UPDATE EIGHT
Cities change hand
(with Chaos dwarves inside)
Northeast of
Falaxan, the city of Myrbeth is cursed with horrible weather. Continuous rain, hail, cold winds, all contribute to deteriorate the region. Harvests are bad, crops rot and the morale of Myrbethese is sapped by the unnatural weather. When Falaxan armies come to invade once again, the defenders are already in poor psychological and physical condition, and they can't resist king Hector's superior forces for very long.
A huge Falaxan army invades Myrbeth
Taernsvwyn's colony of Winterheim got strongly invested into. The road network connecting it to Taernheim is completed. Mines are built and heavily exploited, city walls have been erected around the new city.
Near
Myrde, the frost-giant controlled city of Thrymr is hit by a meteor that falls from the sly, killing half the population in the region and turning the place in a smoking hell. Following this, the population starts starving, and a typhus epidemic strikes, spreading and killing even more people.
Several of the giants leading the city start blaming their ruler for his bad decisions. They say that, if he had worshipped Fùxaxxatlìnnùnìnùtlectlìbrrrìxxatl, this catastrophe would have been averted. The jarl laughs at his men when they utter such nonsense. Surely they are joking. Or have they lost their mind? They might well have lost their minds indeed. Several giants turn against their leader, and a struggle for the control of Thrymr ensues between loyalist giants and Myrde-worshipping giants.
Frost giants fighting each other.
In the end, the jarl is defeated by the worshippers of the dead squid, who establish the rule of Myrde over Thrymr once again.
In Uthrarthe, flying serpents are sighted moving from the west. The inhabitants get deeply involved in quarrels and squabbles as to what this means and whether a giant net should be built to try and catch the beasts, even long after the flight has gone. The typhus from Thrymr spread to Uthrarthe, causing several deaths in the former Myrde capital. In addition to this disease, the atmosphere in the north of Myrde becomes heavy with moisture, and many people fall ill to the disease that already struck the human city of Ushrak before
C'tis invaded it. Of course, this wouldn't be Myrde if nothing sillier happened at the same time. Fatrasie, from her southern city of Tlanetzutl, has been busy trying to arrange the situation of the land. She says she had a vision where people would have more Fugthar'thugnaxtloxl if they could fly. Noone understands what this means, but after she said this, wings started growing here and there in the country. Some men grew bird wings. A woman in Myrde now has huge bat-like wings and spends her time flying over the city laughing maniacally. Several goats have butterfly wings which they try to ignore. A house even grew a huge stone and glass wing shaped like an insect's. The thing moved, killing an unfortunate passer-by, until it eventually broke and fell to the ground. The house remains in place, with some cracks in its wall and some stones and glass shards in the street.
Around Lagash, the city newly controlled by
C'tis, goblins mounted on wolves attack and raid the farmers. They burn some houses and ravage some fields before the C'tis army repels them.
The army of C'tis in Lagash, led by king Ssussaapi, marches on Myrde. Meanwhile, Skenaton the mummified god takes his own troops to move south and take control of all the land up to Uthrarthe. While Skenaton faces little or no resistance, Ssussaapi has to fight hordes of madmen when he tries to invade the city of Myrde.
C'tis undead warriors slaughter Myrde madmen, impervious to their maddening mind blasts.
Ssussaapi leads his troops victoriously into Myrde, easily routing his opponents, while Skenaton takes over the rest of the country. Only the western reaches of Myrde remain independant, but the lack of organisation of the country doesn't bode well for the future.
In northern
Darkswamp, a huge serpent is seen in the sea. Some believe at first that the Bog Serpent is back, but they soon realise their mistake. The creature attacks fisheries and capsizes boats to swallow the men on board. After terrorising the locals for a month or two, the monster moves away. In Lasanak, a pool is erected, the muddy waters of which allow to see whoever is viewing a similar pool constructed in Pythia. These muddy pools work as a link between the northern and southern parts of the country.
