Age of the Godlings - Year 0 - Kroonensnoob - Day 13
To my utter suprise, Wulgar sighed and then slowly relaxed, his breast muscles standing down, and said “I accept your terms, the world is changing, and perhaps our ways need to change with it”.
My esteem of Wulfgar went up several points at that instant, perhaps there was more to him than just big bulging breast muscles.
I raised my voice, and addressed Wulfgar; “Repeat after me: I shall have no wife, hold no lands, father no children. I shall wear no crowns and win no glory. I shall live and die by my oath. I am the fist in the darkness, the warrior in the swamps…”
Okay, I was not being particularly creative, but it had worked well in Game of Thrones, and while there were no wildlings or super zombies, I was pretty sure that there would be enemies aplenty.
As Wulfgar repeated the oath, I produced a Peryton scalpel from his belongings. With deliberate care, I etched the likeness of lightning bolts into Wulfgar’s chest, carving deep zigzag patterns into his flesh. As the blade cut through the skin, Wulfgar clenched his jaw, refusing to show pain.
While cutting I almost ruined the solemnity of the moment, the thought of how the lightning bolts would be animated with all the breast muscle flexing, maybe like Maui’s magic tattoos. It almost made me chuckle.
I continued, his voice rising with authority. “You will serve the Hipponian race, but you will not be burdened by leadership any longer. Your titles and privileges are stripped away, as are your old ties. Now, only loyalty to the Lightning Mother remains.”
I smeared ash into the fresh wounds on Wulfgar’s chest and cheeks, symbolizing the death of his former life, and to make the scarification more complete. The grey powder filled the cuts and mixed with his blood into a clotty substance. Wulfgar bore the ritual with silent stoicism.
I turned to the rest of the Sturmgriff tribe and bellowed, “Behold, your new Chieftain, Karl Rudolph!”
But instead of cheers, a confused murmur started among the Sturmgriff Hipponians. The murmur quickly turned angry, and I noticed Scooter, sensing the shift in mood, put his tail between his legs and slunk away into the bushes.
An even bigger Hipponian than Wulfgar stepped forward. He was heavily muscled, though a bit more portly than most Hipponians, his bulk giving him an imposing presence.
“I am Günter of the Kurzpot camp,” he declared, his voice booming. “I will not tolerate this abhorrent breach of tradition! You should have finished Wulfgar, and you cannot simply appoint another to be chieftain. Strength is might! I challenge Karl Rudolph for chiefdom, and Perun, if you stand in my way, I will challenge you as well!”
A surge of anger rose in me, and I briefly entertained the idea of tearing Günter apart. But I understood now, that coddling Karl Rudolph at this point would only harm his standing among the tribe. He needed to prove himself. Judging by Karl Rudolph’s determined stance, he wasn’t going to back down.
“Günter,” Karl Rudolph responded, his voice steady despite the tension, “I look forward to wearing your tusks as a necklace.”
The two clashed with a brutal intensity. Karl Rudolph tried to emulate the sidestep technique I had used against Wulfgar, but he clearly had no mastery of it. Günter capitalized on this, landing a series of heavy punches to Karl Rudolph’s face.
Karl Rudolph’s face became a bloody mess, his left eye swollen shut and oozing a mixture of blood and fluid. Yet, even in his pain and through his clouded vision, Karl Rudolph remembered some of the training he had received under Kurinov. With a desperate burst of energy, he managed to trip Günter, sending him crashing to the ground. Seizing the moment, Karl delivered a powerful hammerstrike to Günter’s throat. Günter convulsed violently before falling still. Yup pure Kurinov style.
Karl Rudolph slowly rose to his feet, his face a wreck of blood and torn flesh. His left tusk jutted grotesquely out through his cheek, and his eye socket was a horrifying sight, filled with slime and gore. Despite his injuries, Karl Rudolph had won. My respect for him grew immensely, and even Wulfgar, his father, nodded in approval.
The mood of the Sturmgriff clan shifted dramatically. The earlier sullen anger was replaced by bellowing cheers as they celebrated the victory of their new chieftain. It seemed that Karl Rudolph’s position as leader was now secure.
