AAR: Multi-Player After Action Report (Now Discussing Turns up to 13-16)

[Immaculate]

Arcosephalae
Turn Seven: An Honest Mistake

Today’s turn AAR is brought to you by “The Bravery” - click the turn names for awesome 80s music. CLICK IT NOW. Open multiple windows and play it two or three times at once out of sync. You’ll be so happy.

Ooops…



Not what I was expecting at all.

So what happens?



Their undead cavalry hit my infantry line, and manage to kill many of them as well as our slingers while our chariot archers swing around and destroy their zombies (soulless) and finally their mound kings. We force a rout.



But we lose much of our infantry and slingers.

Here you can see our barbarian commander and his chariots converging with the forces that just lost so many men to try and take another province. All the forces that routed in that last battle have run to the province ‘Stark’ is attacking from but unfortunately barb commander leadership sucks so he can’t pick them up to reform our forces.



What do we have ready for those lizardmen?



I’m hoping this is a functional pincer movement. We’ll see what happens. You can see that attrition has basically wittled down my initial expansion party and forced me to keep feeding forces to this command instead of starting a second expansion party. Its sort of pathetic but its turn 7 and I am still only taking one province per turn. This is a horrible initial expansion rate.

[jotwebe]

Soundtrack: A. Avkhimovich: The Sound Theory: 02. Something Random


The turn before last turn I recruited a triton priest in Moon Sea.
Last turn I ordered him to search for sites, and he immediately
demonstrates why you should always search underwater provinces with
holy magic (H1 is enough).



The land temples don't give water, but are still nice.

The army led by Eshu Saath and Vkt'Ebph has also arrived from R'lyeh.



They prepare themselves for landfall, and their target is the
unsuspecting province of Numecria. The map has Ermor there,
yet Ermor is not a power in the game. And never will be ~~ the
story at the end will explain.

Meanwhile the sages of Arcoscephale have noticed the strange
going-ons beneath the sea.



For once someone sends us a friendly message! Why do the little
mans hate us so?

As you may have noticed on the screen above, Auluudh's guys are
just chillin'. How come? If you look at the south-eastern corner,
you'll see a certain octopoid monstrosity attacking the province
next from them ~~ from the other side. He doesn't need any help
with that, so Auluudh might as well make himself useful in his
capacity as a mage.



Yöt-Webbogoth also spots Pangaea's pretender, a vile undead husk
of a man that clings to its miserable existance at any price. Seems
a strange fit for a nation that's centered on growth and nature
magic, but nature/death is a very potent combination for Pangaea.
It gives access to carrion centaurs/lords/ladies that can reanimate
manikins (corpses reanimated by plants, undead with a nifty fatigue-
causing attack) for free, and a lich needs a strong dominion to make
the most of his immortality. Pangaea with it's cheap temples and
blood-sacrifice capability an provide, and those are even better
with a high dominion from the pretender.

Looks like he took really high dom. This means that I'll have a
nice old time preaching his filthy dominion out of my underwater
provinces. I also wave a tentacled goodbye to any plans I had to
snatch Tir na n'Og for Greater R'lyeh. Well, any *immediate* plans.
It'd be nice to have, since the only non-water access is via the
province his lich dude is standing in. But it also is on the
opposite end of the world from my, and I want to avoid the
impression of being excessively greedy. For now. Who knows, maybe
something will come up?

Anyway, with Yöt-Webbogoth attacking the last independant underwater
province this turn, Phase I of my cunning plan for world conquest
will be complete next turn. Have an inspirational picture:



Phase II will be:

A lab, a temple and a kelp fortress in. Every. Province.

Well, every second province maybe. And I'm talking underwater
provinces; on land I don't get any national units at all, so I won't
be building all that many forts there.

The labs will allow me to port mages troops with water-based spells
in addition to the standard astral ones (teleport & gateway). As
spread out as my empire is, that'll be very important.

The temples, together with a fort, will allow me to recruit my
wimmen. The R'lyeh ladies are very... traditional, and never leave
the house. They do provide a constant stream of free polypal spawn
(basically the hoburg militia of the seas) and a less constant
trickle of upkeep-costing but holy gibodai (the classier type of
mindblaster fish).

They also can kickstart my dominion with H2 preaching. Hopefully
that will be enough to let the temples spread it to the fortless
provinces in between: If I get provinces under my dominion, good
things will happen. If not, there will be problems ~~ my PD ain't
that great. But at least I'll have the option to recruit a ton of
R'lyeh tradmark chaff in a neighbouring fort and retake a province
if necessary.

