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20. Second Lesson

Lord Joyde The Madman: Heylo, everybody! How are you all doing?

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FEED!

BREED!

KILL!

EAT!

DIE!

Ahem. I may have gotten my hands on some Warhammer.

I disliked the game a whole damn lot.

And then I started my Skaven campain. Now, here we are. Very Happy [https://forum.royalroadl.com/images/smilies/biggrin.png]

Anyways, here comes the next chapter of Destiny: Infernal! I sincerely hope that you enjoy, let us begin!

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Don't mind me guys and girls! I'm just a line break...

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A few hours later... - Headmasters Office - Alice's Point Of View...

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"Headmaster? You called for me?" I asked with a wary tone as I entered the old mans office.

Damn, maybe skipping wasn't such a good idea today."I have indeed. Alice, we need to continue our Marden game because unless it is fed a continuous supply of our mana, the game we paused will disperse."

A blink as I turn my head around and towards Alex, who decided to remain here for the time being as he decidedly refused any notion of me hiring another coachman to take me back home, in order to tell him."Looks like I'll be staying here for a few more hours."

The insane white-haired man nodded and left, most likely to go attend to the carriage as he usually does."I see. So does that mean I'm not in trouble?"

"Trouble? Alice, I am your ally, not your parent. I will not be telling you just how bad it is to skip classess, although I do wish to know if you have an excuse for your actions." Adhana sat up from his semi-throne and began preparing the game as I closed the door behind me."I-uh.. headmaster, how familiar are you with my family's... errm, I guess you could call it a curse?"

"Curse? Are you reffering to your fathers strange disease? Have you actually inherited it, for a lack of a better term?" Now, I seem to have gained his full attention. A nod was his answer as I approached the runic table and placed my hands onto the masterwork platform."I have.. but, if my coachmans descriptions are anything to go by, the way the disease manifested within and affected me is different from my father."

"So your excuse is most likely that your absence today was due to sickness?" I stopped, blinked at the man and then nodded again, albeit slightly uncertain."I guess you could call it that, headmaster. I'll spare you the full story but my *treatment* involves a hot bath and... well, a lot of attempted healing of ancient scars."

Fearvel does not know when to give up. Thankfully, the old man seemed to buy my excuse as he wrote something onto a piece of paper."Very well. I can accept that as a good reason to miss a class as your health is certainly more imporant as of right now."

He stored away the piece of paper as I realized what it actually was. My ally indeed..."I promise not to repeat the event, headmaster. W-well, at least not until the next session, anyways. But that should be in a week, at least."

"So once a week you must skip a class in order to attent a treatment. Hmm, alright... would you agree to saturday classess to make up for the lost hours?" I scratched the back of my head."But I must go back and attend to my county, sir. I've reserved all of my spare time to that."

"Is that why you write so many letters all the time?" He questioned me with a knowing glance and I swallowed."Yes, actually. I'm mostly either receiving information or sending replies to my current Steward, a man named Yvain who is the mayor of a city within my county."

"I see. Oh well, we shall deal with this matter sometime later. Now, please channel your mana into the runes." A command that I quickly complied to as I closed my eyes and felt just a tiny smidge of my magic pool leaving my body. Huh, this is taking a lot less focus than it did a few days ago.

How.. strange."Incredible. Your growth is almost prepostreous, Alice. In just a few days, your mana pool has doubled in size... and here I thought your parents were the peak of plausible talent." The old man beamed me a smile, his ancient elven features twisting with pride as I rubbed the back of my head somewhat sheepishly."T-thank you, headmaster."

Another sagely nod was my answer as his attention focused back onto the board."Last time we did this, we focused on teaching you how to select and move your basic units. Now, let me show you how to increase the size of your army and how to use special abilities."

He extended his hands to each of their respective sides, turning his head towards my left."Turn towards your left and you will see a set of magical runes etched into the very air of the room. These runes are completely invisible to me as mine are to you. The runes contain any great spell, effect or power in general that you may use during the battle in order to guide it towards your favour. Now, how many runes do you see, Alice?"

