A Tale of Fire and Blood

[General Tacticus]

Short interlude :

With its armies at Last finishing their trek North, Mictlan is ready and in position. Seeing no reason to wait, Tacticus orders an immediate attack against Man, who at the time controls the Eastern half of North America.
Quetzacoatl will attack across the caribeans, towards Florida, with a force af lamias and banes.
Miclipoctli will take some banes and longdeads and attack North from Teotihuacan, the capital, following the coast.
Various mercenaries and slave armies will attack from Teotihuacan and strike inland, capturing landlocked provinces.
All goes quite well, and Man’s castle in America is in sight.

For those who are counting, this covers turn 40 to 43. Abyssia was destroyed by Machaka on turn 40, and R’lyeh cast Wrath of the Seas, which I ignored, lacking Dispel.

[Bossemanden]

- All unmarried people, regardless of wealth or rank, shall be granted the opportunity to serve their God, and the priesthood, in whatever capacity they are most suited for.

"And what capacity would that be oh Great Eater of Hearts?" "Lord Almighty why do all the teaching priests carry around a red rod that twitches sometimes?"

This is great. Keep it up.
BTW does Burden of Time afflict leaders as well?

[ January 09, 2004, 10:20: Message edited by: Bossemanden ]

[General Tacticus]

Originally posted by Bossemanden:

quote:

---

- All unmarried people, regardless of wealth or rank, shall be granted the opportunity to serve their God, and the priesthood, in whatever capacity they are most suited for.

"And what capacity would that be oh Great Eater of Hearts?"

---

Well, that depends, but remember the article above, about the importance of abstinence before marriage. And what the God and his heroes were discussing at the start of the story. Still, I DO need the occasional loyal, smart but not too smart, talented priest.

This is great. Keep it up.
BTW does Burden of Time afflict leaders as well?

Well, yes. Even Pretenders, as a slightly arrogant Tacticus is about to discover

If you must know the truth, Burden of Time was cast while I was at war (OK, I am always at war ), not sure yet of victory (in the short-term, I have no doubt about my final victory), while my research was going on very slowly, and I had only Enchantment 3 (and that had been an oversight, I meant to stop at 2). I badly needed to research blood a bit to do something useful with it, a lot of my attention was on the battlefields of North America, the rest was used in getting my blood production up from artisanal to industrial level, so I just decided to gamble that my Pretender was immune to old age, and high MR would save him anyway, and he could afford an affliction anyway since he was always at home researcher, casting or forging.

Guess what will shortly happen to him ?

[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...

[Bossemanden]

I really like this majordomo of yours. His survival instinct is quite keen.

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.

Hmm it seems I´m the cheerleader here...Well so be it.
Go Tacticus, Go Tacticus (makes feeble gestures in the air, marginally compatible with actual cheerleader thingy)
Edit: Oh great and Majestic Hearteater. I apologise for debasing thy hallowed name Tacticus by bastardising it Tacitus. Please forgive me.....(sound of heart being ripped out)

[ January 11, 2004, 14:41: Message edited by: Bossemanden ]

[PhilD]

Originally posted by Bossemanden:

Hmm it seems I´m the cheerleader here...Well so be it.
Go Tacitus, Go Tacitus (makes feeble gestures in the air, marginally compatible with actual cheerleader thingy)

Is it voluntary that you altered his (Mute) God's name from Tacticus to Tacitus?

(Beware, he doesn't seem to have much of a sense of humor!)

And I'll double as a cheerleader. Virtually, that is - I still have a little self-esteem.

[Bossemanden]

Originally posted by PhilD:

quote:

---

Originally posted by Bossemanden:

Hmm it seems I´m the cheerleader here...Well so be it.
Go Tacitus, Go Tacitus (makes feeble gestures in the air, marginally compatible with actual cheerleader thingy)

Is it voluntary that you altered his (Mute) God's name from Tacticus to Tacitus?

(Beware, he doesn't seem to have much of a sense of humor!)

And I'll double as a cheerleader. Virtually, that is - I still have a little self-esteem.

---

Argh stupid me. I´ll edit that post now

[Sammual]

These are the best AAR ever.
Keep them comming.

Sammual

[Bossemanden]

Heh. The rule that people dont read stickys is still true.
I was down to looking at page 2 getting more and more desperate. "Where is the AAR?". Before I found it here at the top of page 1.

[General Tacticus]

Originally posted by Bossemanden:
Heh. The rule that people dont read stickys is still true.
I was down to looking at page 2 getting more and more desperate. "Where is the AAR?". Before I found it here at the top of page 1.

Me too !

But now that I've found it, I can write the next chapter