SprylliNES IV: The Eternal Myth

Foolish nonsense. Your city is built on silly dreams and hopes for miraculous survival, instead of hard work. It doesn't matter who your leader is, because you were all tricked from the beginning!
-Love Frast

good point.

Megaman_zx said:

good point.

Click to expand...

What is this heresy I hear?

*glints eyes*

i'm sorry most all powerful and satanic ruler endas, you will not here such blasphemy again

If you would allow a newcomer such as myself to join, I would happily take the role of Midnas Ax-Lord.

Is this how it'll go then? Give the city to she-demon? You great uncle the Devil might not be well disposed to hear that you're running The City That Spites Him. Or how about the Hillman with no head and no spine, hmm? Perhaps the Horsehammer who is as slow as he is fleet? Mayhap the Ax-lord is fit to give ruling a swing, hehehe! Go on now! Choose among yourselves and don't bother with me. I think you're all awful! And don't even try to threaten me. My whole involvement is a sure sign that one of the gods is using me as an instrument of their own divine twisted amusement!

Electric: yes, go ahead, describe your character like the others, and say who you want as king.

Quisani said:

Is this how it'll go then? Give the city to she-demon? You great uncle the Devil might not be well disposed to hear that you're running The City That Spites Him. Or how about the Hillman with no head and no spine, hmm? Perhaps the Horsehammer who is as slow as he is fleet? Mayhap the Ax-lord is fit to give ruling a swing, hehehe! Go on now! Choose among yourselves and don't bother with me. I think you're all awful! And don't even try to threaten me. My whole involvement is a sure sign that one of the gods is using me as an instrument of their own divine twisted amusement!

Click to expand...

A she-demon? I am sorry, but I do not think I resemble a demon in any shape or form, you foolish little man.

"You there!" Midnas Ax-Lord said sharply to a passing civilian. The man flinched at the sound of Midnas' booming voice. He recognized him as one of the Horsehammer's followers. Clearly, the man lacked the willpower of his renowned leader.

"I am at your service, sir," the man stammered.

"I'm looking for the man called Cephas the Wildman," Midnas demanded, his
voice smacking of anger.

"The Wildman? I believe I last observed him in the courtyard of the palace, noble Lord."

Midnas turned on his heel and started heading in the opposite direction. The crowd quickly shied out of the path of the rugged Chieftain as he plowed a way towards the courtyard. Those belonging to the Ax-Lord's tribe bowed respectfully, while others stood back wearily. Most, however, backed out of his way without complaint. Midnas was not known to kill men in his anger, but no one wanted to risk their skin challenging the idea.

He kept going until he reached the statue of Lord Gritchen, where a lone figure was waiting for him. He was a heartbeat away from tearing into him verbally when he realized it was not Cephas the Wildman, but beautiful maiden of seventeen years of age, with a mind more clever than most.

"Are you heading to see the Wildman?" she demanded.

"Ophelia, this doesn't concern you," Midnas said. "Leave me to my task."

"Father, please," Ophelia asked of him in her gentle, soothing voice. "If this is about the farmer's quarrel..."

"Must you worry me about this again?" Midnas asked. "I will not stand idly by while Cephas' farmers continue to harass our people. I will speak Cephas personally on the matter, as he ought to have more control over his people."

"By barging through the city armed to the teeth and demanding an audience with him?" Ophelia retorted. "If this your idea of peaceable discussion, I'm afraid to see you on the battlefield!"

Midnas Ax-Lord stalked off into the courtyard, leaving his exasperated daughter behind him. Finally, he recognized Cephas standing in the foyer, conversing with the Witch.

"My whole involvement is a sure sign that one of the gods is using me as an instrument of their own divine twisted amusement!" Cephas proclaimed to the Witch.

"It's a shame you can't control your own people as well, Cephas," Midnas said bitterly.

"Doesn't anyone see what I mean?" Cephas gestured wildly at Midnas. "Even you, Endas, should be able to see the ill-fate that rests upon my shoulders! I have but to make note of my torment, and look what the gods send me! Midnas with an ax to grind. HAH! I have no doubt what so ever that he's here to willing to rend me limb from limb because the fools I had no say in choosing to lead are doing something, somewhere to some of his fools!"