I approached him and offered my congratulations. “You’ve earned their respect, Karl Rudolph,” I said. “Now give the camp a couple of days to pack their belongings and gather food for the journey. We can swim and float most of the way down the river, until we reach the Zakkaramuni Falls River. From there, we’ll have to walk to the Zakkaramunian base camp.”
As I spoke, my mind turned to the next challenge: outfitting my new soldier caste. The idea of legionnaire equipment was appealing, but it would be out of the question for a long time. Still, some form of heavy armor, perhaps similar to the Octodillian hide armor I had worn, would be necessary. The path ahead was uncertain, but I now had a formidable force at my side.
Also no one had mentioned the eye, would the fantastic regenerative powers in this world bring it back, would he die from an infection, I had no idea, but as the other Hipponians didn’t seem too worried, I tried to not think about it.
Age of the Godlings - Year 0 - Kroonensnoob - Day 14
Our numbers had swelled with the camps of the Sturmgriff tribe slowly drifting down the river, with all their stuff on small rickety rafts, and packed in woven reed bags. On the rafts where also the very old and very young floating down the river.
Just how many kids and pensioners and mouths was I generally gathering to came back to the many at Spiritpool Enclave, it will be a challenge to feed them all. Maybe half can go back after the fight. And how I had
Aislin came over to me, and started talking
“My Lord, we have heard rumours of a pack of Ghostfur Hyenas, will you accompany us to track the pack and maybe then you can complete the quest of finding a female companion to your pet.”
I was thrilled, by the thought of advancing my quest, but I had a temple that had to be constructed in 25 days, oh well the Sturmgriff tribe were absolutely packing everything with them, even if they were a tribal stone age people, they still seemed to have loads of stuff to bring.
“Yes, I will gladly join, but I better appraise my bodyguards, they should join our tour, but try not to intervene, let me get ready and lets move out in 10 minutes.
I first spoke to Karl Rudolph, and then Mordenhorst who was not thrilled about me going to try taming a hyena with a pack. I was however adamant and insisted that only 2 section could come with me, as one of the sections should get their sleep and be ready for night watch.
Galen then came along with his contingent of druids and asked me if they respectfully could join the excursion, which I of course granted them leave to.
So we went with 28 Druids, 1 Avatar, 10 of my bodyguards and a Ghostfur Hyena who might get married soon.
We trekked at speed until Scooter got very interested in sniffing at bushes, and yipyap laughing. Then I advised everyone to slow down. As all the eager druids came with meat offerings the hyena pack would probably come to us.
As we crested a small hill with tall grass and a clump of trees, suddenly the yipping laughter of several hyenas could be heard, coming from some place in front of and obscured by a heavy late morning fog.
As we moved forward there was no reason to be stealthy, they must have smelled and heard us coming for the last 30 minutes.
I called for the others to halt, and prepare the snacks for the hyenas.
All the druids started to groom their snack into shape, draping the offal in the best way possible on a rounded woodgnawn rod, so as not to injure and infuriate a beast with splinters and pointy bits.
Scooter looked very tense, and actually whimpered a bit. Wait Scooter never makes scared sounds.
I looked around me, the fog was preventing us from seeing, and even if we could, reeds and grasses grew long.
I saw the grass move, and tried to shout in a low voice “Cast Soothe the Beast now !”
Birds took to flight, as most of the druids started spellcasting which consisted of singing and dancing.
Galen was jumping up and down singing “Eat booga, booga”. “Eat booga, booga”.
I took up the chant “Eat booga, booga”. “Eat booga, booga”.
Pretty fast most of the other druids caught on and started chanting. “Eat booga, booga”.
“Eat booga, booga”.
While waving their offal snacks on stick. Some had also used plants to hold the offal in place, and it was almost hyena sushi. If shit went to the fant, it could end up being running sushi.
2, then 3 hyenas stepped out of the fog, and a big group of them came into view.
I held my breath, there were almost 20 of them. Then a larger specimen came into view.
My bodyguard tightened around and in front of me.
