers humanoid form
Advantages: becomes extremely corrosive at will
Disadvantages: slow, destroyed in water
3) Experiment with a super baneghoul/"Flesh titan":
*28 rather than 7 ghouls,
*four sprawling legs for stability
* two sets of arms: one normal scaled up extremely strong baneghoul arms, one pair humongouslly long and whit a great many joints and many many spindly fingers http://goblinscomic.wikia.com/wiki/Mr._Fingers
* the main brain hosed in the centre of the creature. The many smaller heads should be enough for sense.
* gaping maw, styled after that of lampreys, on top into which victims can simply be dropped.
Edit: oh, and it obviously needs to have a deafening, shirking roar, which is actually loaded with evil and magically paralyses and inspires terror.
Edit2: and it's skeleton/support structure should be forged of metal.
4) feel free to offer more
CFM
1) Design Akatree crossbow
2) Upgrade one more acolyte to experienced cultist
3) Upgrade cultists to acolytes
4) Raise Amberarshs, carefully stockpile them in inactive state
5) Research imp summoning
6) Transfer 6 Acolytes to Followers of the Tall Man (one in each town) We must spread magic knowledge and give our spies some magic support
Followers of the Tall Man
3 power Recruitment
3 power Espionage
Missionaries of the Alternate Faith
1 power: Recruitment (nobles, merchants, wizards, only important people)
1 power: Gathering resources
The realm
One time orders:
Forge darkbarr steel gates for Grantown
Forge steel skeleton for new uberghoul thing, transport it to Grantown
Dig a moat around Grantown (if there are no moat already.) build a permanent bridge over it Blue imps need a place to live.
Arm 200 peons
Long term orders:
Mass fishing, mass hunting and food stockpiling. But slaughtering wild animals\fish is more important, than stockpiling: 65 resources per week.
Transfer to CFM: 10 resources per week
The army
1) Mostly garrison Grantown and help peons to fortify it.
2) Keep a small garrison in Akataki, too.
3) Dragons, Sintaurs, Amberashs and Dal'Kahh the Avaricious aid with that mass hunting thing
All off above valid until enemy army comes near, or another important event happens.
Goodness gracious (great balls of fire).
For an entire month the forge does nothing but produce the skeleton. You must guide them every step of the way to make sure they do not fail, and to help infuse the steel with the power it will need to serve its purpose. When it is finally complete, the whole thing is disassembled and loaded into wagons, then carted to Akataki- over a road which has recently been smoothed and widened considerably, making the journey much easier- where the steel is loaded into crude galleys. The galleys make their way down the river, hastened along by slaves working the oars, until it reaches the docks of Grantown- or rather, the docks of the Grantown Cemetery. Here it is assembled, and here are brought forth some sixty slaves, who with a single wave of demonic energy are transformed into ghouls. The largest, fittest of the Ghouls are then tied to the steel skeleton.
In order to provide the needed biomass, the fresher corpses in the cemetery are dug up, and the dead from Grantown ferried across. The bodies are ground down into a slurry, which is force-fed to each of the steel-bound ghouls until their stomach bulges.
Cultists draw a great number of runes and signs on the ground around the construct, build four pyres into which are thrown a number of struggling captives, and chant your dark name until the air is suffused with evil, and the bound ghouls writhe in fearful anticipation of what will come next.
Then it begins. Flesh bubbles; expands, covers the steel; joins up with the flesh of others. Limbs shift, are subsumed into the flesh. Bones, spines, organs all waltz around the collective flesh-mass, merging, changing, binding to the steel, dissolving into nothing if you can find no use for them. The ghouls shriek in agony as the evil being poured into their bodies overwhelms even their primitive minds, sending them into fits of insanity. Cultists who were foolish enough not to run and hide when the process begun clutch their heads and scream as they too begin to mutate; random bursts of energy emanating from the *thing* making their bodies twist unpredictably.
Now the flesh covers the steel, excepting a few pieces of metal which jut out of the writhing mass. Bone and metal merge; tendons infused with ridiculous quantities of Evil grasp hold of the bone-steel and begin to pull. Slowly the eight massive limbs begin to move, and with flesh still rolling about, the thing stands upright.