The sea shall be an impregnable fortress, an iron clamp around the
land, a necklace of horrible spawn-factories constantly pumping out
their vile, wriggling offspring in an ever-rising tide of ickyness.
Mage fish shall gambol from the labs, spontaneously twirling their
tentacles together in invincible communions of doom.

I will be pursue this plan with stunning efficiency and without giving
in to any distractions whatsoever.

Nothing can go wrong.

~~~

For fellow aficionados of Lovecraftianesquish, here as a little something inspired by The Doom That Came To Sarnath.

TXT |

MP3 | OGG



The Doom That Came To Ermor ~~ Part I

There is in the land of Numecria an silent bay where no wind blows
and no wave dares to enter. Not long ago there stood by the shore the
mighty city of Ermor, but Ermor stands no more.

It is told that when the city of Ermor was just about to rise to
prominence, another city stood by that shore. This was the city of
Nume, and it was not a city of men.



The beings that walked the streets of Nume were fish-like in shape,
and it was said they had come from beneath the waves, long ago on a
night when the moon leered gibbous and the North Star winked evily
upon the mist-shrouded sea.

The things of Nume were no friends to the proud tritons or the mermen
or even others of their kind, for it was said they had sworn fealty
to the City of the Deep Seas, the name of which the wise do not speak.

The things of Nume also were no friend to man, for men did not think
that beings of such aspect should walk the world above. Moreover, they
did not like the brooding sculptures of Nume, and the squat and heavy
palaces of dark gray stone the things of Nume built. Strange and
repellent were the rites and customs of the city, and the men of
Numecria, and fair Saeborea, and distant Ograthon spat on the ground
when they spoke the name of Nume.

Yet despite the hatred of man, and the people of the sea, Nume
prospered, for her traders sailed farther then all others, to Komoroo
and even mist-shrouded, accursed Fomoria, and they brought furs from
the forests of Maverni, whose priests disdained writing, and strange
mechanisms from golden Arcoscephale on the slopes of Mount Cephalos.



Thus it was that the men of Ermor, who had raised their city to the
foremost of the many towns in the hills of Numecria looked upon Nume
and felt envy, and even hate. Still, they feared Nume's strange powers
and allies, and did not dare to strike.

Instead they sent their broad-shielded armies marching into the hills,
and made all other towns of Numecria send them tribute, and swear
fealty to mighty Ermor.

It was not enough.

So the augurs of Ermor sent to the Oracle at Cephalos, above golden
Arcoscephale, and the oracle told them this:

"If Ermor defeats Nume, Ermor shall never be defeated by man nor
woman."

And the augurs of Ermor rejoiced to hear this, but prophecy was
notoriously fickle, and apt to turn on those who trusted it to
quickly.

So the augurs of Ermor sent to the tribes of Maverni, and sent again
when the first delegation came to a bad end. And the second delegation
brought gifts before the druids, and returned with the following
counsel:

"If Ermor conquers Nume, the conquest of the world shall begin at
Ermor."

Finally the augurs of Ermor sent to the Sauromancers of C'tis, for
they were neither man nor women and the augurs were a cautious lot.
On the way there the delegation was stopped by the Fiery Ones of
Abysia, and taken before the Smouldercone for judgement, for they had
trespassed on the Abysians' land. But the delegation's leader spoke
passionately of friendship and alliance, and the Anointed of Rhuax
let them go, in return for the promise of a share in Ermor's great
destiny.

So the men of Ermor came to swamp-girded C'tis, most ancient of all
cities above the sea. There they saw lizard serpent-dancers whirling
and twisting in their holy trance, and splendid lizard princes ride
in gilded chariots, and the sauromancers conjure the spirits of the
dead with the smoke of certain herbs.

It was difficult for warm-blooded men to gain an audience with the
lizard sorcerors, but the delegation's leader persisted, and spoke
with great eloquence of Ermors splendour and riches, and the wisdom
of its augurs.

And the lizard-kings were swayed, and granted the men of Ermor leave
to speak with the Sauromancers, who than performed many strange and
unsettling rites. At last the Sauromancers spoke with a fell spirit,
imprisoned under the Root of the Earth, and asked about the fate of
mighty Ermor.

"If Ermor destroys Nume, Ermor shall learn the secrets of life and
death."

This the spirit spoke, and laughed so mightily that the earth shook
and a great temple to one of the many snake-godlets of C'tis fell
down.

The men of Ermor were divided what to make of this, but they were
agreed that the time had come for them to return. But the swamps of
C'tis are full of unhealthy airs for those not of lizard-kind, and
all of them fell ill not long after they had embarked on their
journey.

One by one they died, and only a single man returned at last to mighty
Ermor, ranting and raving. Still, it was enough for the augurs with
their magic to sift sense from feverish frenzy. And the augurs of
Ermor greatly wished to divine the secrets of life and death, which
they reckoned to be the greatest among the secrets that still eluded
them. For the augurs of Ermor were arrogant, and reckoned themselves
wise beyond all other men, and believed that there was little they did
not know, and that of even smaller consequence, save for the secrets
of life and death.

