Re: Anyone Out There?
 

Aboleths start with enslave mind and, against independents, Fire Rear is a pretty effective order with that attack. Hence the enslaved, non-commander Initiates of the Deep.

Re: Anyone Out There?
 

I can assure you guys that Ermor is a peaceful nation. We have always looked upon R'lyeh as our wet friends and C'tis as our friendly but mysterious neighbour.

I did had some luck with site searching (and capturing Abysias capital earns me 5 more fire gems) http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif but with national heroes I am not as lucky... haven't got any national hero so far.

Re: Anyone Out There?
 

C'tis didn't realize that sending assassins into a neighbor's lands was considered friendly.

.
 

Exscuse me i will not still be able to play until jan 2 beacause, ill be out of town.
Happy new year!

Havis of Ulm

Choosing Sides
 

Ama’ushumgalanna opened the wooden door and closed it behind him. He was in an underground room. It had a pair of torches at the door he just walked though and another pair flanking Sissassuss’s chair. The circular room was large enough to allow shadows to dance on the edge of the room. The Sauromancer approached the God of C’tis, who seemed to be waiting calmly in his chair. The earthen floor was soggy and he could hear water dripping from the ceiling.

"You sent for me, my lord?"

"Yesss, Ama, I have two tasssksss for you," Sissassuss replied with his usual hiss. "Firssst, I want you to get the Conclave to ssset sssome ssslavesss to ssstart digging a hole jussst outssside the sssity."

"A hole?" asked Ama, clearly confused.

"Yesss. It doesss not matter where, just ssso long asss it isss outssside the sssity. I want it big and deep."

"Is there anything in particular that we are digging for?"

"Not really. The sssecond thing I want you to do isss deal with a rebel in the Conclave."

"There is a rebel in the Conclave?"

"Yesss, the Sssauromanssser isss attempting to sssow dissscord in the Conclave. He mussst be ssstopped. C’tisss isss at too a fragile posssition at thisss time to have dissssent amongssst high ranking officialsss."

"Who is he?"

"You may know him asss Ama’lishia."

"My brother?! You must be jesting! My brother has always been loyal to the nation!"

"Your brother hasss grown jealousss of you. He believesss that creating unhappinessss in the Conclave will resssult in you being forsssed to leave my ssside. He wantsss your posssition. Your brother’sss loyalty isss not to the nation but to himssself. He mussst be dealt with."

"I will talk to him."

"No! You will...," Sissassuss paused for a moment, trying to think of the right word, "passsify him."

Ama, looked at the ground, trying to make a decision. He kept staring and pondering. Certainly he was not going to do what he was thinking. He had no choice though. Or did he? Finally he raised his head and met Sissassuss’s gaze.

"Very well, my lord." Ama’s words came quickly. He immediately turned and left the room.

Dingir appeared from the shadows at the God’s side.

"Are you sure it was wise to send him to deal his brother?"

"We will find out sssoon enough. I mussst make sure that Ama will remain loyal to me and the nation. He hasss become powerful, and I would hate to have that power backfire."
----------
Ama’lishia had been working late that night. He was getting drowsy at his desk when he was startled by someone entering the room. He looked up and saw his brother.

"Ushum! What brings you to my office so late at night?" Ama’lishia stood up and extended his hand.

"I hear you have been trying to undermine the nation," Ama’ushumgalanna said with a somber look on his face.

Ama’lishia’s smile faded away, and he lowered his hand. "Sissassuss is doing the undermining. He is destroying C’tis, and you are helping him to do this."

"So you admit it?"

"What? Admit to trying to save the nation? Of course I admit it. Listen brother, you have to quit helping him."

"He is the God of C’tis."

"So says he! Open your eyes and ears. Do you not see the riots in the streets? Do you not hear the C’tissians cry for the lost Council? The evidence of our nation’s undoing is all around us! Sissassuss is destroying all that we hold dear about C’tis. Join me, Ushum, and we can bring peace and order back into the Swamp Kingdom."

"I will not betray Sissassuss."

"So instead you betray your nation?! Loyalty is nice, but blind loyalty is for fools. If you will not move from Sissassuss’s side, then I guess I will have to save C’tis myself."

"I can not allow you to do that."

The two brothers stared at each other for a moment. They both knew what was coming. Ama’lishia knew he could not overpower his brother.

"Guards!" Ama’lishia cried out, hoping they would scare his brother away. Ama’ushumgalanna just stood there though.

"They have already been dealt with," Ama’ushumgalanna said grimly.

Ama’lishia paused for a second, thinking about what he should do. Then he through a fist at his brother, hoping to knock him to the floor. Ama’ushumgalanna dodged the attack and grabbed his brother’s wrist. He quickly placed his other hand on Ama’lishia’s shoulder.

"Ahhh! What are you doing?!" Ama’lishia cried out in agony.

