MP Game - Yarnspinners

[puffyn]

---- Arcoscephale, Turn 48 ----

And when Pandokos of the quick feet and the cold shivery stick at last glimpsed the city toward which he was traveling, he became much confused, thinking he had accidentally turned back toward Oast Hills. In his infinite wisdom he turned to me, "The Collected Sayings of Pandokos the Prophet, Vol 1", to look at my array of useful and informative maps; but he seemed to expect more than a blank sheet with an X and the words "you are here!!" written on it, and in his snootiness slammed me shut before he could read any of the helpful advice written on the next pages... [passage ends abruptly]"

From The Collected Sayings of Pandokos the Prophet

This is what comes, I thought, of letting people into libraries. The next thing you know someone's built a huge fortress to house all the would-be scholars pouring in from the hinterlands, and they're charging ridiculous amounts for lodging and stables. I wonder if Thymbre knew what would happen to this quiet village when she tarried here an extra month to prepare the scholar's quarters, before joining us on her last campaign... I suspect she might just find the huge crowds and the constant magical bickering (and occasional flying sparks or sharp stones) to be amusing.

At least I was able to find the firbolg. Had I been looking for a lesser man, it would have been difficult, but Todd stands out in a crowd. He has the face of a young boy, and the same sheepish manner of speech, though it is whispered that he is millennia old. Certainly he is taller than any two men. But for all his affability, I was disturbed by his news. The first thing he told me, for instance, was that we were at war. "At war?" I said, naively placing stock in my nominal position as supreme commander of the Oast Hil... sorry, Arcoscephale forces.

"Yes, Rod marched out several months ago, and has been having a jolly good time on the high plains," said Todd seriously. "Only I can't go until Orokestes gets back." His eyes brightened. "Did you hear there was a huge battle, and everyone died, except the mystics? Now Orokestes will have to come back, and I can march out with him, and we can retake our ancestral home."

I realized, with dismay, that the news that several divisions of troops -- including many Greek veterans -- had been sent into battle without my knowledge, did not surprise me. Weren't we at peace with Vanheim? I thought. Didn't they trade away Thymbre's grave so that we would not have to fight this war?. Too late for such thoughts now.

Todd was eager to march forth immediately, for death and glory, and my stupid young recruits beamed eagerly at his words. But I insisted on speaking with the runner from the battle; and from his words I realized that we needed a plan. We faced even worse things than nightmares now, and this time I would not fail my troops. I ordered everyone to stay within the castle, and for news to be sent that any soldier or mystic afield must return, so that we might better plan how to face this foe.

But I found it impossible to think within the confines of the city walls, so close to terrible memories long since buried. At night I would dream that Athena was calling to me, telling me to meet her in the mountains. After a week of this, with no sign of friend or foe on the horizon, I decided that if going up into that mountains would get me a good night's sleep, it was worth it, goddess or no goddess. So accompanied by a young mystic who refused to let me go alone (I think he was itching for a chance to search for mystical sites, but dared not disobey my orders to stay within the castle), I marched out to the near hills. I sit there now, two nights later, watching the dark mountains I marched into with my love, unable to leave. It is not yet time, I know, though I cannot say what it is I am waiting for.

---

[puffyn]

---- Arcoscephale, Turn 49 ----

On the eighth night, just as a thin sliver of moon began to rise, Pandokos heard a voice behind him. "You," he said. "I thought you were in a swamp down south." There was a voice like silver and thunderclaps, and she said, "But I am the goddess of battle strategery, and you are in need of a plan." And she spoke many wise words with him, which although they were not wise enough to have been in the Book in the first place, were nonetheless wise enough to be included now...

From The Collected Sayings of Pandokos the Prophet

"Do not tarry," Athena said to me. "This world is breaking beneath the fires of war. In less than a year you must have completed my work for you here - you must have forged these people together and trained an army strong enough to beat back the forces of chaos. Ride out into the mountains as soon as you can. Meet the invaders head on, and in my name you will triumph".

I'm not so used to being addressed by goddesses. I feel that my speech lacks the proper iambic beat which the gods seem to expect of their confidants in all the old poems. But military strategy I can deal with.