~~~ to be continued ~~~

[LDiCesare]

TURN 9:

First, a view of the map this turn:


I conquer a province full of Circle Masters with my minotaurs. Maenads are good at catching arrows, as expected. As expected, they are bad at surviving the arrows.


I lose even more in the north, where the maenads were only supported by centaur archers, but still win the battle.


Thorion, after defeating elephants, now defeats much more dangerous enemies... Markatas!

Yes, seriously, Markatas deserve some love. They are probably one of the worst units in the game, but they are so fun.

Meanwhile, Fomoria is very high on the province graphs, with R'lyeh not so far. Abysia has been stagnating for a while, I'm just behind them BUT. What is he doing with his army of Burning Ones just south of me, with nowhere to go but in my lands? Seriously? So I bring back my god as I foresee an attack. Why otherwise would he be bringing his troops? I also buy some minotaurs. They should be able to deal some damage to abysians once berserked. And some revelers. These will have to go spread unrest in the fiery one's lands if he's the *** I think he is. Wtf is he thinking? That I'll fold and he can take out my lands easily? He's got lots of indies to expand into north and west. Bringing his armies here is simply asking for war, and it'll cost him as his pitiful dominion won't let him kill my pretender. Unless I am silly enough to attack outside my dominion, that is. I even blood hunt a little in my capital this turn in order to get some slaves and push my dominion if needs be.Blood-hunting is quite random unfortunately I send him an in-game message. It doesn't matter that he'll get it after attacking me, it seems so obvious, I'm just calling him names. He has to hope he can rush me, but if he fails, well, a failed rush means death for both parties. Why does he think my pretender is second in the HoF? He's either just ruining the game for both of us or being totally silly wasting troops near me on a peaceful visit.
Well, as expected, he is indeed attacking and my predicitons were right. He never managed to take me out, opened himself wide to be slaughtered by his other neighbours and is very likely to die before me. Although Marverni, who was bold enough to actually ATTACK (!!!) Fomoria without having any decent troops or research, may die first.
I also get sightings of both Helheim and Fomoria.
The good news is the Markata province can produce, well, Markatas, but also Atavai chieftains. Stealthy, 40 leadership. Awesome for revelers and centaurs.

Do NOT underestimate this guy. He's very precious, being a stealthy commander for very cheap.

And I buy my atavi chieftain a few warriors and ONE Markata. My enemies will shiver in fear at this awesome sight for sure.Yes, I know, Markatas suck. So what?
I'll also get Construction 2 by the end of the turn, so I can also start forging stuff if needed, although keeping research up to cons 4 would be my preferred option.
Overall, this is unhappy. I could expand greatly now if only Abysia left me alone. He won't gain anything by attacking me, so what does he believe he can do? I'll spam his backyard with revelers and his economy will tank if he doesn't waste money on lots of PD...Because obviously, every province he forgets to put 20PD in will eventually fall and he'll have to take it back and spend 210 gold to fortify it and never will he be able to use the commanders and money wasted this way to buy himself a second fort.

[Corinthian]

Turn 2 – Lets take a look at the world.


There were no important events this turn other than that various nations declared their pretenders. Everyone prophetized their starting scout except for Marverni, who prophetized his starting commander instead. I did not think much of this at this time but later this knowledge gave me vital clues as to Bluemage's personality and playing style.

One event that was easily overlooked was that there was the proclamation that my patrolers reduced unrest by 2. To bad my overtaxing caused 12 points of unrest. Despite my praise of them last turn! How could they! Anyway these things happen. Overtaxing will always give 2 points of unrest for every 10% above 100%. Patrolers on the other hand are quite random in how effective they are and can fail even with great numbers given some bad luck. 2 points of unrest seem to have disappear by itself due to friendly dominion though.

Having a look at the world at the start of turn tells me one important thing. Crystal Amazons to my north east! Jackpot! I was wondering what I would have to do to get astral. With R'lyeh ever close by, astral magic is a must. I worried that I would have to wait until conj 6 and specters until I would get astral. Instead I find astral indies right outside of my door. Lucky!