The fog clung to the evidently pack leader and larger Ghostfur Hyena, tendrils of fog curlings outwards from it, as if it was the source of the thick morning fog.
Some of the pack seemed mesmerized by our chanting and 7 hyenas walked towards us.
But the packleader barked sharply at them, and 5 of them ran back to the pack. One of them ate Aislins snack, and the Sturmgriff druid had the other one.
I had yet to cast my Soothe the Beast spell, and was sorely tempted to try it on the pack leader. What harm could it do.
I pushed my bodyguard aside, and erupted in a hot jig while chanting “Eat, Booga Booga Doggie”, flaunting my snack stick at it.
The packleader approached me, and I suddenly had weird Hipponian goosebumps on my things.
It moved slowly forward, and looked at my stick, then it looked at me, then we both lunged. I tried to jump away.
But the packleader moved first, and was a lot faster than me. Going for my outstretched arm as the appetizer to the main course.
You have been bitten by Ghostfur Hyena Alpha Queen for 63 damage.
Bleed effect 3 hp/s for 10 seconds
(1 hp/s bleed effect negated by Ironblood)
I screamed out in pain, as its teeth bit down on my arm, and the bone was instantly crushed, it then mangled it around. I gritted my teeth, and tried to lash out with my other arm, having summoned a stake in it.
As my bodyguards surged forward to protect their foolish god, the packleader let loose, and disappeared in a poof of smoke, only to reappear behind its pack, laughing at me while running away in the thick fog, probably drunk on my divine flesh. The pack was away in seconds, off into the fog.
I slumped over, thinking this is only a little time ago that my arm were like this after the Octodile fight, at least now I have some healing. I focused on casting the spell, as I could feel my vision going dark.
[Minor heal]
Oh but healing was a good thing, I didn’t have to wait for my regeneration this time, I would only have to wait the 15 minute cooldown on each Minor Heal spell.
Aislin approached and bandaged my arm, which had only recently stopped spraying blood.
I looked at Aislins side, where her new hyena pet was looking at my arm like it was a sushi stick.
To my luck, I didn’t have to do anything, Scooter growled at both Aislins’ and the Sturmgriff druids hyena.
One backed down, but the Sturmgriff one, growled back, and locked eyes with Scooter.
I called Scooter to me, and the Sturmgriff Hipponian, had a hold on his as well.
No time for hierarchy play right now.
We walked back, and I immediately healed when my cooldown was finished.
[Minor Heal]
After an hour, I was mostly healed up, but now Scooter and the other 2 hyenas were sniffing at some bushes quite insistently.
Suddenly there was a loud squawk, and a small birdlike creature with a colorful plumage came running out of the bush, the Hyenas laughed at it, and were not interested in this small meal.
It spread its wings about to take flight, not trusting those hyenas.
Galen, ran towards it, while throwing berries at it from a small reed bag.
“Berry, Berry… Berry Bird, have some berries, Berry Bird” Galen singed like a madman while dancing around the bird who had stopped and was mesmerized by him, until it picked at some of the berries. And to Galens utter delight, it then flew to him and sat on his shoulder, and loudly squawked into his face.
I went over it and inspected it with Electro Metavision.
“What creature is that ?” I asked.
“The notification says its a Mudbank Shrillbeak” Galen answered, while petting the birdish creature.
Interesting to see what Galen will do with that, I thought to myself.
Rest of the trip went with me talking to Galen and Aislin about postal doves, after Aislin had suggested that Galen should only tame animals for combat right now, not play around.
Which of course had somewhat infuriated Galen, I wasn’t in the mood for druidic battles of willpower, as I was wounded, and stressing out over my quest deadline to build a temple. And for not having tamed a female companion to Scooter, and followed my godhead chain quest.
At least I know there could be found one here, then there would be others.
I looked at Scooter, I have to get him a bit better in shape if he has to have a lady like that packleader.
We got back to Hearttrain Hold, where a boisterous atmosphere was going on with Karl Rudolph and the others doing their daily training. The camp was filled to the brim with Sturmgriff Hipponians.
The 14 Mudmancers from Spiritpool Enclave looked on at the training, but had become used to the way of the Sturmgriff, and didnt gawk too much.
