CoE3 AAR: A Chronicle of the Interregnum

[Edi]

This is the start of a new AAR to provide a glimpse into the game and some aspects of it that are new compared to CoE2. However, I do not play one of the new classes, instead we shall explore the game from the point of view of a Necromancer who must discover the new powers he is facing and overcome them.

Here is the beginning and backstory for this AAR, but I will probably only manage one or two posts before I must leave for work and will continue the AAR tomorrow morning. Onward!

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I am Barras, a Necromancer. Perhaps the last of my kind in Elysium. I shall write this chronicle so that even should the unthinkable happen, I shall not be forgotten.

It is the time of the Interregnum. The Empire has fallen. Battlefields and ruins of the empire litter the lands. Few cities and villages remain. Human lands are in chaos, and bandits roam the countryside. Even worse, great acts of evil have been performed in the capital, which has turned into a stronghold of undead creatures and unspeakable horrors. Only a powerful leader will be able to rebuild the empire.

The fall of the Empire has been a boon to me. When the Empire was at the height of its power, the practicioners of my art were hounded and persecuted by the Imperial priesthood and there were few places indeed in all of Elysium where we could safely hide.

Now, thanks to the feuds and squabbling among the Senators that Bellania incited and her further machinations, the Empire is no more. Little did they know that she serves that upstart god Baal, whose cult only appeared toward the later days of the Empire. It was also genius on her part to entice my former acquaintance Calthus to think he could seize power and become Emperor.

Fools the Senators may have been, but even they would not have countenanced a Demonologist on the throne of the Empire. It is amazing really how far that blundering idiot got, that he wasn’t devoured by the things he called. Or perhaps he learned discipline later, little that it matters. *snicker* Poor Calthus, abandoned by his staunch ally, Bellania, right on the edge of victory. Of course, it was then that he turned to desperate measures and all his bad habits caught up to him. Tried to summon an Arch Devil, but of course he skimped on the offerings, what with the Imperial army bearing down on him and fighting all over the streets of the Capitol.

The former Capitol, I should say, since he failed to control the creature and it destroyed him and then proceeded to slaughter the entire Imperial military and anything else that got in its way. Nobody knows exactly what happened, but the rumors from the vicinity of that place tell that anyone who goes too near disappears and is never heard from again. All I know from what the spirits of the Netherworld tell me is that there were more than demons roaming the streets of the Capitol at the Time of the Fall. Creatures rarely glimpsed, beings made of the stuff of nightmares that devoured and tortured mortal and demon alike. Whether they are gone is unknown, but I would surmise they are not. However, it is at best an academic concern, since I do not intend to find out.

The upheaval since the Fall has left everything unsettled and nobody knows what state the land is in now, other than chaos, of course. It is left for those with the means and the ruthlessness to pick up the pieces and build something new.

I have found an ally in a servant of the Old Powers, a Witch who is as glad as I am to see the Empire gone and who has little love for Bellania. We have pooled our efforts and shall seek to claim a position of power from where it will be impossible to dislodge us. She seeks to return Elysium to where it was before the coming of man. I seek immortality. Once I have achieved that, our goals are not incompatible at all.

I know that Bellania did not survive the unexpected results her machinations brought about, but her cultists have found a new leader named Hephzibah and allied with other newcomers, the barbaric, backward people of a Priest King from somewhere called Mictlan whose names are quite unpronounceable. These savages worship something called the God of the Four Faces, with human sacrifices, I hear. How predictable. I have no use for gods of any sort, so it is imperative to stamp these cults out.

Other spies have managed to find out some preliminary information on the other factions powerful enough to be contenders for the rule of Elysium. There is another Old Power at play, a member of the tree worshiping Druidic Order, who has allied himself with the Moutain Folk. It may sound like a strange alliance at first, but the Druid is only interested in seeing wilderness reclaim the cultivated lands and the dwarves want nothing more than to be left alone under their mountains to mine what they discover underground.

The third enemy alliance is one of chaos and destruction. A barbarian horde has gathered and it has allied itself with a strange breed of goblin-like creatures that has emerged from a mountain citadel somewhere in the land. These beings have not been seen before and it is speculated that they have come to Elysium from some strange hitherto unknown netherworld, not to be confused with the Realm of the Dead. They are far better organized than goblins and have spread like a plague, but fortunately each band seems to be on its own. These things call themselves the Bakemono and it is known now that when they are led by a shaman or witch doctor, they practice human sacrifices to call more powerful allied beings, like unto demons but different. Rumor says that a powerful Bakemono Sorcerer has emerged and unified the heartlands of the Bakemono to his banner.

I do not like so many unknowns. The Druid and the Dwarves are predictable and the barbarians may call spirits of their ancestors if they find shamans powerful enough. Everything else is a question mark. Baal cultists seem to have an affinity for spiders, but aside from that, there is no telling what my ally and I will face. I suspect that her swamp monsters and Androphags are going to have their work cut out for them. I myself must gather enough Hands of Glory to summon something more than weakling longdead and soulless...