Actually I was expecting to find astral from indies so it was part of my plan. Crystal amazons and lizard tribes are common in the Early Age. But its nice to find one so soon so I no longer have to feel any any pressure about it.

I was planning to recruit another Druid and four Unmarked, but as I lost some resources due to unrest I had to settle for three and a Nemedian Champion.

The first druid spend the turn building an Owl Quill. Some people consider these things to be a waste of Air gems. And they have a point. 5 Air gems for 3 points of research is not a good exchange. But it is also true that the power of a research booster depends on when you build it. At turn 2 that quill will produce research for a long time. Also in CBM Owl Quills have the additional effect of giving its wearer – 2 to enc. Witch to a spellcaster, or a quickened thug, is slightly better than having reinvigoration 4, due to the enc bonus counting double for spells and count once for each action. I will use them like this later, so really, they are actually just thug items that produce research while they sit in storage.

Nevertheless, the keen eyed among you might have noticed a red arrow going north. That arrow represent an ambassadorial group of Fir Bolgs that will visit the province of Vath to the north and my prophet to reveal to them the joyous words of Snakey. The army is my starting army plus the ten additional Fir Bolgs that I produced last turn. The opposition consist of 20 troops. Mainly of shieldless militia and light cavalry. There might possibly be a few heavy cavalry also that is not shown, but I am confident that my prophet could just smite them if they exist. Light and heavy cavalry often comes together.

I could also have attacked the barbarians to the south as barbarians are dangerous to giants. But I wanted my prophet to move north to strengthen my dominion up there. Already I can see the dominion of R'lyeh in the waters to the north west of my capitol and I would like it if the lands stayed under my my faith at the very least. Although I took dom strength 7 on my pretender, he is imprisoned and cant help inspire people on his own just yet. R'lyeh's pretender on the other hand is awake according to the graphs and could pose a significant threat to my dominion if he would chose to expand to the south. He is either a Wyrm or an Ancient Kraken. Both are viable though I suspect that he is a Ancient Kraken due to thematic reasons.

Oh right, lets take a look at this picture again.

No, I dont know why some of the pictures have a white border beneath them.

Anyway, lets talk about my build. Other players that look at my pretender would be excused if they though that I took the standard earth+nature bless. Because I did!

This is a E4N8 bless that, as the picture shows, allows my sacreds to regenerate and makes them last longer in battle without tiring. What the casual observer would have missed however is the fact that this bless only compromises a small part of my overall build. Most of my points were spent on my scales. As you can see above I took Order 3 for money, production 3 for versatility and because fomoria is one of the few heavy armor nations in EA. And for money of course. This is CBM after all. I also took Growth 2. Not because Fomoria in anyway need growth, but because growth is really powerful in CBM. Magic 1 is something that everyone takes so nothing strange there.

Only negative scale I took was heat 1 because I wanted to experiment a little. I have tested it a bit and it have given me the theory that temperature scales might not be as bad as it say on the tin. Yes, even with multipliers multiplying multipliers or whatever. The thing I have noticed is this: even with a base heat of 1 the heat will never get above 1 in the summer despite the fact that temperatures will go up then. This means that heat is free points in the summer. It will also often go down to heat 0 in winter making it the same in winter. Had I known Abysia would be in this game I would have chosen cold, but I designed my pretender before Excist even announced his choice of nation and I could not be arsed to change it.


There were mercs available but none of them were very appealing to me. I did not have the funds to bid on the Amazons when they were available and they are neither able to expand on their own, nor did they compliment the rest of my forces. Not worth it.

There were also city guards up for bid, but they are something of a joke that mainly new players recruit by mistake. They consist 60 militia and in a fight, militia can actually be worse than nothing due to them routing easily and taking the rest of the army with them in the rout. It is true like Mightypeon say, that they makes for adequate patrollers for overtaxing your capitol. But even there they'll just barely do. Remember that buying 60 militia for permanent patrolling would cost just 300g. Or 9 months for the mercs at minimum bid. Well, +40 for a commander. Whatever.

Turn 3: The 300 five warriors go forth to take the mountain pass.

I rarely get random events because of Order 3 and the lack of both luck and misfortune scales. Thus, only two events happened this turn. A battle and the fact that Abysia declared a demonbreed assassin to be his prophet. Such an odd choice. But I did not pay any more attention to this. I should have.

The other event was a battle.

An excellent and highly improbable outcome what with Fir Bolgs having only prot 7. Turns out that there really *were* four heavy cavalry in the province. But despite that, my Fir Bolgs did not take any casualties. One of them received a never healing wound, but he was immediately put on the famous fomorian health regime of “suck it up you prancy princess!”