I got to know some of the other Sturmgriff camp leaders, and we had a war council that night, where I explained that we would march to Spiritpool Enclave, and then a small force would occupy the start location led by me.
Only when the Stygian Axlotls committed themselves to attacking my position, would the rear assault commence, led by Kurinov, Karl Rudolph and some of the Sturmgriff camp leaders.
They liked the bold plan, and most wanted the honor of being in the small force with me, as that was clearly seen as the most heroic. I however reserved the right to select this by myself, when we were back at Spiritpool Enclave.
I encouraged them all to adopt the section system, and that each should be led by a person who had made a party. I then had to explain what a party was, and how you did it.
Also they had to get the woodgnawing lecture, and the stake demonstration.
I said that they should find not the strongest but the most wise warriors, the ones who would be the best teachers for the others, I explained that I wished to teach combat techniques to a limited number of them, and then have them teach the rest of the tribe.
The meeting finished, and I got out of the tent, and was followed by Wulfgar, who seemed to have attached himself as part of my bodyguard. Well I had not given him any particular orders, so it seemed as good as any place at any. It was nice to have an experienced leader in reserve close to me.
Age of the Godlings - Year 0 - Kroonensnoob - Day 15
Where our expedition had been somewhat orderly, but still a gaggle of hippo’s floating down the river.
This was more on an exodus scale, and as such a bit messy.
The Hipponian were however eminently suited to travel along the river. We had 4 sections of scouts 1 hour in front of us, and 2 sections around 10 to 20 minutes in front of the main gaggle or fleet of Hipponians floating down the river.
Rafts sometimes broke apart, and reed bags snagged on a branch, and people had to sort through stuff and rummage around in the river. So the column started to stretch along the river.
I assigned 10 sections, to assist the rear of the column, and make sure nobody got left behind.
The scout had found a campsite, it was a small lake feeding off the river we were sailing in. It felt good to get out of the current, and into the still water.
Hipponians Savages went out to hunt and forage, while there were still some hours of light left, we had supplies with us, as people used the inventory system as a refrigerator.
Stuff didn’t seem to age in the inventory.
But the issue was getting the food in the first place, Hipponians could eat all kind of stuff, but I suspected we also needed protein, and could not thrive on reeds all the time.
Trying to get to sleep I was stressed out by the deadline of the temple.
Day 38 was the finishing date, after I had slept it would be Day 16, and thus 22 days to build a temple.
That meant getting back with this exodus caravan, would take at least 3 more days, then a campaign against the Stygian Axlotl, and then building the temple. That was not going to happen.
I needed to start constructing that temple, while we warred against the Stygian Axlotl.
Age of the Godlings - Year 0 - Kroonensnoob - Day 16
I woke up, feeling my ass all itchy. I tried to reach around and scratch it, but to no avail, something with the build of Hipponians, or maybe my low dexterity, but I'm not really able to scratch myself in the ass while standing up. But then I was in water, so I took a breath, and then swung down, and bended myself in the water, and got groping on my crack.
I held up my hand, a long leech like worm was on it.
“I sure hope that's just what everybody has, and not something from the Terrorherbists”
I couldn't let this slide any more, and I sought out Galen and Aislin. While the exodus was moving up in gear, foragers were running out to get another haul of food before we left.
“So I have been hearing about these health problems among Hipponians, with uh leeches in the rectum, is this something that is dangerous or what do you think ?”
Galen just stared at me, and Aislin broke out “Everybody got these leeches, thats is the way of things.”.
That was fascinating, as I had not had the itch before meeting and bathing with other Hipponians. So all of my favoured people have ass leeches.
I tried to explain my take on biology to Galen and Aislin, that maybe if we could find a cure, these leeches would stop being there. But Galen seemed to think that they were filling their chosen niche in nature. And Aislin was thinking that it's difficult to do something about it, even though it would be nice.
The exodus got underway and we got closer to the main river fed by the Zakkaramuni Falls. When we reach the main river, the current would be against us, and we would have to pull our rafts from that point.