But the work is not yet done. Steel is now twisted and changed, brought to the surface once more as plates of chitinous armour. In the central torso, seven of the heads are pulled apart; twisted, merged. The brain is given some measure of demonic intelligence, overcoming its insanity, allowing it to control itself- and hopefully the twenty-one other brains as well. Above the central brain, a digestive system- even simpler than that of a ghoul; a brute-force digestive system, capable of digesting nigh-anything. Directly above the stomach- lined as it is with steel-infused flesh, and filled with an evil acid that could melt through bone in seconds- the steel skeleton is twisted and pulled and sharpened into three rings of terrible teeth, with the force to crush rock, and the sharpness to cut metal. No mouth contains this gaping maw; no tongue to taste what falls into it, no lips to seal it from the elements- the beast will eat everything with no heed for taste, and rain or snow that falls into its uncovered maw will simply serve to slack its thirst.
For the beast to breath, seven sets of lungs are placed around the bubbling stomach, connected by seven fleshy valves; to take their air from what falls in with the food. Strong lungs; capable of sucking oxygen out of anything, all but immune to whatever might contaminate the air above the rancid pit of acid. Strong lungs also capable of producing a terrifying shriek- a sound infused with the beasts unimaginable torment, echoing strangely through the steel teeth, bearing with it the evil energy produced by this horrific mass of flesh and steel's very existence-, a shriek which would paralyze with terror all who heard it, no matter how jaded they think themselves be to such things- cultist, soldier- even other ghouls would pause to shudder when this titan roars.
Now it is complete- and an exhausting effort it has been. The cemetary has been all but sanctified by all the evil pulled into creating this monstrosity. Four crab-like legs support the central torso- an almost spherical mass of writhing flesh covered with chitin-like plates of bone-steel sliding around, occasionally revealing one of the screaming lesser heads, reaching out with twisted arms, begging for two things: a meal, and the sweet release of death.
It has four arms; two of which are thick, tipped in great bone-steel plated fists, capable of smashing through stone walls with ease; the other two are long and spindly- but their greatest strength is not immediately obvious; for the flesh of those arms has been left malleable; the bones, reconfigurable. With a thought, the beast could extend the arms to be twice their already considerable length, or split the ends into dozens of writhing 'fingers', capable of grasping entire squads of soldiers and squeezing the life out of them.
From above, one can appreciate the steel maw in the center of the beasts torso; surrounded by waving fleshy tendrils, which push anything which fell upon the beast towards the central maw, where the steel teeth might come apart with a horrible grinding noise, then start to chew in preparation for the meal headed its way.
Below, the beast has one more surprise up its sleeve. For any mortal who was 'fortunate' enough to fall into the stomach without being properly chewed by the teeth, might find themselves rescued from a swift demise at the hands of the stomach's acid, only to be pulled into a far worse fate; a massive womb-like organ in which the beast itself mutates them; repairing their skeleton and muscles as best it can with whatever junk it ate recently, slapping a layer of protective armour over their puny mortal frames- armour made of a mixture of rocks, metal, and mucus-, then with a violent shove sending the gibbering mortal out into the world, driven insane by the experience and the mutations, but retaining one coherent thought: it must protect its mother- which is to say, the beast from whence it was recently ejected.
Several of these humanoid servants may be held within the beast at one time, ready to be 'deployed' when it feels threatened. The servants themselves look pretty much like a half-digested human covered in a (surprisingly tough) slimy goop. They attack with no regard for personal safety in an insane flurry, covering enemies in the slime which coats them- a foul-smelling, poisonous, and corrosive slime.
Needless to say this beast was a success. Its ludicrously enhanced ghoul-esque regenerative powers mean that even if someone chopped off a limb or killed one of the heads, it would simply be able to reattach the limb/regrow the head. The only way someone could kill it is by chopping through the central torso and completely ripping out the main brain- a task that would surely be impossible.
As you muse thus, the beast- which I will for now refer to as the Titaneghoul- begins systematically killing and eating everything around it: cultists, slaves, other ghouls, trees, tombstones, sections of iron fencing- one of its arms even reaches towards you for a moment, before deciding against it. You command it to stop. It doesn't listen. You command it to stop, this time expending some energy to give your voice strength. It doesn't listen. You command it to stop in demontongue, expending part of your very essence in order to send your message directly into each of its twenty-two brains.
