Mazera Mega Story Thread

Messa's men had come a long way from the swordsmen brigade that have left Midgard so many weeks ago. Though properly armed and decently trained, they had remained shopkeepers and workers at their heart. Their behavior and idle chatter had reflected it.

Or at least, it had. The men who had left Midgard had been shopkeepers and workers at heart. Now they were soldiers, Serpent Slayers in the most literal sense of the word. They even talked and thought as such. They had seen the Midgosomar, as the peculiarly Grigori saying went, and it was theirs to hold in their memory forever more.

He wasn't the only one to notice. Coming from behind him, a firm but gentle hand was placed on his shoulder.

"You've grown up, Messa," a powerful and experienced voice said. "You aren't the little boy I had to carry up and down the mountains all those years ago. You walked here yourself. I'm proud of you."

Messa's eyes widened, proving he wasn't as old or as mature as he liked to hope he was.

"Papa Jeon!" he exclaimed, standing and twirling with an excitement befitting a young man five years younger.

The former Bannor commander and Grigori war champion smiled even as he batted Messa's head with rough affection. "That's Father Jeon to you, and to all you impudent children. You never did learn, no matter how many times I tried."

Messa grinned cheekily, but didn't apologize. Jeon wasn't his birth father, possibly never had been a birth father. But he was a father to Messa, much like many of the other Adventurers he had been handed off to over the decade he had been away from the Palace. It was Jeon who had taught him to earn his calluses, to continue the struggle not for gods or kings but for the people as a whole, and to never lose sight of that utmost truth of a champion's honor for his country. And that one piece of advice Father Jeon had always bid him to remember.

Fight and be right.

Messa remembered so much in so little time, and it brought a smile to his face. But Father Jeon had not come to this part of the front solely to see his former tag-a-long. He had come to wage war, just as he had for the last bloody years. And it was a testament of Messa's maturity that he understood that.

"Come, let me show you to our Center," he said, referring to the tent in the center of the Grigori encampment. "I'm sure our commander will be honored to meet you, and the men as well."

"They will, they will," Jeon agreed. "But it is still good to see you." Jeon looked over the hills. Behind them, the foothills they had fought and reclaimed by blood and steel and magics. To their front, the mountains leading to the Yokaido homeland, where great pillars of ash emitted more and more of their black volume each week.

"You've come a long way, Messa."

Nightwatch Report on Gristav's Legion


In the Doviello lands, a legion of warriors has risen above all others. The Doviello are known for their war prowess and it is not unusual to find one Doviello fighting more than four opponents in battle. However, this new legion, led by a Doviello general named General Gristav, has risen above and beyond the ferocity usually seen by these savage men. Gristav's Legion is more a force of nature than a nation's army. The Doviello shamans found herbs with amazing effects when ingested. It boosts their aggression, increases adrenaline, and increases mental prowess. In other words, these men feel no pain, feel no fear, live only for the moment of the kill, but have enough control to stay in a loose formation. When these warriors don their armor, they become true immortals.

What is the time scale (how long does a day take on adverage.(I know it is dependent on posts, but my character has a month+ journey to get to Brookden, I want to know how many stories I should make along the way...

Maybe a rough scale should be added to the map. Would probobly help for time estamates of invading armies and wandering travelers...

Katakien the Profane messed slowly as the flames licked from the base of firewood and carefully treated reagents to consume the body of Alexis, laid upon the ritual pyre.

Alexis was not dead. The poison had not been able to kill her, only to bring her in a dead-like trance. Which was even better, because that meant that her - immensely powerful - soul was trapped in her body. And the sacrifice of such a soul would pave the way for the coming of a demon of the higher ranks.

The messing sounds reintensified, and were thrown back by the walls of the hollow room. Unconscious screams escaped the lips of Alexis as her soul and body was burnt in the hellfire.

Suddenly, the air above Alexis erupted and an almost unbearable heat struck out at the entire room. Pearls of sweat appeared on the forehead of Katakien as he finished the rite that would bring the demon into existance, under his control.

The flames suddenly blazed up before dying out. On the floor in front of him stood a tall, muscular demon with red skin. A particularly nasty axe was caught between the claws on its right hand.

Katakien hailed the demon in Infernal: "Son of Agares, Lord Moloch, I humbly welcome you to the city of Prespur!"

Moloch looked around, exhaling fire through his nostrils as he breathed. "Will I get to feast on the children of Prespur?"

Katakien was now sweating heavily: "Soon, milord, very soon... We just need the last steps to be through, and the city is ours."