Suddenly shouts were calling for me, I called out, and a scout came swimming upstream at me.
“Perun, we have spotted a large number of Lizardmen on the far shore, and they have skeleton monsters !
I looked at him sharply.
“My Lord, I have seen them, they have a big Skrox skeleton monster. They are not the Stygian Axlotl I could see that from their bodyshape. We counted 200 of the lizardmen, and many small skeletons and the big Skrox skeleton. They seem to have camped a little way down the main river. We still have 2 sections, minus me observing them from long distance.”
“We have not seen their tracks on this side of the river, so we believe they are travelling upstream to the Zakkaramuni falls.”
“Stay close to me for now and good report ! ” I thanked him.
Maybe I should have bought Kerthax for the diplomacy games.
With just 200 lizardman and their skeletons, they would surely not attack our exodus, which consisted of more than 900 Sturmgriff adults, most of whom could be considered warriors.
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It however seemed unlikely that the 200 were heading this way for a diplomatic mission of peace to Spiritpool Enclave.
The likeliest scenario was that they were like the Sturmgriff tribe, reinforcements to a coming battle. And that they of course came to reinforce the Stygian Axlotl.
I was loath to let that happen, and instead wanted to carve up these 200 and their skeletons apart.’
But on the other hand I was not too keen on making enemies with an unknown faction of lizardmen.
“Mordenhorst, get one of your men in front and call a halt to the advance, and spread word that I want to speak with Karl Rudolph and the other Sturmgriff leaders”.
The floating gaggle of Hipponians came to a stop, and I had to halt the foragers from venturing into the swamp jungle. Instructing them, to not forage for food, but find branches suitable for clubs, and lots of stone which would fit in the hand of a Hipponian. They were to return in a short while, and not venture too far.
After a short while Karl Rudolph and the other Sturmgriff camp leaders were with me.
I had made a small sketch of the area assisted by the scout, while the others gathered he explained the terrain while we made a small model with some rocks and stakes
We were on the tributary to the main river from the falls, and they were on this side of the main river, but on the shore furthest from the falls.
“Scouts have reported a potential hostile force of Lizardmen, and skeletal creatures. They even have a skeletal Skrox with them.”
Some of the Hipponians whistled at that.
“I am certain that we will engage them, but we need to know what their intentions are. If they are reinforcing the Stygian Axlotl, then it is better to fight them here, while we have superior numbers, rather than allow them to join forces”
I then took a stick I had sharpened with woodgnawing.
“I will confront the lizardmen with a small group of a 100 Hipponians here”
I pointed to the tributary at the corner where the lizardmen were camped.
“Karl Rudolph and 400 Hipponians, must submerged enter the main river, and then float underwater past the camp, so that you can assault their rear with overwhelming force”
I pointed with my stick while explaining.
“Do not engage, until they engage us or the small group I led engages them, we need to be sure we are not entering an unneccesary war with these lizards. When fighting against skeletons use clubs, kicks and fists. I believe spears will not be effective against the skeletons, so make sure that all warriors have both club and spear.
I looked around, and everyone seemed to have their focus maintained on me, so I continued.
“You all need to select a few warriors who will stay behind and guard the civilians, We will need a 100 for that also”.
“Both in my group and the ambush force, dedicate 20 warriors and equip them with ropes, we need to get that Skrox skeleton toppled over, so we can lay into it, and it doesn’t trample us”.
“If for some reason everything goes to shit, we rally at this point and defend the civilians”.
“Lastly, we fight to win today and tomorrow. Make sure that wounded warriors are rotated to the back, so they can fight another day. I want to see as few Hipponian dead as possible”.
I looked over the small congregation, and then started questioning the audience at random about the plan, making sure everybody had understood the plan.
The Hipponians were getting restless, but I was relentless, I didn’t want any of the leaders to get confused and fuck up the operation because they were daydreaming about bulging biceps and battlefield glory.
At last satisfied, we waited until dusk, then moved out. I wanted our ambush force to be as difficult to spot as possible, and the lack of light was a disadvantage to both sides.