Cephas then had to stop for a moment to catch his breath, at which point he said more calmly, "All I want to do, Ednas, is to read a few books, eat some fresh meat pasties, and drink a little tea. I can't do that until I've got a competent ruler in charge of this blasted city of Grichen's or a blasted tyrant has locked me away in some tower. Now, I'm going to see what I can do keep Ax-lord from killing me, yes? And don't frown, dear. It ruins your fair complexion. Be a good girl now and run along and go have some fun, preferably without tormenting some poor soul. Next time we talk, we can hopefully have tea."

At that point, he turned to Midnas. "Ah look what we have here! My ten o'clock, right on time! What's happened this time? Caloren's goat tried to eat little Pibbly Wurstone again? Deglas tried to dig a ditch through someone's home? Shall we go out there and see what I can do? They're not bright boys, no doubt, but they mean well."

"Mean well?" Midnas said angrily. "Are you aware that the peasant Deglas almost killed someone? Or that there would have been a war over the damned goat had Ivan not intervened?"

Midnas glared at Cephas out of his one good eye, having lost the other in a deadly civil war amongst his tribe. "I have seen more of war than men twice my age, Cephas. Spilling blood comes easily to me, but I refuse to fight and die over a damned farmer's quarrel!"

Turn One ends; Turn Two begins. This may be considered "Update One".

So, the famed Ax-Lord and the fierce Wildman deigned to die over a farmer's quarrel, and this was the beginning of great troubles for the city of Lerone. For, as time passed, men died of natural causes, but never did the feud between the House of brave Midnas and the House of godlike Cephas end. Midnas was the first to die, but within a week a peasant of Midnas's House slew Cephas as he walked in the street, raving how Midnas had died by his fellow-hero's treachery, and this peasant lied grievously and terribly, servant of the Devil as he was. But never, in all the seven generations that passed, did Endas the Witch die. She grew aged, and her white hair trailed along the ground like a snowy cloak.

The city was a place of unchanging prosperity, but yet of dreadful silence and fear, for no-one dared think, let alone speak, without the dreadful fear that whatever they might say might bring them a stone from one of the rocks thrown by the companions of Cephas's descendant, rich Pollix the Brave, or might bring them the transfigurement of a spear from the hand of one of the kinsmen of the Ax-Lord Midnas the Younger, or might bring them under a horrific enchantment from the icy-haired Queen. The sons of Higgs mourned the drunkenness of the founder of their House and dreamed of ways to restore the greatness of the people of the Hills; some wanted glory and set off to hunt the most ferocious boars and the swiftest stags of the wildlands around, and others returned to the hills, and many of them paid in blood for their folly.

For it was the night six before the last new moon of the year before the winter solstice when they saw the dreadful beast. It came over the mountaintop and down the foothills, and even Pederic, descendant of Micil the Brave, was afeard. His men ran away from him, and he was slain by a single stroke of the monster's great paw as it passed through his lands towards the city, and his son Micil took control of the House of Brave Micil. The beast burnt his lands to ash with its fiery behind, and his followers set their minds to finding themselves a new living in the city. It was a creature than can never be properly described by man, but one man, standing before it at dusk, would see a golden mane stretching beyond it and drifting away to the horizon and meeting the setting sun, and would see for its rear but a flaming pyre. From its front shone out the bright green eyes of an ox's face, and its horns were of the brightest ivory, and from its rear shone a snowy tail like the hair of our undying Queen.

As the sun set over the city of Lerone in the night seven generations after the time of Cephas the Wildman and Midnas Ax-Lord, the beast, who was yet to be named by the rich leaders of the people of Lerone, set forth towards the city, burning all in its wake, but when it reached the city walls, it shied away. Perhaps they were entranced, or perhaps its burning hide could not destroy its miraculous stones, or perhaps the Devil chose that the people of Lerone should die through starvation and not by that golden paw or the very glance of those gleaming green eyes?



Seon is Endas the Witch, the Undying Queen
Anonymoose is Frast, descendant of Frast Over-the-Lake, now the only chieftain outside the city
Megaman_zx is any chieftain of the Hillmen whom he chooses; there is no single ruler among the clans of the kinsmen of Higgs
Quisani is Pollix the Brave, descendant of Cephas the Wildman
electric926 is Midnas Ax-Lord the Younger, descendant of Midnas Ax-Lord
LDiCesare is Echlas the Tamer of Beasts, descendant of Dontas Horsehammer

Micil, son of Pederic, descendant of Micil the Brave, is free, and if noone takes him I will characterise him as an NPC.

