[General Tacticus]

The Voice of our God

It had been a good year so far. Man was busy trading ground for time in North America, and was fast running out of ground. Abyssia had been defeated, probably by Machaka, which means one less false God running around confusing poor hapless peasants. The lamias were doing well, the mercs were as efficient as ever, despite their doubtful devotion to the God, and the slave soldier were providing good entertainment. The God was usually in a good mood these days, and that was the best news of all, as far as the majordomo was concerned. He entered the God’s chamber, carefully following every detail of correct protocol, as always, but more confident than usual.

The God turned toward him. The Divine Jaguar opened his mouth, but only produced an unarticulate groan. The God tried again, without success. It was however clear to the majordomo, from the way the God’s Hand were turning to jaguar paws, that the God was in a very bad mood. The majordomo’s finely homed survival instinct kicked in at full steam, and he bowed very low. His brain slammed into maximum overdrive. This could only be the result of the Burden of Time spell. But the God Himself had previously dismissed it. Don’t bring it up. We’ll need some serious magic there. And clearly blood will be spilt today. Better get some slave up here on the double. Make that two slaves. And two more to clean up afterwards. And two more in reserve, just to be safe. First get out of here.

- Most Powerful God, shall I fetch your chief mages ?

The God nodded. That was enough for the majordomo, who rose and left in the absolute minimum time compatible with protocol, and started running the second he was out of sight. Two slaves were dispatched, with orders to “clean up the mess in the God’s rooms”. Inexperienced ones, they surely would commit some breach of protocol. Then there would be a mess to clean up, so he sent an experienced team of slave to wait near the God’s chambers. Breathless, he entered the chief researcher’s room. That was against protocol, but the emergency was dire.

- Forgive me, My Lord, but a terrible thing has happened. The God has been struck by the Burden of Time spell.

The chief researcher’s face became pale as death.

- You took measures ?
- Two slaves have been sent to His rooms. I have more ready. But He is expecting you.

The chief researcher was already busy making calculations

- This is very bad. But tell me the worse. How was the God affected ?
- He was struck mute.
- Forget worse. This is worsest! Why couldn’t it have been a limp, or an eye ? Let’s run.

The God’s rooms were covered in blood. The God was looking outside his windows. Neither man commented. The chief researcher spoke, a minor breach of protocol in normal times, but waiting for the God to speak first was probably not the best idea right now.

- Most Wrathful God, a young researcher has just found a new way to manipulate magic. If we refine the idea, we could quickly devise a mean to both dispel and reverse the effects of Your enemies’ spells. I humbly beg Your permission to proceed, as well as the permission to use some of the magical gems in Your treasury.

The God did not turn, but made a sign with his paw. This was enough for both men. They knew the signs. After bowing, they left the rooms.

- How quickly can you do it, asked the majordomo ?
- Four moons of research if I draft the priests I have searching for magical sites, and the best of the blood hunters. Quetzacoatl can do the dispel, but I’ll need to train and equip a king priest for the curing spell. That can be done in the meantime. Fortunately, we have enough gems on hand to ensure both spell work the first time.
- Four moons ? The God is not very patient, these will be four very difficult moons…
- Even then, it will take time for the cure to take effect, I fear. But I can do no better.
- This will be a difficult time. Fortunately, the war is going well. Let us both pray there are no bad news in the mean time.

On their way out, the majordomo sent the cleaners. The God's hands were still paws. Better stray on the safe side. Their were always more cleaners.




Well, as you can see, Burden of Time does affect leaders and Pretenders. And the good old Murphy-based RNG that determines Pretenders afflictions is still working as intended : instead of a limp or something that would have affected only combat, I got mute, which divides all magic skills by two. Whereas a combat cyclop would have lost an eye on the first wound (as previous research clearly show). Still, I was lucky, I could have gotten Feebleminded instead...