They gathered around ropes, so they could stay together in groups of 50, and keep those groups even underwater. Some of the groups had camouflaged one of their members, so that they could serve as lookouts, while looking like a clump of reeds and branches which were floating merrily downriver.
I clasped arms with Karl Rudolph, after he for the 4’th time had repeated the plan to me.
Then the ambush force were away. I spat out the piece of wood I was gnawing and put it into my Inventory. I wanted to give Karl Rudolph’s force 5 minutes. But I didnt sit idle though, and cast Beastial Rage on 20 of the warriors. Then started advancing with my force.
Mordenhorst was quite adamant that I should withdraw back when the melee started, but I categorically refused him. “Mordenhorst, I trust you and your warriors, stay with me during the fight, assist me, but only get me back if I’m seriously wounded”
He looked at me, and then nodded to me and to his men “You heard the First Son, stay with him, no matter what happens. If he gets down we get him out of the fight”
We floated down the tributary and got on shore with the lizardman camp just 200 meters away, cries of alarm immediately started in the camp, and chaotic activity ensured.
I didn’t want to give them that much time, so I walked down the river shore, while shouting out “Noble Lizardmen, we do not wish bloodshed, let me speak with your leaders”.
We stopped 30 meters from their camp, a good number of the lizardmen stood opposed us, with spears in hand. I could see the silhouette of an extremely large skeletal beast behind the lizardmen.
After about 2 minutes, the Skrox skeleton moved forward, with a lizardman in a frayed robe leading it, and closely followed by several smaller skeletons.
The Skrox skeleton was as tall as a 2-3 floored building, almost 7 meters tall, and probably 20 meters long. It had a massive cranium with 3 horns jutting out on the top.
“I am Skorxal, the 4’th disciple of Nezugru the Sun god, we are on a holy mission for him, and you will feel his wrath if you interfere with our mission” The lizardman in the robe said.
“Nezugru has sent us to let all the people of the swamp know that a new era is upon them, and that they can either be with him or against him. However as you can see all will in the end serve Nezugru” The lizardman leader motioned towards the skeletal horde behind him.
“We give all the tribes a choice, swear fealty to Nezugru and send 50 of the tribes children to the holy city of Solkarnezh to learn the wonders of the Sun god, or serve in death” The leader said with dramatic flair.
That sounded like a power hungry maniac was making his moves, and it would seem that we had to fight these zealotuous bastard lizardman. The swamp was not big enough for two dictator gods, and I planned to come out on top. A bit more information was however needed
“Esteemed Skorxal, I will convey your message to the elders of my the clan Sturmgriff.
But i’m sure that they will need more information before they can decide on giving their allegiance to the sun god. We have heard that many gods will come to the land, but you sound as if Nezugru has already gained the upper hand in the swamp, we understood this to be a contest between the gods, and have not heard or seen any other gods. Surely his divine reign will not be contested.”
“Already 3 tribes of Lizardmen stand behind him, the warriors of Solkarnezh, the Mirefang and the Whispering Wind tribes. As we speak the gnomes of Bogsnaggle Warren and Weedhollow Isle are being brought into the flock as well.
“To stand before Nezugru is to invite certain doom” The lizardman disciple finished of with a dramatic drawn out “Dhoooom”.
“Oh shit if he is speaking the truth then Kerthax’ tribe is under their influence, and Shikman’s people will also be in danger.” I thought.
“In 10 days, meet us here again, bring 50 of your tribes children, so that they may be inducted into the wonders of Nezugru, if you do not, Nezugru’s wrath will be upon thee and thine brethren”
Ok, I had enough of this guy now. And what was the deal with the children, was this Nezugru god of the Sun actually some creepy interracial pedophile or what was his angle ?
I motioned for my bodyguard, and they tensed, then I bellowed “I am the Stormlord, and I will bow to no tyrant godling”.
That was the que for my group of Hipponians who started to hurll pineapple sized rocks towards the lizards, and then charged en masse, while drawing spears and clubs out of their inventory.
Skorxal and his undead retinue, was hit by several stones, cries of pain came the lizardmen lines.
Skorxal unfortunately had enough sense to flee back into the lines of Lizardmen.
