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[Iituem]

Persephone.  Let's take the fight to Stratos and uncover the mystery once and for all.

[USEC_OFFICER]

James, because we're best bros at this point.

[FuzzyZergling]

Persephone, I think James can handle himself right now.

[Korbac]

As much as I am loathe to say it, Persephone, because she claims she can make Stratos all friendly again.

[UltraValican]

Persephone.  Let's take the fight to Stratos and uncover the mystery once and for all.

[Happerry]

James, Because I like him better.

[Xeron]

Persephone

[EuchreJack]

James, the Dwarven God.

(As opposed to that elfy goddess.  Ew.)

[Delta Foxtrot]

Update #9, Mission 9

Sorry about the delay. Life, school, LP induced dosbox binge, things got in the way a bit. But have no fear, Vlad vonHavsvik is here. Again a bit bigger update so I sliced it up. Enjoy.

Spoiler: Mission#9 Persephone pt.I (click to show/hide)

vonHavsvik: The journey to Thryring was relatively easy. The deaths of Pyro and Charnel had cast much of the world into such chaos as to mask well the movements of a lone wizard.



vonHavsvik: Stratos, consider the merits of peace. Your ally Charnel is gone, and victory is far from certain. There is a growing chaos which strengthens only Marduk. If we...
Stratos: Marduk serves me.
vonHavsvik: What?
Stratos: I summoned him to sow discord, which he has done quite well. The false prophecy was garishly melodramatic, to be sure, but oh so effective. Do not feel bad. Your skills were instrumental to my plan's success. I'll name a city after you when you're gone.

Man. That Stratos is a jerk.  Jerk with an awesome campaign story. Gotta love that airhead.



Dragons! To be honest, they're my second least favourite of all 5-soul titans. That said, they're still awesome 5-soul über units.



The big grey thing is Toldor. Persephone's ent hero unit. Heavy hitter. Has a special ability that protects units near it from damage.





Crap. Hachimen just cast Death. Kills eight units, big or small, friend or foe. I order my units to retreat back to my altar while I charge Death with my manahoars to buy some time.





With nothing else in sight, Death turns on Hachimen.





That gnome giving us covering fire is Thestor. Other servant of Persephone.





I cast borehole to dwarf hachimen's attack.



They respond in kind with cloudkill. Dammit.





Luckily my borehole took care of most of his units so all that had to be done was to endure the cloudkill.

Spoiler: Mission#9 Persephone pt.II (click to show/hide)

Good staging ground for Abraxus to launch her attacks against us.



But first and foremost we try to put the pressure on Hachimen.



Fuuuuuuuuuu-





Driven by the cloudkill, we head straight into Abraxus's Yetis and Flurries. Yetis are badass melee units, almost unmatched in this game. Luckily, we have dragons. And hero ent.



Cloudkill spam continues as Hachimen strikes our rear.



Luckily it does little damage and since my borehole apparently took care of most of Hachimen's souls, he is alone against my melee death machine.



Flurries are three souls a piece, yetis net four. All thanks to Lady Abraxus.



Speak of the devil. Silverbacks are probably my favourite 5-soul unit. Winged silverback gorillas with a freezing ice breath.



Meet Bovine Intervention.







Dragon just happened to fly by as the cow smashed Lord Surtur.





Tornado. Along with cloudkill it's Stratos's über spell. It's not that high on pure damage (even 1-soul units can survive it) but it keeps you up preventing you from doing much else in the meantime.

















I need to take out a few frostwolves that survived the fall. Nothing major.

Spoiler: Mission#9 Persephone pt.III (click to show/hide)

Realising that two dragons and an über ent isn't going to cut it for the rest of the mission, I summon some boulderdashes for heavy ranged support.





I leave boulderdashes to siege Hachimen while I teleport with my dragons to the manalith attacked by a single silverback.











Glorious. Onto Hatchimen.





Hell hath no fury.







All that remains is a Pyro 5-souler.





Halo of Earth plan backfires.



All this time though, the boulderdashes had been doing a steady dps on the manalith.