"That's foolish. The walls of this fort are strong. If we wander into the passes which they know so much better than I, we'll just lose again. I've lost a battle in those mountains, Orokestes has lost a battle in those mountains... no, it's better to wait here."

Athena smiled. "But this time you won't be going alone." A wizened old man appeared at her side. His hair and clothes spoke of far too long in the wild, and his smell of far too long since he had had to stand among other people. "This is my priest, Karl. He has tended the grave of Thymbre in these mountains for the past three years, spreading my name among the animals and plants here, in preparation for this day. He will guide you through the hills, and his friends will protect you from ambush. Now, give him your weapons."

Thinking that she must mean that pretty (but useless) Winter Bringer the old woman in scene twenty-four had given me, I turned it over to him.

"And the other one."

Muttering that it was typical nonsense for a god to expect a man to fight empty-handed, I reluctantly turned over my lance also (the men will be disappointed, they regard it as a token of good luck).

"Okay, now what?" But Athena was gone. Without a word, Karl wandered off into the woods, and I followed him back to the city.

At the gates I at last met the fabled Orokestes. "Balachandra sent this stuff for you, from the forge out east," he said by way of introduction. In the package was a pair of beautiful blue boots with amber buckles, an amulet with amber stones, and a belt with a single huge piece of amber (Blachandra must have gotten a good bulk deal on amber). "Oh, and a strange woman left this for you."

It was a sword such as I have never see. Massive enough to require two hands, it crackled and hissed as it flew through the air, and sparks ran down its surface. It is a thing of deadly beauty. I suppose being chosen as a pawn in the games of the gods isn't always so bad after all.

---

[Sedna]

R'lyeh, Turn 48

Dear Diary,

Our revolutionary struggle continues apace. We are advancing inexorably on all fronts, even those in which our advance is in a backwards direction. Our forces triumphed so completely in Heaven's Hold that it was considered unwise to spread ourselves too thin to pursue the stragglers of the evil Man army, so we left the battle field in victory and left their few survivors holding it, convinced they had triumphed. The fools! Do they not know that we have the historical imperative on our side? Do they not recognize that theirs is a decadent bourgeois society doomed to fall? Why then must they throw their lives away on such a pointless struggle? If they would only surrender, I would personally see to it that the class traitors were executed as humanely as possible, and that the ordinary soldiers were sent to forced labor camps close to their homes, so their families, if they survived the purges, could visit them and provide them with food and blankets and other things they should be grateful to be permitted. I am merciful, unlike certain tentacled oppressors who shall remain nameless. For that is the will of

-Xlikloth

[Sedna]

R'lyeh, Turn 49

It is so dry here, but I have found a way to keep moist. The fish in this place are very stupid and hug the bottom when they swim, so it is easy to chase them down and replenish myself from their waters. I do not understand why they don't fly away when I dart among them, but then there is much in this strange tenuous dry sea that is a mystery to my. Why do the fish here think that sharp sticks will do aught but pass through me? Why do they hurl small fires at me when these will easily be quenched upon my skin? And why do they make choking gasping sounds when they are suddenly enveloped in life-sustaining water?

If not for the assurances of my sister, who has long voyaged above the waves, I would have laughed at the emissary from the strange sucking tentacled beings who fancy they have conquered the oceans; but Limne insisted on hearing her out, and showed me how to use the strange devices they provided to leave the waters. C'thulu is no great friend of ours, but neither is he our foe: and I do not like to see any creature of the deep hurt by surface dwellers as much as he. Besides, the strange fish with their green cloth banners are quite easy to trample underfoot, and it is marvelous to see how they've adapted to the terrible absence of cool comforting water all around. Too long have we queens of the sea ignored this dry place; it is good that I am here now, to ensure the safety of all the little creatures who live in the deep.

Thalassa, Lady of the Undines

[PashaDawg]

You guys are wacked out!!

[Alneyan]

I am quite wacked myself, because of all those squids and the silly Machakan who won't let me take their forts without a fight. Was this game supposed to be "Call of Ctuhlhu", and actually a game of survival?