The Liberation​

Auric stood in meditation surrounded by vast ice crystals. He smiled as he saw images of legions of Ice Golems engaging Luchuirp Golems and holding them at bay, creating a wall of stasis that stretched across the Luchuirp border, as his allies struck. He horsehockyfted his imaging and saw frostling bandits, supported by flesh constructs from Mokka's Cauldron, engaging the Svartalfar. Things were going well, and it looked as if the Deepening would soon begin, according to Anangtios's report. That was when he sensed a disturbance around him.

Reflexes honed while wandering Erebus kicked into action, and he ducked behind one of the crystals. The assassin's dart, tipped with a plant that caused spontaneous combustion when it hit a target, struck and melted a chunk of ice away. He snapped "Slow!" and the will behind the command caused time around the assassin to stretch and slow down as she was about to utter a spell that would blow the throne room apart with an inferno. It had the added effect of causing the assassin's invisibility charm to stop working, causing her to become visible to all.

Auric walked forward and studied the assassin. She was an elf, apparently, wrapped in a black cloak covered with invisibility runes that was typical of Svartalfar dress. She also carried a large supply of deadly implements. He waved his hand, and the slow time effects intensified, stopping time around the two of them entirely. Another gesture caused the temperature to lower, subtly. Guards rushed into the room, but to Auric and the elven prisoner, they did not move.

"I just thought you should know," he said, "that Illian ice sculpters are capable of altering the position and even the shape of a body after it has been frozen. It produces beautiful artwork." He gestured to the columns of ice statues lining the palace. "Not all were made out of once living people- but some were," he continued. "But, it can be done to a still living body. The process is incredibly painful, as you can no doubt imagine." The assassin's face showed that she did.

Auric released frozen time, and the guards seized her. He said ominously, "Sculpt her until she talks." The guards departed, dragging the shrieking prisoner, who seconds later died. He frowned. He thought he had removed all magical items with the slow spell. Evidently there was a physical poison as well.

He sighed, shaking his head. He needed better guards. And then an idea, propelled by the essence of Mulcarn that lived within him, came to him, and he shouted an order. A Disciple of Winter rushed in, and he gave instructions to him, and the disciple rushed out to obey them.

--

The tower of ice, not located in Garduk but near Letum Frigus, had been built by Auric's will, and it would stand so long as he remained alive- or willed it to collapse. Ice particles had gathered slowly and formed into beautiful crystals, which then formed into a tower. At the top of the tower were four crystalline spikes resembling stalagmites. It was at this top where Auric, Dumnanios, Riuros, and Anangtios were gathered. He had risen it for this specific purpose.

The ritual was well under way. Even if anyone else on Mazera was aware of it, and could fight through the Illian and Doviello guards patrolling the empire, they would not be in time to stop it. Auric's vision honed in on an island in a lake at the edge of Elohim lands. Knowing that it was important, the Elohim were guarding a small crystal sphere on the shores of the lake with their lives. He laughed as he gathered energy. Those lives would not be enough...

--

Arlonte, captain of the guards assigned to protect the Evergreen Lake, sighed as he watched the small company of Elohim assigned to this site. It was a good job they had- they did not have to protect the lake itself but rather what appeared to be a glowing green spherical rock. The priest, Lenyos, assigned to their group was currently studying it. The other guards were also enjoying themselves in the grass. They could relax in the lake, but Einion Logos had warned them strictly- do not venture into the lake.

He headed over to the priest to take a look at his analysis of the object. That was when he felt a strange sensation, as if lightning was coming. He looked up, along with the others.

There was no lightning. The clouds were glowing pure white, and it seemed as if... they were freezing.

Then, there was a sudden blast of blue-white light from the frozen clouds. It appeared to be lightning, but it was clearly not. It was directed straight at the object they were supposed to protect, and one of the guards nearby instinctively dove into the path of the lightning. His body froze and was covered in ice. It then fell to the orb, which flared green, and the body of the guard caught on fire until nothing was left but ashes. Arlonte stood staring at the orb. It was obviously a tool against winter, but...

His thoughts were interrupted when another blast shot through the sky. Seconds before it hit, Lenyos, a priest of the Fellowship of Leaves, muttered a prayer, and the earth glowed green. Guardian vines emerged and seized the orb. The blast of ice struck them... and nothing happened.

--

Auric reeled as a powerful presence interrupted his attack on the Orb of Sucellus guarding the lake. He had frozen a human who had been in the way of the blast, he knew, but that second power... intrigued, he studied it. And the part that was Mulcarn gave him the rest of the information. He had tried to freeze a massive creature, the Guardian of the Forest. Somehow, a being he had identified as a priest of leaves had summoned the Guardian's vines to defend the orb. Clever. He had tried to freeze the entire thing. There did not seem to be a way to win.