With manalith cleared, I summoned a dragon to begin the desecration.





Will Hachimen cast Death in time to save their skin?



Guess not.

Spoiler: Mission#9 Persephone pt.IV (click to show/hide)

As we close in on the idol, we are treated a cut-scene.





Abraxus: We are betrayed my Lord!









Stratos: Stop, please!

Looks like Marduk is busy killing off rest of the pantheon after our work on Charnel and Pyro.

Marduk: There are no false prophecies. Only false gods.





We teleport in just in time to see Marduk port away.

vonHavsvik: Marduk! I will stop you!



Jadugarr: You had best attend to me first. ATTACK!

We teleport back to where we were before the cut-scene, of course.





I decide to spice things up a bit with netherfiends. In true demonic fashion the first thing I have them do is slaughter up innocents for souls. Sure, those guys worshipped Ashur/Marduk, but I'm willing to bet good money it was more out of ignorance than anything else.



Jadugarr charges in with his army. yeti's and silverbacks are boss and pose a clear threat to us. Rest of his ranged units on the other hand are more annoying than anything. But that's what borehole is for so no biggie.



Yetis have a chance of freezing you every time they hit. Not lovely.



Toldor, the dragons and my spells turn the scales in my favour though. Even if it is a nasty slugging match.



You ain't going nowhere with my souls, ya hear.



That glowing green field? Toldor's life shield ability. A decent equalizer for my netherfiends against the superior yeti.



With Jadugarr's power broken, I have my units charge straight to his altar. It's a steamroll.





vonHavsvik: When the battle was over and the influence of Stratos long since faded, Persephone's presence should have returned to me, but there was nothing. Elysium began to fall apart as my own home had so long before. I began a desperate hunt for Marduk. Eventually, my travels led me to you

Spoiler: Finale (click to show/hide)

One more to go. No ethreal realm, no god choices, no nothing. Just the final level. What wonders lay beyond the final loading screen? This and more, in the next episode of... DRAGONBALL -BORN -SACRIFICE.

And just making a headcount at this point:
Persephone - Dead(?)
James - Unknown
Stratos - Dead
Pyro - BY MY HAND
Charnel - BY MY HAND

James is bro. Takes more than mere Marduk to kill the king of worms and assorted earthen beings. And once more thanks for all who voted for an awesome spell & unit selection I have at my disposal. The firefist/netherfiend pair is a bit redundant but other than that it's pure gold.

[Delta Foxtrot]

Update #10, Mission 10

Here we are. The final update. Final mission. Will our heroes find and defeat Marduk? Will the world be saved? Will there be... Sacrifice?

Spoiler: The Crucible (click to show/hide)

Zyzyx: There was one other thing.
vonHavsvik: We did encounter a zombie, fleeing from the desolation of the south. He told us of a massive artefact of very strange appearance.
Mithras: You think it may have something to do with Marduk?
vonHavsvik: That is my hope.

Spoiler: Finale pt.I (click to show/hide)

vonHavsvik: I see it.. It...



Mithras: Not the same as the ones in Jhera?
vonHavsvik: No.



Mithras: As the worlds do differ, so must Marduk's incarnations. Tell me, how can you discern his weakness if you know nothing of his nature?



vonHavsvik: How am I to learn his nature? Marduk destroys everything he touches.
Mithras: Is destruction all you have seen? You a wizard, yet you see as one without the gift. Behold and be enlightened.









Zyzyx: I knew it! I knew it all along.
Marduk: Now, open your eyes and see. I am no mere Marduk. My names are countless. My age beyond reckoning. I am the embodiment of all creation's ills, and my purpose is but a simple one: to annihilate all that is unworthy. All that is a reflection of myself.





And with that, he 'ports away. The deal with Marduk is that he has superior stats in everything and the ability to pick up red (ie. my) souls. Luckily his AI doesn't know this so that only happens occasionally by accident.

Zyzyx: Well, you wanted to fight him. There he is. All I can tell you is he probably doesn't have to play by all the same rules as you. Don't even bother looking for an altar to desecrate.

vonHavsvik: It ends now, Marduk. Quickly, we must destroy that device.