Well, good luck to the remaining players against the rise of R'lyeh (and don't forget your astral magic, will you?).

[puffyn]

---- Arcoscephale, Turn 50 ----

We met them as the day died on a high, windswept plain, between the Braegen Marches and the pass over the Godsgraves. Two small battalions of hypaspists and Vinogres stood before our mystics and priests. Another squad of hypaspists formed my personal guard, and a fourth guarded Orokestes, who now leads the mystics.



Across the way, the sharp-eyed amongst us could see the invaders. Many were human: a score of elite huskarls, nearly as many men armed in wolf-skin with great two-handed swords, a squardon of archers on the right-flanks, and a group of the evil death sorceresses who had lead the ambush that killed Thymbre. There were trolls, massive creatures with great clubs. There were dwarf-mages, each cunning and ancient and cruel. There were nightmares on the left flank, their spears red in the setting sun, stained forever with Thmybre's blood. There were other wonders: an immortal fay boar, a gargoyle, animated into life... and then there were the Vans. More beautiful beings I have never seen, and the eye danced around such wonder, unable to comprehend what it was seeing. And the greatest of these sat on the world's largest horse. This is the One-eyed Bully, Lord of Frost. Ancient and terrible, with a horse swift as the wind. It is easy to see why he is a worshipped as a god.



The sky turned dark, and a freezing rain fell. Behind me, the mystics began to mutter their spells. I raised Athena's sword to point out the terrible wight which lurked at the back of the foe's army, and watched in amazement as heaven opened and smote the foul thing with lightning. I shouted a warning about the danger posed by the trolls on the flanks, gestured, and a thunderbolt fell among them. Again, I pointed, this time to the smoking ruin the blast had made, and again the sky struck the earth. One last time I raised the sword, and suddenly three men who stood near the boar vanished in a shower of light.

The nightmares charged, and the archers let fly, as my men obeyed orders and held their ground. The death-priestesses shouted foul incantations and curses to scare our forces into attacking. Praying that Athena might avenge Thymbre, I pointed my sword at them - lightning thundered down all around them - and they died with a horrible scream.



Todd now charged, heedless of my calls, far beyond the safety of the spear line. A terrible whirlwind of death descended upon him, and a frightening apparition, but he dodged the blows, struck back, as if his sword could tear the magic sinews of these charms. The nightmares had almost reached our lines, so I called out for a charge and ran forward with my men. A hail of blades fell over us. My men caught most of them on their shields, but one struck me in the arm, and I began to bleed profusely. And it was all for naught, for just as we reached the nightmares, they vanished in a hail of magic.



Now I heard shouts of alarm from the mystics. The one-eyed bully charged the length of the battlefield in a blink of an eye, skirting our phalanx to attack Orokestes. "Oh boy, I can lead the troops now!" Todd called, across the din. "You should go make sure he doesn't get stabbed or else I'll have to go home." So I went. A heavy mist had fallen now, and weapons seemed to be thrusting out of it even when no foe could be seen. The enemy must have somehow flanked us with a small force, who now roved among our unprotected magicians. I cut my way through.



Then the fog cleared a little, and I was face to face with a horse that towered over me, and danced like a storm at sea, or the face of the mountains. I called for Athena, and lightning struck around my foe, but hurt him not. Grabbing what courage I had left, I slipped amongst the thousand hooves. They flashed through the air more quickly than the eye could see, yet I was always quicker, and as I thrust my sword up toward the towering giant, lightning flew from the tip and danced over him. Suddenly he became clear, no longer a thousand images of himself. I tried again, but could not get past his spear. Orokestes called out in a loud voice, and for a moment, my foe was still. "Thymbre!" I cried, and drove towards him with my sword; Zeus' light flashed again, and the gods claimed back one of their own.




They broke soon after. None surrendered, but none escaped back to sing in the halls of Vanheim. Afterwards I came across one of the Vans. His body was crushed, but his noble face which had welcomed a thousand thousand new suns in the east remained unscathed, gazing up onto the dark, brooding sky- the last it would ever see.

---