In Pythia, Sakarlaisk creates himself an eye patch and summons spiders to test his magic powers. He seems satisfied that his abilities haven't been adversely hurt by his sojourn among the dead.
In the northern reaches of Darkswamp, the military have started using petrified bog wood to build themselves armors. Their smithes also forge blades much longer than the traditional daggers, allowing the use of armored heavy infantry.
In
Ulm city of Argad, a careful administrator raises a militia to help fight unexpected chaos dangers.
New mines are built in Ulm and Moralfar. More people arrive in Moralfar, but at the same time people disappear regularly in the city, and the inhabitants now fear to get out at night.
The Hammerer orders soldiers to come with him and march upon Urgad. He arrests the druids and executes all of themm before they can spread their silly cult of nature-love or whatever it was. Real ulmites worship cold steel, not flowers, and the blood of the druids proves an effective reminder of what the true path is.
In Marignon, an old man comes see the prophet of
Erynini. He offers the Burned Man a wolfskin. The old man explains that, when he was younger, he used to wear this skin, that allowed him to take the shape of a wolf. Now that he has converted to the new faith, he wants to help the Pyre and gives this magic skin. Thanks to the Burned Man, the harvests around Marignon are exceptionally good this year. This increases the confidence of Marignon in the power of the Eternal Pyre.
In Drakalor,
Firland's god-king makes displays of his magical skills and power, and he convinces several, mostly influential people, that he is the being best fit to replace the Pantocrator as protector of the World from Chaos. He then marches his army south in order to conquer that free city on the border of the inner sea known as the Tear. The city is poorly defended, and the army strong and backed by a wizard. It doesn't take long for the defenders to surrender. Similarly, High priestess Burner marches her army east to the hill city of Darayush, and the large army of Firland defeats the defenders with ease, enlarging the Phoenix's kingdom considerably.
In
Mallitain, an annoying leprechaun was captured by a simple cobbler of Ulanbar. The cobbler who sold him to Cassiopeia for a pound of gold. When persuaded with burning iron, the leprechaun revealed the location of his treasure trove. 10 gold were found underneath a dung heap.
An earthquake struck in Vanas, killing several persons, and in particular a lot of miners who got stuck in their mine when the tunnels collapsed.
In
Ermor, the sanitary situation in Eldergate is critical. Ermor merchants go far and wide and buy food at sometimes ridiculously high prices. They manage to avoid the worst early in the year and, although food is severly lacking, the situation remains somewhat under control in the capital of the Empire. The situation is problematic, however. Ermor wizards raise skeletons to help work the fields. This is quite useless, since the issue is not plowing the fields, but having fields to plow and accessing them. Fields north of the river are worked as much as possible, but there's only so much an acre of land can provide. Access to other fields is in fact very problematic, as Arcoscephale chariotteers run through the countryside, shooting arrows at those mad enough not to run away when they spot them. Arcoscephale elephants are also allowed to stampede the fields and they devour all they can, even in areas that are not firmly controlled by Arcoscephale. Most merchants coming from Boeuf are arrested and their food confiscated by Arcoscephale soldiers. Eldergate only manages to get access to food from the north, through the river and the roads leading to it. This proves insufficient. People starve in Eldergate and demand that the army help get rid of the raiders. Seshmek and the headless Pontifex remain in the city however, hiding behind the walls. This enrages the population who complains their leaders let them starve. Faith falters in Eldergate as thousands die while elephants stampede their fields right under their nose.
Arcoscephale war elephants ravage the countryside south and east of Eldergate.
Ermor doesn't let Arcoscephale ravage their land without reacting however. Concluding a peace with
Marverni, Samael relinquishes Carnutes, retrieves Helven and frees Redonum. Once the negotiations with Vercingetorix are over, she moves south, bringing her whole army with her toward the city of Mousson and its bridge over the river which bars the road south toward Arcoscephale. When the army reaches the river, Mousson has been ordered to let Ermor troops pass through their city, give them food and supplies, or be eradicated. They are also forbidden to warn their southern neighbours of the Ermor army movement. At first, Mousson agrees because they can't hope to face the superior forces of Ermor. The army is impressive and they are not their target after all. It would cost the city quite a lot to supply the army, but if Ermor pays for it, things should go well.