The horde of undead animals, surged forward led by the Skrox skeleton.
You have been hit by a Mirefang Blowgun dart for 3 damage.
Poison effect 5 hp/s for 5 seconds
The horde of undead animals advanced to meet our charge.
I used my Lightning Armor spell on myself, and followed up with summoning the Lightning Wisp.
The lizardmen apparently had aces up their sleeves as well. As the lumbering Skrox skeleton moved forward, movement could be seen on the inside of its ribcage, it was full of lizardmen with blowguns, firing at will at us. They had a freaking walking fortress on their side.
“Wulfgar, get your shakers moving with that rope, and get that Skrox down” I shouted to Wulfgar even if he and his group were already in motion.
“For the Stormlord!” Wulfgar shouted in answer, or as a warcry I didn’t know, the chaos of the battle had begun.
I moved with the charging Hipponians, and we slammed into the skeletal animals. The Lightning Wisp whisked around me, blinding me slightly and it felt like it was a magnet for all the darts. We really need shields.
Tthe small critters were clubbed or kicked to pieces, some of the larger animal skeletons got bodyslammed by Protean Shakers who broke their ribcages, and in a grotesque display of teamwork started to twist the skeletons until they snapped along their spine.
The small darts were like a deluge from the Skrox mobile bunker.
The lizardmen did not engage but seemed to be okay with just their undead allies attacking, softening us up for the kill.
I had to think that Karl Rudolph and his force would arrive at any moment but they were not here yet.
“Fear the baleful gaze of our Lord Nezugru” I heard the disciple scream at us.
A blinding light erupted from the lizardman camp, as a miniature sun blossomed, and then winked out as suddenly as it had shown itself.
We all clasped our eyes, momentarily blinded, and could hear the warcries as the lizard men attacked in force, their backs had been to the light, and they laid into us.
“Hold fast warriors of Sturmgriff” I shouted while the afterimages of the miniature sun was still burnt into my coronas, and I could barely see.
I resorted to swing my club in front of me, while wadding forward.
You have been hit by a primitive stone spear for 17 damage.
A speartip grazed my arm. I roared and stomped forward, and went for the blurry silhouette of a lizardman in front of me. He screamed as I grabbed him by the throat and hit him 3 times in the face with my club, then discarded the lifeless body and went onwards.
Hipponians started to fall from the onslaught of lizardmen spears, skeletal animals and the endless storm of blowgun darts.
Then we heard the warcries of several hundred Hipponians charging the other side of the Lizardman camp, but still some distance from us.
Mordenhorst took my arm “Stormlord, you are wounded, please don’t continue the assault”
I looked at him and shouted at him with spittle flying from my mouth “When I can no longer stand, pull me back, now get out of my way” I rampaged forward.
“Wulfgar ! Get that Skrox down, now !” I bellowed, I couldn’t quite see if he was on the job with the darkness and all. But that damn Skrox skeleton was like an AT-AT fourlegged walker from the StarWars series battle for Hoth.
I charged towards the hulking skeleton, I didn’t stop to finish my opponents, but tried to cut through the horde of skeletal critters and lizardmen, knocking them either underfoot or the side.
Me and my bodyguard retinue was now close to the Skrox.
You have been hit with Mirefang Blowgun dart for 3 damage.
Poison effect 5 hp/s for 5 seconds
My nightvision had somewhat returned now, and I saw Wulfgar on his back, and the Skrox skeleton about to trample him with a massive front hoof.
I screamed and bodyslammed the leg to the side, Wulfgar rolled to the side with a drunken slur. Well it was probably the poison from the darts. The storm of darts had intensified when we got closer to the Skrox walker.
I could see that the front leg of the Skrox had a rope wound around it, and trailed behind it.
“Mordenhorst, grab the rope and help me.” I shouted while starting to run in a small circle around its frontlegs.
Like an AT-AT getting taked down by the harpoon of the small 2 man fighters, I was trying to snare the legs. The rope was not long enough to do it on all four legs. So me and Mordenhorst circled around the front legs, while our bodyguard tried to keep up with us.
