Silver Steak
The Ghost of SS
Meanwhile, the Living League had been busy preparing for the Undead. Along the Blade Coast was now a chain of watchtowers and light fortifications. These were not meant to stop the horde, but rather to warn the main force of the landing point. Of course, it wasn't given that the horde would come all in one place, so the coastwards did also mean that the League could dispatch forces to halt the undead all along the coast as well. This, combined with the fact that almost the entire population was centered along the coast due to the southern wastes being too hostile to inhabit, made the local militias (which consisted of nearly everyone that could carry a club) nearly as important as the trained forces.
As it was, the former region of Lirkland was divided roughly along nationality like this: The Shabans and Cairens held the westernmost end, centered in the heartlands of former Ramon. Here they greatly benefitted from the relatively fertile lands and provided the League with surplus grains without resorting to magic as they did further east. Next were the Imperials, refugees from the north - together with a few surviving Benethim and Kultans. Then followed the Peshawar/Konahn. Furthest to the east were the Clous, separated from the League proper because of its inland location.
The latter was also the reason why Sapphiron chose it as his new domain. He first noticed this remote nation because of their weather manipulation. While flying high, he sensed their magic and followed the trail right to their masterpiece, the Godsphere. The Godsphere was an artifact made by the Weather Academy to be able to influence the climate patterns in a great shpere around Clous. Although it was thought as a means to deal with the recent climatic turmoil, its military use was also considered. Most of all, it was seen as a way to extort neighbouring nations by taking their climate as hostage.
This was all obvious to Sapphiron when he reached Clous and landed in Sckeye, who indeed sought to make full use of the Godsphere. After causing much commotion with his sudden entry, he was faced by Lord Win'da himself, together with a score of his Adepts in the main square. After a short fight, the Adepts were strewn across the plaza, frozen and more often shattered in pieces than not. Then he had Win'da under his fang, and ordered him to submit. Not only did Win'da do so in a heartbeat, he also screamed to his people that any acts of defiance against Sapphiron was strictly forbidden. Completely fearstricken, he did not speak after this as he was taken to his palace by Sapphiron. There he was arrested in his home as a puppet ruler.
News of this quickly reached the League, who dispatched an emissary to possibly speak with this Blue Dragon. They were met by a gracious Sapphiron who welcomed them heartily. He then plainly stated his intent to defend the Living from Nagash. His only condition was that he become the supreme ruler of the League. Unless this was agreed to voluntarily by the League, he was prepared to use the Godsphere to persuade them. This dire news was relayed back to the League, and a quick session in the League Council, consisting of two representatives from every faction, proved that it was not acceptable.
The arguments for agreeing was the fact that Sapphiron could devastate the crops of the entire Blade Coast with the Godsphere, as well as bring deadly cold or scorching heat to freeze or sear the people. As much as this was a sound and weighty argument, there were several arguments against it as well. First of all, Sapphiron relied on the Weather Adepts of Clous to operate the Godsphere. Although he was reputedly studying in order to be able to use it himself, there was still time to organize a revolt before he mastered the artifact's workings. After all, the people of Clous was as dissatisfied with Sapphiron's coup as the League would be under his terror reign. In any case, time was of the essence.
As much as dealing with Sapphiron was urgent, the League could not divert too many forces from the Blade Coast, lest it be too sparsely defended if the Undead came. Therefore, a special elite force consisting of Adepts and veteran warriors were dispatched to Clous, soon followed by an emissary with the League's reply to Sapphiron's demand. The task force had to travel in utmost secrecy, never using their magic unless it was absolutely necessary. They travelled spread out thin and through what little vegetation they found so they would not be spotted from the sky.
It was slow going, and as expected the emissary reached Sckeye before them. Still, a pleasant surprise met the League diplomats as they entered the city. Rumor spread quickly that they were not accepting Sapphiron's demands, causing the citizen to march out en masse to form a deadly mob. It turned out that a large resistance had already prepared a revolt, and the news of the League's defiance had given them reason enough to go through with their daring plan - as well as a sliver of hope that the League would come to their aid. Their hopes were not in vain, as the citizen soon learned that a task force was already well underway. Still, their initiative had blown their cover, and now they had to hold on until the task force arrived.