"The Hand of Death destroys all," replied Ama’ushumgalanna in a heartless voice.

Ama’lishia looked at his brother one last time and saw a void where there used to be a person. He had become a mere instrument of destruction for Sissassuss to use. Then, everything went dark.

Re: Choosing Sides
 

Ulm, T'ien Ch'i, and Pangaea, you guys have about two hours left to take your turns.

Confrontation
 

It was raining in Minz, a steady drizzle that leaked from the leaden sky like sand from a broken hourglass. Beneath the rain and the sky lay the mountains and, beneath them, the plains of Minz spanned from horizon to horizon, lush, fertile, and full of life. Today, however, the plains of Minz had become a place full of death.

Arrows sped through the sky, thick as gnats on a rotten fruit, above bellowing Steel Warriors and into the chaos of the R'lyeh ranks. The glassy-eyed spawn of R'lyeh paid them no heed even as the shafts fell, wreaking unimaginable carnage amongst the melee. Nearly every arrow found its mark amidst the swarming R'lyeh host; hundreds of Slave Warriors and Lobo Guards flopped to the muddy ground, filled with more wood than most trees.

But the spawns of R'lyeh felt no fear, save for that of their terrible masters, and they pressed manically on, crashing into the Ulmish lines with overwhelming numbers. Though each Warrior of Ulm is tall, well equipped and skilled, the incredible numbers of their foe gave momentary pause to their blades and, for a moment, it seemed as if the lines would be broken.
But at that very moment, the Wizards of Ulm unleashed a terrible new weapon, summoning the Steel of the Earth to the surface and releasing it in geysers of razor-sharp blades into the sea of R'lyeh soldiers. The blades were not mortal to the Warriors of Ulm thanks to their might and thick armor, but they inflicted even more carnage upon the minions of R'lyeh than the flights of arrows, if that was possible. Even the prophet of Sijansur himself, the mighty Tsagosh, was overwhelmed by the onslaught of blades, arrows, and Ulm Warriors.

The sea of spawns, visibly reduced but still vast, receded from the battlefield, leaving behind their uncounted dead and an ankle-deep red mud that stank of rotting fish and seaweed.

There was a momentary peace, there in the rain, as the wounded gasped their last gasps and the living sucked in great lungfulls of the foul air, momentarily thankful for continued life.

But even as the once-numberless horde of spawns dwindled, dark shapes appeared behind their ranks; huge, tentacled, and horrible. From the flanks they slithered, sliding across trails made slick and traversable by the spilling of their minions blood. Behind them billowed a horrible dead-gray fog.

A murmur ran through the lines of Ulm: Sijansur, slayer of men, had appeared. But Mord himself, the godly titan of Ulm, was with his people that day and his command was to stand firm. The faith was strong. Warriors made ready, and volley after volley of arrows was fired at the approaching horrors or into the fog, but to no effect.

Then, with a crack of lightning, the Monsters reached the battlefield and all dissolved to chaos. Men hacked at tentacles and fins only to find their swords pass through the ethereal body of their foe, clank harmlessly against Iron-tough skin, or, worse yet, inflict some small injury only to watch the wound close itself immediately. And though the monsters were ungainly, even helpless-seeming, they proved quite deadly indeed. At last, with their army literally disolving around them, the generals of Ulm crossed their enchanted steel for an oath to Mord and sortied against Gordius, leader of the R'lyeh Mind Lords. Though each felt as if his mind were leaking from his ears (as, horribly, they may have been), each man was driven by a fanaticism for Mord that was beyond cognition. As one, they drove their steel through the four tentacles of Gordius' body, grounding it in the soggy earth before succumbing to the astral predator. And Mord was not blind to their sacrifice. With his remaining magic, Mord opened the sky and called down His Wrath upon the pinned Gordius, blasting its body with one Thunderstrike for each brave general. With it's highly conductive ironskinned flesh and steel grounding, Gordius writhed with electricity for an instant before bursting like a tomato squeezed a Jotuns fist, showing the field with smouldering tentacles and ichor.

Seeing the triumph of their faith, the Ulmsmen let out a raged cheer, and the remaining Aboleth Mind Lords trembled in sympathetic dread; thoughts of Mind Lord mortality, especially great ones such as Gordius, were anathema to the Great Race and shook them as the death of a million slaves would not.

But even as the Mind Lords faltered, the fog rose up as a great wave, blotting out the cowering monsters and hiding the fields of the dead. Silently, it crested and fell across the ranks of Ulm. And from the blood-drenched fields of Minz, only screaming was heard.

Re: Confrontation
 

Wonderful stories! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Re: Confrontation
 

Bah sorry about the stale turn all, I was out of town. I should have no more stale turns for now on http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Re: Confrontation
 

Sorry about the stale turn(s) I dont remember the last time i checked this game. Tien'chi has proved a bit of a bore for me. If no one can be found to replace me, ill just set myself to ai.