Things never go well, unfortunately.
Some Ermor soldiers have been waging war for a while. Some seem to believe they should keep fighting, and take all those they meet on their path. Not all soldiers are worshippers of Samael it appears. They follow Her because she is the leader of their nation, but some of them apparently believe the god of war taht is also worshipped in Arcoscephale and Alifat is the deity who shows the right path. They refuse to pay for food from Mousson, and this leads to quarrels and fights. Samael intervenes, and she has no choice but to put the blame on her own soldiers. The Mousson king demands paiment for the passage of Ermor troops, and apologies. The situation is tense. Mousson is too weak to stand against Ermor, and the king knows it. His people, however, are revolted by the way Ermor legions treat them. The deaths of many Moussonese at night are blamed upon Ermor troops, and the king obviously tries to appease both Ermor and his people in order to avoid either a fight with Ermor or being replaced by another noble who would then lead his city to a lost war. After some tractations, it is agreed that Ermor troops will have to go around the city. They are not allowed to use the bridge, but have to go through boats to cross the river. This takes a lot of time and word of the whole operation naturally spreads as fast as a wildfire across the countryside up to Arcoscephale. There, the guard towers are lighted, and signals are sent to the east, ordering the army to march back home.
General Pergos leaves his chariots and elephants near Eldergate, where they keep ravaging the countryside, but he brings his infantry back home. The march home is made difficult by several incidents. There are several cases of food poisoning. Bandits even dare attack a camp one night, forcing the soldiers to be more careful even in their own land. When Pergos reaches Byzantia, the city is in a perilous situation. Ermor armies have come from Mousson and crossed the river downstream Byzantia, and started besieging the city. The city walls hold however, and the siege mustn't have started for very long when Pergoss reaches them. Ermor troops are entrenched, their own defenses built so they can't be easily attacked from the outside. Pergos ponders what to do for a while and, one morning, he orders his troops to fan out widely around the besiegers. He says word has been sent to Cephalos horsemen about the situation, and they are right now riding on the north bank of the river, cutting all supply lines for the Ermor army. The Arcoscephale infantry is now preventing foraging on the south bank. Byzantia defenders will now have more supplies than the Ermor army around it.
Pergos sends word to Ermor:
Your army is stuck between the anvil and the hammer. Strong as you may be, you can't figth starvation. your capital is dying of lack of food, and your army here will die too if you keep trying to take down the walls of Byzantia. Should you attack us in the open, the militia will strike at your back. We learnt that you finally accepted to relinquish Redonum. This was the reason why we entered war. We helped Marverni protect the independence of Redonum. Now that this is achieved, we see no reason to keep fighting. We suggest that you march your army home. We will order our troops near Eldergate to let food caravans reach you and stop destroying your fields and we will maintain the current borders, although we are willing to allow you access to some of the fields south of Eldergate.
This offer is considered an insult by many Ermor legionaires, who urge Samael to crush the Arcoscephale army immediately. Apparently, Arcoscephale soldiers are also eager to fight, and word has it that generals Pergos and Skiotes disagree on this topic. Anyway, the Arcoscephale general doesn't want to force the engagement. Samael and her army are entrenched and trying to sap the walls. The situation around Byzantia is tense, and may erupt soon but for the moment the volcano is only rumbling and only Samael knows whether it will erupt in a decisive battle or not.
Heldenthal authorities concentrate on Oberklingenbach, converting most of those who were "abused" by Taurus and return them to the worshhip of Walaruna.
Boeuf authorities spend money on temples and ceremonies to celebrate the grandeur of Taurus across the realm. First-son and Taurus move across the country, and wherever they go, fields bloom, females of all races give birth to many children and fertility rises.