The first day of the revolt, Sapphiron met the revolt with a kind of reassurance, as if he had anticipated this all along. He circled the skies above Sckeye randomly killing people running in the streets. Their feeble revolt amused him, and he rained freezing death on the citizen, who were forced into the houses to seek cover. As the hours and days passed, greater parts of the city lay in ruins, houses empty except for cold and stiff corpses. The third day, the task force finally arrived. Having regrouped outside the city, they did not even have time to march into the city before Sapphiron engaged them.
This battle was by far harder for Sapphiron, as his opponents were trained soldiers and Adepts, who wielded bows and spears that could reach him in the air. Furthermore, they stood spread out thin so his breath weapon could not kill more than a few at any one time. After a short while, Sapphiron was badly wounded, and had to flee the battlefield. Retreating into the Academy, he forced the Adepts to throttle the Godsphere to its max, dangerously straining the artifact. What he ordered was the doom of Clous.
As the task force advanced towards the Academy, the sky above them turned omniously black. The sun diminished, and soon the entire sky was covered by a black veil. Winds came rushing in from all directions, and tornados emerged from nowhere, sending houses hurling about like leaves in the wind. Thunderbolts struck the ground with such force that they lit the trees on fire and smashed the houses. Soon, hail as large as men fell from above, followed by a ring of deadly cold air that slowly crept in on the city. With terror, the task force witnessed an ice sheet forming as fast as wildfire in dry grass on the Cloan lake.
The ring of death was slowly creeping in towards the city, and the Living rushed towards the Academy to stop Sapphiron. However, the Academy was barricaded by Sapphiron by a thick ice barrier, and they had to overcome this first. Even as they wore away at the barrier, it became apparent that Sapphiron was adding to it from the inside, forcing the Living to tear through even more ice to reach him. While they toiled unceasingly, the ring of freezing death was steadily closing its clutch on them, and they could feel the temperature plummeting. Just as the situation seemed hopeless, the Godsphere finally failed under the immense stress. The progresing cold stopped, and the tables were turned. Now, Sapphiron was the trapped one - in his own cage of ice.
Now, the Living resumed their icebreaking with renewed vigor. In a last desperate flight for freedom, the Blue Dragon burst through the ice where it was thin, instantly freezing dozens of surprised Adepts. Then, he leapt in the air, flying as fast as he could. Despite his speed, he was overcome by the Adepts, and crashed into the lake, mortally wounded and exhausted. The League had successfully unthroned Sapphiron, but at the cost of entire Clous. Not many people were left, and those who did were left with almost nothing...
Still, in the northern ocean, a greater chill was to descend on the mermen of Felaskhar. At last, the Undead struck back.
As it was, the former region of Lirkland was divided roughly along nationality like this: The Shabans and Cairens held the westernmost end, centered in the heartlands of former Ramon. Here they greatly benefitted from the relatively fertile lands and provided the League with surplus grains without resorting to magic as they did further east. Next were the Imperials, refugees from the north - together with a few surviving Benethim and Kultans. Then followed the Peshawar/Konahn. Furthest to the east were the Clous, separated from the League proper because of its inland location.
The latter was also the reason why Sapphiron chose it as his new domain. He first noticed this remote nation because of their weather manipulation. While flying high, he sensed their magic and followed the trail right to their masterpiece, the Godsphere. The Godsphere was an artifact made by the Weather Academy to be able to influence the climate patterns in a great shpere around Clous. Although it was thought as a means to deal with the recent climatic turmoil, its military use was also considered. Most of all, it was seen as a way to extort neighbouring nations by taking their climate as hostage.
This was all obvious to Sapphiron when he reached Clous and landed in Sckeye, who indeed sought to make full use of the Godsphere. After causing much commotion with his sudden entry, he was faced by Lord Win'da himself, together with a score of his Adepts in the main square. After a short fight, the Adepts were strewn across the plaza, frozen and more often shattered in pieces than not. Then he had Win'da under his fang, and ordered him to submit. Not only did Win'da do so in a heartbeat, he also screamed to his people that any acts of defiance against Sapphiron was strictly forbidden. Completely fearstricken, he did not speak after this as he was taken to his palace by Sapphiron. There he was arrested in his home as a puppet ruler.
News of this quickly reached the League, who dispatched an emissary to possibly speak with this Blue Dragon. They were met by a gracious Sapphiron who welcomed them heartily. He then plainly stated his intent to defend the Living from Nagash. His only condition was that he become the supreme ruler of the League. Unless this was agreed to voluntarily by the League, he was prepared to use the Godsphere to persuade them. This dire news was relayed back to the League, and a quick session in the League Council, consisting of two representatives from every faction, proved that it was not acceptable.
