R'lyeh ~~ Turn 9
SOUNDTRACK: Avkhimovich, The Sound Theory, 03:
Noiser Offset
Story first, gameplay below:
The Doom That Came to Ermor ~~ Part II
Three delegations the augurs of Ermor sent out to learn the destiny of their city,
and three prophecies they received:
The Oracle of Mount Cephalos, above golden Arcoscephale, told them this:
"If Ermor defeats Nume, Ermor shall never be defeated by man nor woman."
The druids of Maverni, wise in the ways of the stars, prophecied:
"If Ermor conquers Nume, the conquest of the world shall begin at Ermor."
And the last foretelling came from a spirit, chained under the Root of the Earth and
questioned by the Sauromancers of ancient C'tis.
"If Ermor destroys Nume, Ermor shall learn the secrets of life and death."
This pleased the augurs greatly, and so they counseled the senate of Ermor to make war
on Nume. The senate needed little encouragement, for they were greedy and envious of
the fish-men's great wealth.
Out then marched the armies of mighty Ermor, with their tall shields and sharp swords
and cunning javelins. The dust raised from their sandaled feet blew in billowing clouds,
and their brazen horns brayed like hammers smashing the sun's disk.
The fish-men of Nume pulled shut their great gates of gray iron on which were certain
detestable bas-reliefs that sapped the will and courage of those who looked upon them, and
readied their spiked nets and barbed harpoons and three-tined tridents. And the horns of
Nume moaned and gurgled like dying whales.
But Ermor called upon the other cities of Numeria, and fair Saeborica, and even distant
Ograthon, and they enclosed Nume in a half-ring of soldiers, and made gifts to the sea-people
so that they would close the harbour. Even to wild Maverni they sent, for their fearless
warriors, and to golden Arcoscephale, for their cunning builders and number-men. They even
sent to the cursed giants of Fomoria, but of the fog-people none would come.
And the sages of Arcoscephale built great towers of wood to reach the walls, and the warriors
of Maverni leaped first unto the walls, where they made a great slaughter. And it is said
the jarls of Helheim rejoiced that day, but they were not present, for in those years the
Gates of Death were still firmly closed.
For many years Ermor would replay this battle on the blood-soaked sand of it's arenas, where
one of the gladiators would fight with trident and net, and wear a repellent fish-like helmet.
So the armies of men took the walls of Nume, and descended into the city, where they pillaged
and burned. And at last they came to the temples, and broke open the doors in search of riches,
but of what they found there no one would speak. But a grim hatred came then over them, and
they spurned loot and turned to killing, and some spoke at length with the tritons below the
waves, who would let none of the fish-folk escape.
Finally Nume was put to the torch, and the men of Ermor brought salt at great expense and
poisoned the earth, and the tritons warded the harbour so that no water would enter and no
water would leave.
With Nume broken and shattered, Ermor rose up, now first of all cities in the north-west. Yet
dreams plagued all that had marched against Nume, and their descendants, and none could find
sleep on the night that Nume fell, no matter how many years had passed.
This was why the celebration of Nume's death and Ermor's victory, at first a solemn affair,
began to become more and more debauched, as the people of Ermor sought to flee their dreams.
Every year the festivities grew more raucous, the excesses louder and more insistent, as every
year more people had come under the curse of Nume, and where desperate not to sleep.
So it was that one hundred years after Nume's fall, there were few guards on duty at the
harbour, even though news from under the sea had been worrying of late.
And so, when under the gibbous, green, leering moon and the madly twinkling north star the huge,
slimy sea-trolls lurched out of the mist-shrouded sea, and the misshapen, hunchbacked, mindless
toad-men followed, hopping and shuffling, few stood to snatch up their spears and shields,
fewer still stood and received the monstrous charge.
The people of Ermor were used to strange noises on this night; no-one heeded their screams.
Those that escaped the first battle would accost random party-goers, but to no avail: all
believed them to be in the throes of some strange delirium brought on by one of the many exotic
drugs that the people of Ermor had come to favour on this night.
Behind the vanguard, the vast bulks of the Abzu-lesh hurled themselves out of the water,
accompanied by more of their stunted atlantean slaves. They would begin to turn the people of
Ermor on one another, and cloud their minds further to keep them from realizing their doom,
save for their last moments when the veil would be ripped from them, and the terrible
realization of their death would be prolonged into eternities by the cruel magic of their
killers.
Thus Nume was avenged.
Thus Ermor was defeated, by neither man nor woman.
Thus, at Ermor, began the conquest of the world.
Thus Ermor learned the secrets of life and death.
~~~
inspired by *The Doom That Came to Sarnath*
mp3 low quality (9M)
mp3 high quality (18M)
ogg vorbis (9M)
txt
~~~
GAMEPLAY GAMEPLAY GAMEPLAY
This is a memorable turn. This month the last independent underwater province has fallen to Yöt-Webbogoth's
might.
Resistance is feeble. Futile, too. There was a moving sandbank in the province, a nice earth site that will
automatically be found. Yöt-Webbogoth heads north: he can't yet leave the water, and the nation most likely
to come visit underwater is Fomoria. It follows that the kraken an do the most good discouraging this by
lounging about off Fomoria's coast.
At the same time, Eshu Saath and Vkt'Ebph make landfall in Numecria.
Resistance is... beyond feeble. Did the goatfaces try to invade before? About two thirds of the enemy units
end up on R'lyeh's side. And this is where Ermor is supposed to be? Clearly everybody was distracted by
debauched celebrations of some sort.
Not everything goes well: Madness descends on Lake Fortune in the utter north-east.
I didn't know this could happen with cold scales? Or was this sabotage? Deliberate, malevolent, evil, evil
sabotage? Did someone cast Raging Hearts on my provinec? Will someone own up? No? Then I will just have to
presume all of you guilty. ALL OF YOU.
On a happier note, let us welcome our newest overpaid mind lord recruit, Dxu'daku. As you may have deduced
from his name, he is actually less overpriced than his fellows.
Double death picks! Can't hold a skull staff or skull face, but with rings of sorcery and wizardry D4 is
doable. Or better, he could make a skull staff and skull face for a revenant to hold/wear (enchantment 3,
death 2, summons a D1 mage with HANDS and a HEAD). That'd give us D5. Which in turn is enough for lichcraft,
and with that Bob's your uncle. Or B'obph.
Since we have water and death we could also go the conjuration route via Streams from Hades (W4D1) to get
a Kokythiad, which is a W3D3 mage. With hands. And a head. Also there are wendigos. Wendigoes? Hopefully
we'll see some of those at one point.
Anyway, Dxu'daku. Fine young mind lord. All right, maybe young is not quite the right word for a 1500 year
old fish monster. Still, I foresee a GREAT future for him.
For now he's going out sitesearching (placed at the back, set to retreat) and hopefully in a few turns
we'll have the death gems pouring in.
Nithü ~~ remember Nithü? ~~ has been looking for nature sites all this time, no success so far. He's building
a lab in Baptizer this turn (that's the north pole fortress).