The runic echoes of magic surged forward as soon as my head turned left, etching magic onto air just as the headmaster said."There are three of them, headmaster."

"Good. Now, please focus onto them and find out what each rune can do." Much as I had done with the troops before, I focused upon the first rune.

Implausible Chronicles: Carnage Carneval

--> One of the original two verses of reality, revealing the truth of Fate and the limitless possibilities for those capable of comprehending its machinations.

Using this verse forces the attacks of all Chaos-Infected units to critically strike regardless of attack type.

Lasts until the unit attacks and can only be cast a total of two times per battle. Cannot be cast during the same turn as the other original verse.

"Headmaster, what does it mean for a unit to critically strike?" He blinked in surprise."Critically strike? Hmm, haven't seen that in a while but then again, I haven't played this game in a long time. A critical strike deals double or sometimes even triple the damage depending on the attack and enemy type."

This will be incredibly useful... it can be used two times so maybe right at the start and then should shit hit the fan? But this kind of tactic would only work against the same oponnent once.

With that said, I turn towards the second *verse*.

Implausible Chronicles: Verita Perfectus

--> One of the original two verses of reality, revealing the efficiency of Infinity and the unbreakable vigil of those capable of imagining its scope.

Using this verse causes a units defense stat to be replaced by an equavilent of its Morale stat.

Lasts for the entire battlefield and can only be used once. Cannot be cast during the same turn as the other original verse.

...

Heres my answer to the Maddened Volhv's single point of defense. If I use this on him, I can turn him into an immortal tank and have him charge into the middle of the battlefield. Heh, just the thought of my oponnent showing all of his best attacks onto the single def Volhv and becoming utterly flabbergasted once the old orc still stands is making me laugh."Thinking up some funny tactics, are we?"

"Y-yes, I actually can't wait to try this one out." A nod of pride and excitement was my reply as the old man rubbed his chin in thought."Hmm, this may prove to be amusing, indeed."

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

I turned towards the third verse, only to find that it isn't a verse at all. Rather... it appeared to be a picture of myself, holding a giant spellbook.

No. Not a spellbook.

Its.... my lunatic diary, just epicly enlarged for whatever reason.

Liber Insanire

--> a small notebook, innocent and fragile. Twisted and turned by the intricate insanity written within...

Spell: Stone Impalers - summon five earth elementals which dig themselves into the ground, forming themselves into a trap. Should an enemy unit walk onto the same tile as the trap, it is impaled by the elementals who erupt from the ground in the form of stone spikes.

Should an organic unit die from this trap, the elementals consume its flesh and merge together to form a Graul.

Lasts until dispelled, removed or sprung. Takes two turns to set up the trap.

- Graul - 10/5/3

--> "Never before have I seen something so terrifying, yet also enlightening at the same time." Unknown dwarf.

Summoned unit - extremely vulnerable to all magic with the exception of earth magic.

Throw Boulder - slams a giant stone into the ground in front of it, dealing 20 aoe damage but taking two turns to cast, during which enemy attacks will critically strike the Graul.

Spell: Void Sigil - etches a mathematical formation of runes into the ground which then explodes with strange energies, causing the enemy to either be blasted away or slammed into the ground depending upon the number used.

-1: the enemy is slammed onto the ground, dealing 3 damage. If the enemy unit dies from this, all sourrounding enemy units suffer -3 to morale.

+1: the enemy is blasted away, dealing 3+(1 per turn) depending on the amount of turns the spell has been powering up to a maximum of five. If the enemy unit survives, they are forced backwards for 1+(1 per turn) tile.

"H-huh?" I muttered out somewhat shocked as I re-read that last bit of information. Void Sigil?

+1?

-1?