The arguments for agreeing was the fact that Sapphiron could devastate the crops of the entire Blade Coast with the Godsphere, as well as bring deadly cold or scorching heat to freeze or sear the people. As much as this was a sound and weighty argument, there were several arguments against it as well. First of all, Sapphiron relied on the Weather Adepts of Clous to operate the Godsphere. Although he was reputedly studying in order to be able to use it himself, there was still time to organize a revolt before he mastered the artifact's workings. After all, the people of Clous was as dissatisfied with Sapphiron's coup as the League would be under his terror reign. In any case, time was of the essence.
As much as dealing with Sapphiron was urgent, the League could not divert too many forces from the Blade Coast, lest it be too sparsely defended if the Undead came. Therefore, a special elite force consisting of Adepts and veteran warriors were dispatched to Clous, soon followed by an emissary with the League's reply to Sapphiron's demand. The task force had to travel in utmost secrecy, never using their magic unless it was absolutely necessary. They travelled spread out thin and through what little vegetation they found so they would not be spotted from the sky.
It was slow going, and as expected the emissary reached Sckeye before them. Still, a pleasant surprise met the League diplomats as they entered the city. Rumor spread quickly that they were not accepting Sapphiron's demands, causing the citizen to march out en masse to form a deadly mob. It turned out that a large resistance had already prepared a revolt, and the news of the League's defiance had given them reason enough to go through with their daring plan - as well as a sliver of hope that the League would come to their aid. Their hopes were not in vain, as the citizen soon learned that a task force was already well underway. Still, their initiative had blown their cover, and now they had to hold on until the task force arrived.
The first day of the revolt, Sapphiron met the revolt with a kind of reassurance, as if he had anticipated this all along. He circled the skies above Sckeye randomly killing people running in the streets. Their feeble revolt amused him, and he rained freezing death on the citizen, who were forced into the houses to seek cover. As the hours and days passed, greater parts of the city lay in ruins, houses empty except for cold and stiff corpses. The third day, the task force finally arrived. Having regrouped outside the city, they did not even have time to march into the city before Sapphiron engaged them.
This battle was by far harder for Sapphiron, as his opponents were trained soldiers and Adepts, who wielded bows and spears that could reach him in the air. Furthermore, they stood spread out thin so his breath weapon could not kill more than a few at any one time. After a short while, Sapphiron was badly wounded, and had to flee the battlefield. Retreating into the Academy, he forced the Adepts to throttle the Godsphere to its max, dangerously straining the artifact. What he ordered was the doom of Clous.
As the task force advanced towards the Academy, the sky above them turned omniously black. The sun diminished, and soon the entire sky was covered by a black veil. Winds came rushing in from all directions, and tornados emerged from nowhere, sending houses hurling about like leaves in the wind. Thunderbolts struck the ground with such force that they lit the trees on fire and smashed the houses. Soon, hail as large as men fell from above, followed by a ring of deadly cold air that slowly crept in on the city. With terror, the task force witnessed an ice sheet forming as fast as wildfire in dry grass on the Cloan lake.
The ring of death was slowly creeping in towards the city, and the Living rushed towards the Academy to stop Sapphiron. However, the Academy was barricaded by Sapphiron by a thick ice barrier, and they had to overcome this first. Even as they wore away at the barrier, it became apparent that Sapphiron was adding to it from the inside, forcing the Living to tear through even more ice to reach him. While they toiled unceasingly, the ring of freezing death was steadily closing its clutch on them, and they could feel the temperature plummeting. Just as the situation seemed hopeless, the Godsphere finally failed under the immense stress. The progresing cold stopped, and the tables were turned. Now, Sapphiron was the trapped one - in his own cage of ice.
Now, the Living resumed their icebreaking with renewed vigor. In a last desperate flight for freedom, the Blue Dragon burst through the ice where it was thin, instantly freezing dozens of surprised Adepts. Then, he leapt in the air, flying as fast as he could. Despite his speed, he was overcome by the Adepts, and crashed into the lake, mortally wounded and exhausted. The League had successfully unthroned Sapphiron, but at the cost of entire Clous. Not many people were left, and those who did were left with almost nothing...
Still, in the northern ocean, a greater chill was to descend on the mermen of Felaskhar. At last, the Undead struck back.
Excellent, continue continue. 
Not that I'm definitely implying something, of course. 
Aliens never manage to conquer the world in epic stories. Or at least they shouldn't, lest the story be realistic. 
