AAR The Recently Discovered Journals of the Legendary Desle - Page 4

st.patrik · #31 December 14th, 2008, 05:47 PM

Hear now the account of the fall and ruin of powers ancient and terrible beyond the knowledge of men.

When I began my harsh journey through the lands of the blood-worshipping beasts our people had suffered a defeat at the hands of undersea creatures who came against them wielding fear, herding armies of slave minions before them. These creatures assailed the dark fortress we had earlier taken. One stood as a shield against their brutality and madness. Tuathal, gifted in the lore of the waters, watched from the lonely ramparts deserted by all save an honour guard. Death seemed certain in the darkness of the depths.

Yet it was not to be so. Tegue, having fled the field of battle once, raised a great army of Atlanteans and ventured a second time into the depths. Driven by the need to clear his name his resolve was strong. In the depths he prepared to strike a blow that would scatter our enemies. One division crept down the river, another gathered in the woodlands by the shore. Altanteans and fish-men stealthily slipped into the great still waters and made their way north to the sieged fortress. Tuathal had called from the depths a great serpent of great strength, and lions with the tails of fish.

The besieging force, together with their god queen, the huge plant-like monster, constantly giving birth to more fell creatures, swayed silent in the depths around the fortress. The waters were dark. Every spear was gripped with an iron hand. The great strength of the Atlanteans was held like a coiled spring to burst forth. Slowly the great serpent began to move. It slithered through the chill water and up over the parapet. This was the signal for Tegue. Even as the eyes of the monsters were turned to the serpent they drew forward. As they drew into position the gates opened and the meager but determined forces of the garrison spilled forth. The monstrous forms flitted forward to join the attack. As they approached the forces in the rear launched a devastating attack on the rearguard.

The rearguard was overthrown in a moment. One division pressed forward to encircle those who until a moment ago had thought themselves attackers, while the other wheeled around and began the assault of the queen of their kind. The great serpent streaked through the water to wrap its coils around the hideous queen.

The attackers died swiftly, for much of their strength has been sapped in their initial assault. Their queen took longer to die. Every second of the attack was filled with mental screams which destroyed the minds of many soldiers, stopping them in their tracks. Yet our might was great. For every warrior who fell two more took his place, and even those paralysed by the mental assault in time shook off the effect and roared their attack once again.

Before the hideous queen fell there was a mound of the broken bodies of Atlanteans - some thralls freed in death, others who had given their freedom that others might live.

And yet the victory was grim, for already once this fell creature had come back from the grave.

A guard was placed on the fortress, but most of the army continued north to stamp out this vile spawn.

A month later they found a contingent of the creatures in a gorge to the north, chastened but not destroyed. They were ground into dirt without mercy. More battles seemed inevitable, but the wisdom of the silent god was revealed and in a moment the war was over.

The silent god had filled the people with a complusion to build temples wherever our armies travelled. Many did not understand, but this month many saw, and finally understood his wisdom. The people who once feared and trusted in the hideous queen slowly grew to realise the wisdom and goodness of the silent god, and slowly they came to him. Slowly them came until in the end there was no one left who believed in the might of the monstrous god queen. Even her own soldiers began to know the truth that the silent god was the stronger. And in the end the belief of the people was the spear that pierced more deeply than any other. In the end the very threads that held the false god’s existence together were unravelled. Suddenly we found ourselves not facing the wrath of a unified people, but facing instead a scattered collection of broken tribes, who would never again unite. The war was over. The seas were ours.