It stops.
But soon after stopping, it begins to subtly pick up a few fallen morsels and throw them into its maw.
You will need somewhere to keep this thing. Somewhere with a lot of food. Somewhere it can't get out of, because it would appear that the beast will listen only to you, and even then, only when you expend considerable effort commanding it.
Brief break here, so I can say this: the Titaneghoul is about as powerful an entity as you could create. If you want servants more powerful than that, you will have to go for other demons. It cost you 100 Peons, 100 Resources, and all the evil leakage you had, plus all the evil in the cemetery to create. And I still think I should have charged you more. Eh, whatever. Use wisely, do not keep in reach of anyone.
Meanwhile, the realm works. Nets are made. Spears sharpened. Paths carved into dense forests. For weeks, hundreds of your followers go out into the wilds and slaughter the creatures they find there. What fish inhabit the river at this time of year are hauled out en masse. The blood of forest creatures stains the snow red for miles around. Some of the catch is dried and stored; much more is left to rot. Predators thrive, and Beastmen tribes are lured out of hiding by the free meat. Some of the beastmen join you; most, however, eat their fill of carrion, fill their packs with dried meat, and then gather together and march south, a massive host intent on causing chaos and destruction, and filling their bellies with plunder from civilized lands. They have the courtesy- and wisdom- to stay clear of your lands, but promise that should they run across your followers on their warpath, they will have no mercy; and advise that you command your followers stay out of their way.
Grantown is fortified; the roads between it and Akataki improved. Your forces patrol around it, listening carefully for sign of an enemy attack.
You receive word from the CFM that a band of novice wizards was sent to investigate the facility. They were denied entry, of course, but somehow made their way in anyway. They were all killed, obviously- but had their luck been better, perhaps they could have done some actual damage
*. Security is tightened, and the wards redoubled- procedure changes from sending visitors away to capturing visitors and using them for experiments. For now, the king is more concerned with the news that Grantown too has fallen, and Culloden was attacked as well, and has no time or forces to spare investigating- all of (the remainder of) the realm works to get the army ready to fight a demon.
Eventually, their preparations are complete. Your scouts inform you that a force some twenty-five-hundred men strong is marching upriver, accompanied by a host of priests, wizards, and knights. Their own scouts clash with yours; minor skirmishes occur all across the valley. The enemy has gone to garrison an old keep near Boat-of-Garten, and seem to be looking to lure you out.
Their raids will soon grow more daring, and you will lose patrols and outlying hamlets if you do not react. You have two weeks before the army is in place and the serious raids will begin; you should use this time to
-Recruit more armed Cultists
-Recruit armed Slaves
-Reanimate armed Zombies
-Create more ghouls/beastmen
-Summon more imps.
In addition, there were several minor decisions you had to make over the course of these seven weeks.
For one, your consort did not take so well to the lessons in demontongue or demonic magic. She tried- she insisted that she was fine, even as madness lurked in the corners of her mind- but eventually, she snapped. She is completely insane; a babbling lunatic, and the insanity of her mind leads to a weakness of body which will kill her soon. Alyshtr seems quite upset by this; apparently she enjoyed the sound of her mothers voice, but this insane babbling just reminds her of a drunken black imp. She has asked you to fix her. The Unnamed Guard, who has fallen to the temptation of the pleasures of the flesh- though guiltily, and still cursing your name- has taken it upon himself to look after her. In exchange for fixing his leg, he assures everyone. He would rather she died, he says, but one good turn deserves another. You decided to
-Do your best to reverse the damage done by the lessons.
-Grant her the mental and physical strength required to overcome her insanity.
-Tell your daughter that this is what happens to the weak.
The Titaneghoul- or whatever you chose to call it- needed to be... dealt with. To keep it from murdering
all your peons you
-Trapped it in a small valley, and had food and mortals thrown in every few days to keep it alive.
-Sent it downriver, to rampage wildly through the lands.
-Had your peons build a cage strong enough to hold it, and fed it captives and Akatree flesh
The Followers of the Tall Man, your spies throughout the Eastern Confederacy, managed to establish a functioning espionage network. They informed you of the basic political mood in the Confederacy (boring), and that King Malcolm called for aid against a 'Demonic force', but was politely denied (with many courtiers gossiping about his madness), though a few wizards and monster hunters went to see what all the fuss was about. They asked what else they should focus their espionage efforts on:
-Infiltrating higher into the various courts of the confederacy, as that they might begin to influence decisions and events to benefit you.