... could those numbers really be used in such a way? If I could etch a rune onto a person and then place the opposing rune onto the ground or to another object, that person could be pulled forward or repelled in accordance to the personality....

I'm gonna have to try this out later."A-ah Alice.. so it has finally happened. Here, use these." The old man handed me a bunch of paper towels, to which I blinked in confusion, only to find out that my eyes had started bleeding."Magia Insanium?"

"Yes, I'm afraid so. Finding out about your own destiny may reveal things you were not yet supposed to know so this will most likely happen multiple times during our game." A nod was the old mans answer as I wiped the blood away.

He nodded right back at me and said."Right, are you done inspecting your abilities? Good, let us move onto the more interesting part of this lesson: units and how to recruit them."

His head turned towards the right and mine followed soon after, revealing rune-work much alike to what was on my left."Now, as you've probably already noticed, the same runic concept applies to this side of the platform. However, please take a look at my hand."

I did as I was told, looking towards the moving hand as its finger touched something invisible to my eyes, only for a rune to suddenly become visible as it did."As you can see, while you cannot see the menu I have here you can see when I have ordered a unit to arrive, so to speak."

His hand clicked the same spot as before, causing the rune to vanish once more."So we can cancel the... ordering of units?"

He beamed me a smile."Not all of them. Some units have very special effects and cannot be canceled once their, ahem, summoning has begun. However, most basic units can be cancelled."

"Basic units?" I questioned the man, which caused him to grin."Right, you catch on quick. To explain: the units in this game are divided into four separate tiers, that is to say the basic, the elite, the champions and the heroes."

He took in a breath before continuing."Each unit, regardless of type, takes a select number of turns to appear. Most basic units take only a single turn, the elites two, champions three and so forth."

His hand turned towards my right as he said."Now, please inspect your units, Alice."

Nodding towards him and taking in a breath of my own, I turned my head to my right, hopefully prepared for the Magia Insanium that was sure to follow.

To my surprise, all of my previous units were shown as manaforged images. The maddened volhv was an elite type, the cavalry and crusaders were basics and my warforged champion was a hero unit, ironically enough.

But... there were a few others.

The first unit that caught my eye was a duo of .. naked, elven women. They seemed old, yet their perfect flesh radiated youth.

In fact, I first thought they were some kind of succubi what with their perfect, naked bodies. But... they are not.

Voiceless Banshee

Elite Stealth Unit 2/8/5

--> these once incredible elven women, ancient and beautiful beyond human comprehension, have fallen to the visions bestowed upon them by Chaos... and the resulting madness has turned them into something monstrous.

Abilities: The Unseen, Senseless Butchery and Soundless Scream.

The Unseen - Their desire to prevent anyone else from sharing their fate causes the banshees to turn invisible to the naked eye unless dealt damage or attacking.

Senseless Butchery - Whenever the banshees attack a unit for the first time, they deal double damage. If the banshees were affected by their "The Unseen" ability during the attack, then the damage dealt is tripled.

Soundless Scream - The banshees unleash their vails, confusing the enemy as the sound is something between euphoria and horror. Affected targets cannot attack the banshees and the banshees are forced to move two tiles backwards.

"Aaaa...fghhh.... kill... must... make... become... invisible.." The horror-stricked women murmured in a tone that wasn't quite pleasant but not quite unpleasant either, true to their description. Their nails seemed to elongate as they entered an offensive stance of some kind, crouching like hungry cougars stalking their prey.

...

In contrast to the banshees...

Well..

And then, there were the ratmen... as one of my history teachers likes to say.

Sthakorian Pistolier Squadron

Ranged Unit 4/2/2

--> "Never before have I seen the vile ratkin... not be vile at all. No, these are not the same insidious vermin that infest the dwarven mountains, plague the farms of men and raid the encampments of the orcs. These... these MEN, are soldiers in the truest sense of the word. And they are damn good at what they do." Truth of the *Truth-Mother*, page 3.