Echlas was worried. They called him "Tamer of Beasts". His forefather had been the first to ride a horse. His own father had tricked the devil into teaching him the use of the shoulder collar a few years before his death, ensuring better ploughing and letting them draw heavier carts.
Could it be the devil's vengeance to send a beast against the city? His father had died the day before the beast was first seen. Could that be a coincidence?
No, it wasn't. It couldn't be, not in the world where Echlas lived.

Now Echlas was leaving the city. He was riding his favourite mare and carried a spear and a net. He knew he had to do something to fight the beast, but he couldn't face the monster or he would die as certainly as Pederic had, who had been a fighter worth ten like Echlas.
So he went out the door in front of the beast, and he raised his spear and hurled it at the monster.
The weapon fell short, and the monster snorted.
Echlas spurred his mare, and ran, whirling his net around him. The creature charged him, and when they should have met, Echlas threw his net, and he and his mare vanished.
The beast stopped, puzzled, looking for its prey.

Far away, behind the monster, on top of a hill, Echlas and his mare reappeared, and kept galloping away.
Echlas rode away. Did he flee, did he think he could reach a place where he could undo the curse of the beast?
Only the devil might know.

dropping my non-existant inclusion, sorry

That's fine.

Another player is now welcome then!


All current players should post a story indicating what they will try to do this turn, and then I will update again. No-one is to narrate their conquering of the monster; instead, if you wanted to to that, you would narrate yourself setting out to do so, or chasing the monster as Echlas has. If you don't particularly want to do anything, characterise your House or its leader further. How has your House changed in the space of seven generations?

woah, i didn't realize we would be continuing as our offspring/ succesors, oh well, that just means that any character building i was going to do with higgs will have to be done for whoever it is i am now.

Midnas Ax-Lord the Younger looked with a mixture of reverence and pity upon the painting in the hall. It was his forefather, the first of the Ax-Lords in the city, and the greatest of warriors. Without the eyepatch, the Younger Axe-Lord would have been indistinguishable from his great ancestor. Candlelight dancing across the texture of the illustration made it sem lifelike.

A fearsome roar echoed through the great hall, and the candlelight seemed to pulse angrily. Midnas wondered what his father would have done had he not died so suddenly and left him to rule his people. He even wondered what the Greater Ax-Lord would have done. Ride out to meet the monster and end with the same fate as Echlas? When the battle between his house and that of the Wildmen's tribesmen raged on? Would he?

As Midnas pondered the actions of his ancestors, a shadow moved along the walls. Midnas spun around, his hand on his battle-ax. It was not a shrouded enemy, but a friend. Glowing in the candlelight, he recognized her as Adeline, the daughter of a nobleman in the Wildman's clan.

"Why are you here?" Midnas demanded.

"I want to speak to you," Adeline said. looking into her emerald-colored eyes, Midnas felt he could trust her.

"It's about the feud between us." she said.
Midnas kept staring at the painting of the Greater Ax-Lord. What else could be discussed between the two of them?

"Now isn't the time for fighting, when the devil as at our walls," Adeline said. "For the sake of the city, we must end this feud."

"It isn't that easy," Midnas said. "Seven generations of hatred have hardened hearts against any sort of peace that we..."

"We both know that is a lie!" Adeline yelled.
Midnas turned to look at her, an incredulous expression on her face. She looked on the verge of tears, but her eyes still showed her honesty.

"I...have been wanting to speak to you of this. I always observed you from afar..."
Midnas felt his hand unconciously drift to his weapon.

"...and I don't think you are like your forefathers."
Midnas slackened his hand in surprise at her asseretion.

"When I look at you, I see the warrior in your blood. Yet I also see more in you than
the fearsome warrior. Wisdom, virtue, integrity..."

Midnas turned away from the painting to look at her, his mind working furiously. Adeline took a deep breath and looked deep into Midnas' eyes.

"I know you are the one who can end this war between our people," she said. "You can end the suffering."

Midnas stood quite still for a few minutes, pondering Adeline's plea. She stared into his eyes the entire time. Finaly, Midnas spoke.

"I will speak with Pollix tomorrow, and see what we can do to end this amicably."

Adeline smiled softly, radiant even in the dim candlelight. "I knew you were the one to end this. I just knew..."

The demon outside the walls roared again, making the candlelight flicker.
"You are right," Midnas said. "Only together can the people of this city fight the demon stalking our walls."



At dawn the next day, Midnas sent a courier to Pollix with this message:

Pollix the Brave,

I humbly request your audience at noon today in the great hall, at the tomb of Pederic. I wish to set right our bloody past and start anew.