When Taurus first hears about his merchants' wares being confiscated by Arcoscephale troops, his blood starts boiling and harsh words are uttered against the men of the west. Soon, however, much more important matters arise that require the god-king's attention.
The southern city of Veau sends runners to the capital with dire warnings: A huge army has come from the chaos, and laid siege to the city. The besiegers are dwarves, and they demand that the 'Dvala' minotaurs are hiding in Myrvo be given back to them. After some investigation, Taurus realises that the crafter who came from Myrde and established herself in Myrvo is in fact a dwarven queen of some kind, and her people want her back. She adamantly refuses to be "enslaved", as she says. This infuriates the dwarven general Oten, whose army easily dig a way under Veau's walls and take the city with hardly any loss. Boeuf is now under attack from the dwarves of
Dvalan, and only the surrendering of the Dvala can prevent war. The soldiers are fearsome. They are clad in heavy armor, carry crossbows, axes and hammers, and some of them ride huge boars.
Dwarves learning Boeuf's refusal to surrender the Dvala.
Bhumi shrines are built throughout the nation, mostly in the old Machaka lands, to teach the Way of Perfection to the locals. Naga priests travel to these place to explain the religion of the Pavitra Bacce to the inhabitants.
The Pavitra Bacce and Lofar march on Fornalis, which is relinquished peacefully by Mallitain. The giant slayer has already left the city and reached Massad when Lofar comes back to his beloved gardens. Jack is busy organising his troops and preparing them for their next march in Massad when one night something enters his room. Jack slept securely in his capital when he was awoken by an unexpected breeze. A large blade hissed and struck Jack's bed, leaving him barely the time to roll down and avoid being cut in two. He dives, retrieves the dirk on the low table, and uses it to deflect a new swipe from the blade. Something is attacking him in the dark. A somber figure, shrouded in shadows, only its arm visible, wielding a sword whose blade shines like the moon. The dagger is a mere toy against such an opponent, and Jack can't reach his claymore. He therefore risks all in one daring move: Throwing his weapon at his opponent, he jumps through the window. He crashes through the glass, shouting, and falls. Rolling on the soil two floors lower, he is only slightly bruised. Kissing his lucky pendant, Jack shouts and calls the guard. Soon, armed soldiers enter his room. They find Jack's dagger lying on the floor, coated in a viscous liquid that would be blood if blood was black. No trace is left of the attacker. The city is searched, but nothing, noone is found.
Jack orders the guard doubled in case the mysterious assassin would come back, but he decides not to let himself be intimidated. He therefore decides to move on with his plan and the preparation of his troops.
Jack leads his soldiers to the city of Avallon, whose walls are manned by longbowmen and defended by knights and elite soldiers. He demands that the city surrenders, but the knights refuse. Mallitain besieges the city and, when a wall is breached, they attack. However, the defenders hold fast, and this first assault is costly for Mallitain. Jack is seriously hurt and, with their leader prone, the attackers retreat. The defenders try to plug the holes in their walls and build up makeshift barricades to repel the invaders but the siege continues and, as soon as Jack is fit again, he orders a new assault. The barricades are shattered by catapults, and Mallitain troops attack once more.
Mallitain troops attacking Avallon walls for the second time.
Eventually, the defenders succumb to the superior numbers of Mallitain soldiers, but the battles have been extremely deadly on both sides. As Jack enters the city triumphantly, an old woman hurls something in his direction, shouting a curse. She is arrested and brought to Jack, while the thing she threw is picked up: It is the head of a baby. The woman repeats her curse:
Curse you, Jack the giant slayer. You killed my daughter, so I killed her daughter that she may be avenged. May she bring you bad luck. May your wounds never heal. May your loved ones perish and falter. May your children never reach old age...
She is silenced before she can continue. The pain in Jack's shoulder, where an arrow bit him, suddenly awakens, biting him as he stands victorious in the city of Avallon.