-Acquiring contacts in the criminal sphere, which would allow them to acquire more recruits and resources, as well as means of sabotaging various nations.
-Spreading misinformation about you and your activities.
The Mad Flames, after a multitude of often deadly accidents when summoning Imps, decided that the summoning of Imps is advanced necromancy well beyond their ken. They suggested several new avenues of research:
-Combat magic; as that Acolytes and Invocators may be more effective on the field of battle
-Support magic; as that Acolytes and Invocators might make your other forces more effective on the field of battle
-Corruption magic; as that Acolytes and Invocators would be more capable of aiding your cultists in their everyday activities such as recruitment, enslavement, and construction.
Many new recruits have come to join you; beasts and monsters from the mountains, undead from the graveyards, lesser demons from cursed ruins, and mortals seeking power who sneaked up the Barr to join you. All informed that there are more forces awake who could join you, but would require more convincing. A mental shout aimed directly at them would probably draw in a bunch. You called out to
-The beasts and monsters of the mountains
-The undead of the cemeteries
-The demons of the cursed ruins
-The evil men seeking power
So, lots of choices to make. And also armies to recruit. Then next update prepare for the battle, then the update after that... well, that should be a fairly conclusive update.
One way or another.
Name: Krlnkir Yrlvnt
Physical might: 101 (-25: Leakage)(+49: Sacrifice)(-1: Commanding the Titaneghoul)
Mental might: 112 (-34: Leakage)(+49 Worship)(-1: Commanding the Titaneghoul)
Other: Corrupter.
Demonic Realm: Akataki, Barrspring, and Grantown. 3500 Peons (-100: the Titaneghoul)(+100: New recruits). Provides 100 Resources per week. +7 Physical Might/week +7 Mental Might/week
Resources: 208 (-10/Week: Sent to CFM)(-100: the Titaneghoul)(-455: Operation Depopulate the Wilds)(-70: Infrastructure)(+105: Operation Depopulate the Wilds)
Defences: Considerable.
Notable features: The Forge-Temple at Barrspring provides weaponry of darkbarr steel- high quality corrupted metal.
The forests and rivers of your land have been hunted and fished excessively. Packs of wolves roam, grown large and vicious from easy eating. Your peons must work harder to find meals- although for now, the stocks of food provide.
Demonic Armies: 200 Armed Cultists, 15 Sergeants, 200 Armed Zombies, 150 Skeletal Warriors, 10 Amberärsh Packs, 20 Giant Rat Packs, 80 Spectres, 100 Beastmen, 32 Armoured Sintaurs, 75 Ghouls, 4 Armoured Baneghouls, 10 Black Dragons, 6 Water Elementals, 20 Red Imps, 15 Black Imps, 10 Lesser Demons, 5 Catapults)
Cults:
The Mad Flames: Low organisation. 32 Cultists in the Church of the Flames of Madness. Led by Balthanor the Necromancer
Power Level: 13 -1 Amberärsh Furnace -6 Training -6 Research
Resources: 96 (+3/week: Workshops)(+9/week: Received from Barrspring)
Cultists: 3 Cultists, 6 Living-Polybolos-Wielders, 20 Acolytes, 3 Invocators
Servants: 8 Amberärsh Packs
Other: Design and construction of the Living Polybolos goes off without a hitch. However, attempts to summon imps prove less successful. Many attempts are made. Some fail outright. Others succeed, but the imps refuse to do the bidding of their summoners, and run rampant. Six cultists are killed by rampaging imps, and they are still no closer to figuring out how to keep them under control.
Followers of the Tall Man. Very high organisation. 72 cultists in six locations; Dragonsnest, Greywinde, Port Hope, Goldhall, Easthall and Narsis.
Power Level: 14 -3 Recruitment -3 Espionage
Resources: 0
Cultists: 66 Cultists, 6 Acolytes
Locations: Dragonsnest, Greywinde, Port Hope, Goldhall, Easthall and Narsis: 11 Cultists, 1 Acolyte each.
