MP Game - Yarnspinners

[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.

---

[Sedna]

R'lyeh, Turn 50

Heh-heh, suckers all.

Man is disappearing into the waves with pleasant abandon. I'm a little concerned that the rebels up there may start to think that Xlikloth is a competent general, so I've called forth the water queens, equipped them with the finest array of magical items, and sent them onto the land. They are such beautiful killing machines that I'm sure the troops will worship them instead of the false prophet, and thus return to the sea. And Man is still fighting Machaka too, oblivious to my hordes seething outside their cities and fortresses.

Caelum was gullible enough to send me the chalice- some religious token I've never understood the importance of. Oh yes, I said, I'll send it back in a few months after I've been healed. So far I haven't seen any of its mystical healing properties, but it makes a pretty good spittoon.

Cthugul has been busy. Upset with the slow pace of the Void Gate, he collaborated with good old Sammy (I'm surprised Sammy isn't dead yet. Every other pet human I've had has died really fast) and worked up a spell to directly call an abomination. I love abominations. Almost as much as the great purple. The spell seems to damage them en route, and so they end up a bit mindless, wandering around, bumping into things, killing slaves, and ripping apart the fabric of the universe. Sammy comes through again in the pinch though, with a very helpful book called, "How to give your Abomination the gift of reason". Evidently, you can either hit them repeatedly with the book or you can shot them with nature magic, right there above the eye.

I'm going to give this one a cute name, one of those cute little frosted unicorn heads, and something to fly - and then unleash it upon an unsuspecting world. And then Cthugul will get more, and more... Sure, the spell takes a lot of magic pearls, but it's better than relying on the void gate and its endless string of Othernesses and Things.

[Sedna]

R'lyeh, Turn 51

A small set-back this month. I had ordered the garrison in Vankara sound to secure the city on the cliffs above. This is the home of the Vans, a rapidly vanishing race thanks to the genocidal efforts of Man and Arcoscephale. I thought their capitol might have some useful toys, and anyway, I certainly couldn't leave it in the hands of Man. I guess they had insufficient arrow fodder, or Man had too many magic users or something, because we were repulsed back into the sea. Ah well, I'll order them to try again.

The rest of the Manish war goes well. The trees are rapidly disappearing from the eastern lands and Machaka has recently broken the Man army in the south. In fact, a scout reports that this loss left one of their troublesome air queens stranded with a small army in Syzran. My death sorceresses up north have been constantly cursing men into ghouls in distant lands. Useful enough, but a mighty force of ghostly cavalry works much better against air queens.

The bird-folk, my last real competition in this plane of existence, have launched an ill-conceived war against the fire-humans. Perhaps they will be successful. Both sides have certainly had many years of peace in which to develop, but the birds cover much more of this world. Still, it a perfect opportunity to strike. While the fiery devils of Abysia distract the fluffy-ones, I'll quickly raise a couple armies in the deep places by their shores and then march to another swift and certain victory.

I long to join them, but this blasted chalice thing seems to be broken. Perhaps it was a mistake to use it for drinking unicorn blood mixed with baby brains. The first Abomination is all set to kill things though. I dub him Mithridates (Mithy, for short), and send him to test the strength of the birds in one of their newly conquered lands.