The device can be seen up that hill.



Dragons are summoned...



... And boreholes cast. Pity most of Marduk's units are flyers.



A biblical swarm of locusts screen a few hellmouths.









The tricky thing about this mission is that with Marduk's insane speed and health and tendency to head straight for his souls, getting any is difficult.



I kill him but not before he collects all of his souls.

Spoiler: Finale pt.II (click to show/hide)

There will be bombardment.



Disappointingly ineffectual, I sic a cow and two dragons at the manalith.







Marduk attacks behind my back.









Just in time to foil a banishment attempt by Marduk.



My heavy hitters succeed in bashing the last of Marduk's guys, while I smash the hellmouth.



Having finally procured some souls, I augment my melee heavy army with some boulderdashes.



Slam a cow at a 5-souler, collect the loot and retreat. Since bovine intervention gibs the target, leaving behind free-for-all souls, it's a godsend in this mission.





Plague, Charnel's equivalent of bombardment. Nasty AOE.



The silverback freezes everyone while Death starts slaughtering units left and right with everyone taking damage from Plague.



I'm not the only one who knows resurrection.





I get KO'd and am forced to retreat.

Spoiler: Finale pt.III (click to show/hide)

Time for a counter-offensive.



Fly, my minions!





My dragons grind through most things Marduk throws at me.





Marduk makes it difficult to gather up souls.





The dark one falls, if only for a moment.



And with him the manalith.



I get some boulderdashes once more and bombard the advancing Marduk.









Marduk attempts to recover some souls but my dragons and wall spell stand fast.





Cow...



... and bombard.



With a little friendly fire on the side.



I get a decent soul loot this time and summon some basilisks for support.

Spoiler: Finale pt.IV (click to show/hide)

By this time Zyzyx gets curious.

Zyzyx: We're doing no damage!
Marduk: The workings of my devices are beyond your ken. Abandon this foolishness.
Zyzyx: Let me get a closer look at it. Maybe I can find a weakness. It's drawing energy from his manaliths. I'm sure of it.
vonHavsvik: We must destroy them then.



The next manalith is defended by a phoenix.









Beaten, Marduk flees the scene.



Boulderdashes easily outrange the manalith defenders.





I summon some Icaruses and easily swarm the last manaliths. By now Marduk has apparently lost most of his souls to mount any serious resistance.



With the last manalith under my control, my units charge the megalith.





Glorious 2001 explosions galore.



Marduk: You think you have won? I am but the agent of greater forces of judgement. This world is unworthy. It will be destroyed!
vonHavsvik: Your threats are hollow, Marduk. Let us finish this!



Marduk proceeds to try and wreck my altar.



Once more, into the breach!



Gankged by the baddest melee monsters in the game.





Death materializes.



Bye bye Toldor, bye bye dragons.



Luckily my Icaruses kept pounding the doombringer.











vonHavsvik: All that time we walked together, you listened but you did not hear me. I told you I would stop you this time.
*ground rumbles*
Zyzyx: Do you feel that?
James: Hey! It's like a great fog is lifted, both from my head and my eyes. Marduk is gone, isn't he?
vonHavsvik: Not merely gone. Slain.
James: Wonderful! It's just as Mithras said: a vagrant comes outta da gloom, to smash that Marduk's maw of doom.
vonHavsvik: The battle is won, and the rebuilding of the Glebe may begin.
James: And you're alright?
vonHavsvik: Aye. But Mithras was lost.
James: What happened?
vonHavsvik: He sacrificed himself that Marduk could be defeated. Mithras must be remembered as a hero, for he told the truth no matter what the cost and feared to face no danger.

And that wraps up this LP. Was fun, hope you liked it.

[FuzzyZergling]

Yay! Was James the only one that survived?
If so, I think that world is going to be pretty nice when all is said and done.

Great LP, it's nice to see one of these things get finished instead of dying halfway through.

[Korbac]

Hooray! Marduk's ass is kicked.

Brill LP!