Other: In gathering information to further your goals, several cultists had 'accidents'. Fortunately there is no way of connecting them back to the cult. Other cultists are more successful. They manage to infiltrate the courts of the Eastern Confederacy as low-level employees, and subtly gather information. The Acolytes manage to develop message-sending spells which allow them to send the information to your forces with ease.
Missionaries of the Alternate Faith. High organisation. 24 members in four locations.
Power Level: 9 -1 Recruitment -1 Espionage
Locations: Noragan (9 cultists), Sal'Sarrin (9 Cultists), [Major City] (3 Cultists), [Major City2] (3 Cultists).
Other: Established as a place where the upper class can annoymously engage in their most animalistic desires. Gluttony, lust, greed- the Alternate Faith earns many friends. Some become converts, others simply enjoy themselves, and gossip loudly about affairs of the realm- useful information, which your cultists duly note.
Champions:
Alyshtr Yrlvnt: Half-demon. 5 months old.
Physical Might: 2 (+1: Imp bodyguard Squad)
Mental Might: 3 (+1: Imp bodyguard Squad)
Other: Red Imp pet (fire magic and demonic tales), pet slave, Black Imp pet (metal working and demonic ales), Green Imp pet (illusion magic and demonic wails), Yellow Imp pet (shapeshifting and demonic grails)
Knowledge: Demontongue, mind-corruption, basic fire magic.
Personality: Chaotic. Cruel, with a twisted sense of humour. Cares about her mother.
Consort: Mother of Alyshtr.
Physical Might: 0 -2 Corruption Sickness
Mental Might: 0 -2 Insane
Mutations: Refined Cannibal.
Other: Took badly to the first few lessons, but continued. Took very badly to the next few lessons. Her mind is in shambles, and she is on the brink of death. Alyshtr is rather upset. The Unnamed Guard is looking after her. 'In return for fixing his leg'.
Dal'Kahh the Avaricious: Warrior with demonic strength, armed with Darkbarr armour and Barrsdoom.
Physical Might: 10 (+3 Axe)
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: 0 (Rebellious)
Mental Might: 0 (Rebellious)
Other: Reluctantly accepted offer to manage brothel. Did not resist temptation long; makes considerable use of the staff, and has started to eat and drink more richly. Still refuses to eat your consort's soup, but is willing to talk with her.
Balthanor the Necromancer: Travelled to Akataki to join your cause. Has considerable knowledge of magic and necromancy.
Physical Might: 4 (+2: Living Polybolos)
Mental Might: 13 (+5: Dark Crystal)
Equipment: Dark Crystal which emanates evil energy (+5 Mental might. Requires basic knowledge of necromancy to use). Living Polybolos (+2 Physical Might, Ranged)
Knowledge: Magic, Necromancy.
The Titaneghoul: A massive monster made of steel and flesh.
Physical Might: 50 (Note: Almost impossible to actually kill- even collapsing a building on it won't kill it)
Mental Might: 5 (Note: Almost entirely immune to hypnosis and illusions (or other magics affecting the mind/senses))
Other: Indescribably tormented minds: Requires considerable effort to control; almost entirely immune to hypnosis and illusions. Omnivore: Will eat anything. Friend, foe, or scenery. Unstable Biology: Physical might will rise and fall at random. Terror-inducing-shriek: May randomly shriek, causing terror in all around it. Only entities which are entirely incapable of feeling fear (greater demons, greater angels, elementals, entirely mindless undead) are immune.
Fortresses:
The Church of the Flames of Madness. Formerly Dolnar Asylum, HQ of Barrtal monster hunters.
Mighty Walls (50). Moat (5, slows attackers). Dark Wards (30). 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 enemies)
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. With the resources sent from Barrspring, the Cultists can use the workshops far more effectively than before.
Library: A library and series of studies allow cultists to learn the arts of magic. Contains a host of information on both Magic and Necromancy, enabling Acolytes to be upgraded to Experienced Cultists, and for a wide variety of spells and rituals to be learnt.
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. Balthanor's Dark Crystal powers the circles.
Amberärsh Furnace: A horrific device which industrializes the summoning of Amberärshs. Animals go in, Amberärshs come out.
Author
Topic: Demonhood. -Slumbering for an indeterminate number of Strange Aeons- (Read 237353 times)