Other interesting thing happening is that my second expansion force is ready.


Normally I like to have at least 6 giants in an expansion force, but you use what you get, and today I stand here with only five giants. They will have to do.

So whats up with these guys? Well with my blessing and the power of bad math they becomes an unbreakable wall of spears that will also stab people pretty well with its atk12, dam24 weapons. The bless will let them regenerate 6 HP every round. How exactly 15% of 35 turns in to 6 HP is a mystery but it has probably something to do with how awesome Snakey is. Or maybe dominions always round regeneration numbers upwards. Whatever.

I almost skipped over the earth bless part of the bless in favor of more scales, but it turns out I need it in order to make my quickened kings fatigue neutral. For the Unmarked it has the power to make them last 67% longer in battle without fatiguing out. Witch is good enough I guess.

Anyway, the bless also has another purpose and that is to prevent afflictions. No one knows to what extent regeneration protects against afflictions, but two things are known: One: The tool tip that it prevents 7/8 or all afflictions is wrong, and Two: more is probably better. 5% gives rather little protection, 15% gives rather a lot. This is also thematic as fomorians put great importance in avoiding afflictions as social status is depending on being healthy.

Soon these fearsome soldiers will be adorned with experience stars from expanding and unlike other elite troops they wont gain the complimentary afflictions.

Moving out!

Although I only brings 5 giants with me this time I have no doubt that their heavy armor and shields will be able to overcome almost any amount of archers and mindburns and take neither afflictions or casualties.

Next turn spoilers:

Got drat it!

[Immaculate]

Arcosephalae
Turn Eight: When in Rome

Today’s turn AAR is brought to you by ‘The Promise’. A reminder that the song titles in the above heading is a link to the music you want to be listening to while you read this.


If you can remember the last installment, we were attempting to take an indie lizardman province with an expansion party newly reinforced from the capital with some chariot archers. What happened there?



So this is all that is left in that province.

Oh poop!



The lizards are simply numerous and armed with their tridents and a bit of strength, simply hit hard. Our morale isn’t great and when we lose a few troops, we run…



Pictured here is our commanders spreading out to gather up all the forces that ran away.

Luckily, in other parts of the map we are finally ready to launch a second expansion party.



This one is made up entirely of chariot archers. We’ll see how they do against horse archers.

Turns are still a little boring as we go through pretty standard expansion- don’t worry things will get more exciting.

[Immaculate]

Arcosephalae
Turn Nine: Don’t You (forget about me)

Today’s turn AAR is brought to you by ‘Simple Minds’.


So diplomacy is finally starting to take place as we meet our neighbors. I had sent a message to R’leyh basically confirming that he got the waters and I got local lands. Its not like I could go into the waters to dispute this even if I wanted to so it doesn’t really change anything. His answer was,

Originally Posted by slimy water tentacle things

“Sure, I'll stay off the land, at least in your corner. I do have a Fomoria on overdrive sitting in my face...”

I also get this from Pangea,

Originally Posted by big guy with horns and hair

Greetings from Pangaea to Arcoscephale.
I may be mistaken, but I believe you might be in the southwestern part of the map, in which case your western neighbor would be Abysia.
If that is the case, you may find it interesting to learn Abysia is busy invading Pangaea to its east, and hasn't expanded to the west very much. Any action you could take to piss him off would reward you with my gratitude. I might also send in some Nature gems by the way.

Hope things are going better for you, I don't like early wars when the other nation is suited for it and not mine.

So things are starting to take form on the world stage. Told you things would get more exciting soon…

Well, this turn we finally managed to bid successfully on some mercs; I had been trying for awhile but most low-balling (Stupid me!).



Just as we hear of the dangers of big, bad formoria, we find out that he’s our northern neighbor. Oh Gently Caress!


Our battle with the horse archers went splendidly however. (I won’t bother showing you a screenshot- its pretty much just another indie battle- I’ll take a picture of more interesting battles as they take place).

What perhaps is of slightly more interest is a coordinate attack from three different provinces on a province with crystal amazons. I think these can be tough so I decided to throw everything I had at them.



You can see from the forces lined up that I hired a few wolf tribe archers. We have no archers (slingers DO NOT count) so they will have to do.

Next turn we’ll probably take those crystal amazons… probably…

[Roland Jones]

Sorry for the lack of updates on my end; I haven't been feeling well this past week. I'll try to catch up soon, though.

[Immaculate]

hope you feel better soon roland.

[jotwebe]

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).

[Immaculate]

turn was extended so caelum, r'leyh and helheim didn't stale.