Abilities: Rallying Flare and RA-TA-TA-TAH!!!

Rallying Flare - The unit fires a flare into the sky, increasing the morale of any allied unit within two tiles by 3. Does not stack with other flares, but separate flares may affect separate units.

RA-TA-TA-TAH!!! - The unit unloads all of its current ammo into any enemy in front of itself, dealing 6 damage and losing two morale. Can only be used once per battle. Unit cannot move or attack the following turn due to reloading.

Much the same as their elven counterparts, the ratmen ... looked very much civilized, wearing a standard pistolier uniform from my county and proudly showing off my family banner at their backs. They were clearly well-trained and poised to strike at any given moment.

They didn't look like ratmen at all. These arent the filthy, diseased vermin whose aptitude for chaos surp-.. aptitude for Chaos, eh?

Suddenly, them being here makes so much sense. However, something tells me that it will not be Chaos that helps me rally these *Sthakorians*, to my cause.

My ring suddenly glowed its overbearing white light and my suspicious were confirmed. Whatever God was on the other side of this ring... that is who will help me bring these ratmen to my side.

Which makes the next entry a lot more reasonable.

Priest Of The White One

Elite Ranged Unit 1/1/&

--> "Much like the priests you'd see in any self-respecting church, these Sthakorians have dedicated themselves to the teachings of their Truth-Mother and now work tirelessly to spread their faith of goodwill, morality, acceptance and perfectionism to all corners of the world, much alike to how their vile brethren do with their horrible plagues and poxes. I must say, sometimes I wonder as to what exactly that girl did to the rats to make them this way... Alice Pendragon sure has a way of converting people." Truth of the *Truth-Mother*, page 42.

Abilities: Aura Of The Crusade and Hand Of The White One.

Aura Of The Crusade - Any unit whose morale falls to zero does not run away and has its morale stat reverted to its original value. This can only happen once and the effect affects allied units within three tiles of the Priest.

Hand Of The White One - the unit approaches a wounded allied unit and heals them for 5 health. This can only be used once on the same unit during the battle. Cannot be used on the priest itself.

"A-ah..." My inner musings were interrupted by a deep sigh originating from my front."Are you alright, headmaster?"

The man shook his head in negative."N-no. I am not... your ability to play this amazes me, Alice. I.. I must rest. Go to your home now, young one... I must rest my mind. We shall continue on next week."

A nod of finallity was his answer as I turned around to walk away, only to be stopped as the man suddenly snorts and says."And Alice... I know about Luctus and its curious hunger for the flesh of bandits and other such evil-doers. Should the weapon need to be fed sometime soon, please do inform me first so that we do not have to repeat this *sick leave* business again, understand?"

I swallowed down hard, mostly because I was trying not to laugh at the *hunger for the flesh of bandits* thing. I didn't turn around, merely relaxing my stiffened shoulders and replying to the old man."As you wish, headmaster. And uh, I'm sorry."

"Don't be, child. It is simply what fate has forced upon you." He replied with a tired tone as I quickly made my way out of the room, unable to keep myself silent any longer as I let my cheery laughter echo throughout the academy and beyond, causing more than one person to stare at me before nodding towards the headmasters door in pride.

Saying things like: hmm, seems like the headmaster can cure even the most broken of children! What a respectable old man, indeed!

Oh well. It works in my and his favor if they think thats why I'm laughing my ass off right now.

I just hope nobody from Caspers group sees me before I manage to bite down my incessant laughter. Because this is getting somewhat embarrassing.

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Don't mind me guys and girls! I'm just a line break...

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Aaaaaaaaaa... its 5AM

5. FUCKING. AM.

Good god why do I always get inspiration at these young hours of the day?! Or night, either way is fine.

I.. I don't think I'm gonna stay online to fix mistakes and answer comments.

Urge to sleep...

Falling...

I mean rising!

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Anyways, read and review! And Good Morning/Day/Night to you all! ADIOS FOR NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!