Most Amicably, Midnas Ax-Lord the Younger.

"Peace, eh. I guess now that the devil outside has burned down the last of the farms, there will be no need to squabble. Or mayhap the Ax-lord has come to his senses. Either way, I must do my best to make peace with Midnas, for Cephas's sake. The gods will toy with me as they will, but I shall embrace my role, be it squabbling chief or peacemaker. Afterall, I've never backed down from a bad idea before."

At this point, Pollix picked up a pickhammer. It had belonged to Cephas, supposedly made by Gritchen himself, though Cephas had only ever used it to plow, and it had never shed blood. It was now considered an relic by the Wildman tribe, or at least by the small scholarly fraction. "Scholar's Grievance. A fitting name for a man who wanted only to read. Perhaps I will have no need to ruin your peace streak tonight."

Pollix then advised his council to keep tight reign on sheep for the night, perhaps putting on some of their favorite plays. "Try to keep the stories simple this time, for their sake. Kill an ogre, not the audience." He left the his advisers quipping at him the appropriateness of metaphysical quandaries and complaints about their fool headed charges. Truly they were men Cephas would be proud of.

Pollix took his time getting to Pederic's tomb. He wandered the markets and alleys, trying to shake the tension he felt in the city. Superficially, denizens were going about their business and trading their wares, but there was much more whispering than general chatter. Colours seemed greyer, and the light coming from the direction of the beast seemed to be the cause. Its odd. This city is full of fools and sheep led by vainglorious leaders such as myself and Midnas. Instead of dealing with the devils beyond our gates, we busy ourselves by making our own. I wonder how often the Witch or the others grow weary of the plays we put on for ourselves. Pollix then became lost in thought, until he nearly tripped over a body laying in the street.

"Watch where you steppin', spawn of Cephas!" Pollix immediately recognized him as the man who had claimed to have seen the beast. He was a one of many of the Hill day-laborers he argued with Pederic and Midnas about.

"Quence! What has brought you so low? You are but a mere semblance of the man I saw weeks ago!" Pollix was genuinely surprised how much the man had change in a short span of time. The broad, tanned man was now a gaunt, pale ghost.

"It has brought me down! It stands outside these walls, waiting for me to come out, so it can finish the job. No one is allowed to see it, you see? I saw it, and it saw me. Now it waits everywhere I go. It stalks me in my dreams, gazes from every shadow and even watches from my drink!" Pollix was not sure if he spoke the truth, but he knew his duty.

"Come with me, fellow man, to Pederic's tomb. I am going to speak tonight with Midnas about whatever peace we may accord, and I want to show him the greater threat which causes our peace."

"The bones speak to me now. Whispers, terrible whispers, telling me thing a man ought naught ever hear. I do not wish to go."

"Quence, I guarantee you that going to the tomb will help silence the voices, one way or another." Pollix than had the poor soul lean upon him, and they shuffled their way to the tomb. Standing in the entrance, Pollix called out. "Midnas Ax-Lord, kill me now if that is your intent, otherwise come help me with this lost soul."

I've been distracted of late, so this story sucks. but i will hopefully still be able to do the nes. so it will probably not affect anything but my stories.



Deveron sat impatiently at the small funeral gathering. Higgs had been a drunk and a failure. He had desecrated the name of the Hill tribesmen and had been cursed by everyone Deveron talked to. But for some reason they had showed up. There were around fifty of Higg’s closest advisors and best warriors, or their sons. They all looked mostly well off, the only thinking missing was a feeling of unity. There was no open hostility and it seemed like they were all getting along well, but they were all dressed differently and it appeared that a person had come from every district of the city.

What ate at Deveron was not this small funeral, or the guests, but the note he had been given by Higgs before his death. It said that there was a network, that there was treasure, and a grand scheme. Deveron couldn’t make sense of it, but he knew it was important. He had also been given a ring to represent his chief hood, and had already gone to all the representatives to show them their new leader. Or, the old custom of having a leader which they ignored. He would have to find some help on the treasure, and the network seemed promising, but this scheme sounded like more trouble than it was worth. But he had a lifetime to understand these riddles, and he would hopefully die better off than he was born.

"Your death is not my intent," Midnas called back. He stepped out to speak, but his face fell into shock at the sight of the withered man. It took him a moment to realize where he'd seen him before; it was one of the men who saw the beast when it first arrived.

"What is the purpose of this?" Midnas demanded of Pollix.