But, after a few minutes thinking, he had one, and resumed his attack, gathering more power...

--

The Elohim captain looked up again. Arlonte prayed that the attacker was beat and would go away. But that, of course, did not happen. Instead, another blast rained down from the frozen clouds. This one, though was glowing faintly golden... Arlonte realized with surprise that it was a lightning blast. The blast continued coming, becoming a solid beam, not a quick blast. Lenyos gasped in horror as the lightning drilled into one of the vines.

He cried, "The guardian..." and rushed forward. A deflected ray of lightning struck him. Lenyos screamed in pain and died.

That was when the blast penetrated through the vine.

--

Auric mentally roared at the presence of the Guardian, demanding it submit, even as he gathered all the ice energy he had in him, swallowing several nearby blizzards and nearly undoing the tower of ice he was standing on. He hurled it down into the ripped open vine. The ice would either freeze a portion of the great Guardian, or would destroy the Orb of Sucellus.

He waited to see what would happen. He did not have enough power to both take on the Guardian and to destroy the Orb simultaneously. Already, he felt himself wilting. He continued to pour out his energy and shout at the Guardian...

--

Arlonte's eyes widened as the vines began to freeze. They crystallized and abruptly melted into nothingness, the Orb having burned the frozen portions away. The remaining vines at the base of the Orb recoiled and reentered the earth, vanishing, as did the aura of nature surrounding the area. His face turned grim as he considered what this meant.

The icy beam continued coming, striking the orb, creating a shield of fire around the orb. Ice energy touched and froze the outside of the orb, which caught fire. That fire was then frozen as more ice energy poured down. Eventually, the orb cracked, and exploded, as it could take no more ice magic. Arlonte and the guards ducked as the smoke cleared and the beam stopped.

That was when the lake froze. He turned, and his face became pale as he saw an armored warrior stalking across the ice, longsword and shield in hand. Arlonte opened his mouth to order a charge, when he found he could no longer speak. The figure waved a hand and ice filled his mouth. Still striding forward, he swung the sword in a long sweep and Arlonte dropped to the ground. As he died, he saw the figure make short work of the other guards as well...

--

Taranis finished killing the guards and looked around, taking in data. It was another age. Mulcarn's presence was no longer felt- wait... there was an emission of him from the north, from the old realm of the Illians. Analysis: Mulcarn is weakened. Directive: Head north. Directive: Kill all in between targets. Directive: Determine the state of Mulcarn. Directive: Gather aid. Input data: No creatures of ice felt within reasonable range. Analysis: They are dispered or gathered near Mulcarn. Directive: Find them.

Such was Taranis. He could take in data and make decisions, albeit in a machine-like method. But after that data was taken in and Taranis came to a decision based on it, it was dumped since it could not be remembered. He continued to reevaluate his current directives, carefully checking if the position of Mulcarn or his ice demons altered. They did not. One final directive was ordered, based on climate data.

Directive: Begin the re-wintering of the world.

All you know about the summoning of Taranis was what appears in the four news reports above. It is all related to the summoning of Taranis:

Krinith had been walking for three days now, taking off at a whim, half drunk, and no supplies. All he had was his staff and the clothes on his back. His step faltered a bit, reflecting the lack of food he's had. Setting off with no supplies tends to leave you with a couple of drawbacks, most notably hunger and thirst. He had coped with the thirst in an inventive way, managing to summon a water elemental and drinking it, and storing the split versions in an empty flask he had been carrying. However, that did little to elevate the hunger pains, which came at a regular interval, each stronger than the last.

The hunger wasn't the only problem, the world itself seemed to be conspiring against him. The cold winds would cut through his clothes as if they were not there, and he briefly considered going nude, but dismissed the thought. It was the hunger talking. The closer he got to Arioc, the worse wind got, and the worse the cold got. Krinith found every step to be filled with excruciating pain, his whole body telling him, DEMANDING him to go back. He refused. However, he could not deny his hunger, as it slowly took over. Unable to deny it any longer, he began to search the edge of the road frantically, desperate to find anything edible, anything at all. Finding a few mushrooms, he eagerly shoved them down his throat, but they did little to .
Going deeper and deeper into the brush at the edge of the road, his foot hits something solid.

Kneeling down, he discovered that it was a body of a young adventurer, spawled across the ground. Looking at his chest, there was a large slash across his chest, penetrating his bronze armor. The wound itself appeared normal, but looking deeper into it, Krinith noticed that the blood had been frozen solid. Inspecting the body, Krinith found the adventurer's pack, which contained some food, some gold, and a note. Eating the food and pocketing the gold, he continued on the road, reading the note as he walked on to Unigrad, happy for the first time in three days.