We encircled the frontlegs 2 times, and then I ran the last end of the rope around a small bone in its foot several times.
You have been hit with Mirefang Blowgun dart for 4 damage.
Poison effect 5 hp/s for 5 seconds
The rope seemed to hold, and the dumb undead kept trying to walk instead of just standing still, and it of course tripped forward, then lost its balance and crashed to the side.
The Hipponians were over it in an instant, getting to the blowgunners inside, and smashing them to pieces.
The lizardmen were now routing and trying to flee into the river, and it quickly turned into a onesided slaughter with Lizardmen dying by the score.
I met up with Karl Rudolph and we clasped hands.
“Get the site sorted, tend to our wounded, and get any prisoners secured. Send a messenger back to the civilians to have them more here, we will camp here.”
“I want to have firewood collected for a pyre for all the dead, I don’t think this Nezugru can raise them again, but lets not leave any corpses for them to have fun with.”
I walked over to where Wulfgar lay, he was fortunately still breathing, but his torso was positively bristling with darts. I cast my Minor Heal on him, and he came to.
“I failed you First Son” he said bitterly.
“No you got the rope tied to the leg, and your knot held. But we hadn’t calculated with them having turned the skeleton monster into a mobile bunker. I’m pleased that you survived this. I expect that we will fight other disciples of Nezugru in the future, so try to think of better strategies of how we may fight them at a later date, but rest for now Wulfgar”.
I let him sit to collect himself, while the site got cleaned up, and all soon all the other Hipponians arrived.
I went through my combat log, I had numerous kill and kill assist messages with associated XP rewards. The biggest was for the Skrox skeleton which I had a kill assist for, and which netted me 2140 XP. I had to ask the leaders to have all their warriors review if the disciple Skorlax had been slain or not, I believe he would show in the combat logs as a named mob, and would yield extra experience.
And yup I even had another level.
Congratulations godling your class Stormlord Avatar has increased to level 4.
Your Racial template increases your Strength and Constitution by 1 for each level.
You may choose one of the below boons to finish your levelup.
Choose wisely.
* 2 attribute points which may be freely spent on any attribute.
* Talent : Healing Word
I minimised the window for now.
Galen and Aislin came walking up with Scooter and the other 2 hyenas.
I had asked them to keep them out of the fight, as I didn’t want Scooter to die, and also because that would possibly make my quest reset.
“Get a section for each of the hyenas, and patrol the close vicinity, we don’t want any surprises while we rest here” I barked to them.
Karl Rudolph came back “Stormlord, 38 Hipponians have fallen, we have 20 Lizardman prisoners. One Protean Shaker is stating that he has a kill assist on a Nezugru Sun Priest, so we believe the disciple has been slain”.
“Thank you Karl Rudolph” I went silent, and thought about the prisoners. “While there were only 20 prisoners now, what would the future bring? I would likely end up with far greater number of prisoners. I played a Total War grand campaign where you could choose to let your enemy ransom the soldiers free, or you could put them to the axe.”
“I was pretty sure that the standard in antiquity had been to kill all prisoners of war, also when conquering cities it was not uncommon to kill all civilians in a city, didn’t Djenghis Khan do that once ?”
I had to consider that all lizardfolk might not be crazy doom prophesising zealots, and that eventually I would have some of them as citizens in my empire, possibly even as worshippers.
I discussed this with Karl Rudolph, who was at first baffled that I would free them, but came to understand it, though he warned me that it would not be a popular move seen by the Sturmgriff tribe.
Just to be on the safe side, I instructed Karl Rudolph to inform the guards that we would join forces with Spiritpool Enclave and then march on Solkarnezh in 3 days, to exterminate Nezugru and his priests. Might as well try to spread some disinformation to the enemy.
I found a spot among the mass of Hipponians on the river beach, and huddled down, with half of my bodyguard who were also slumping down to sleep, and the unlucky part, stood with weapons ready, in a circle around me.
Age of the Godlings - Year 0 - Kroonensnoob - Day 17
I didn’t sleep that well, but got up, and thanked Mordenhorst and my bodyguard for their nightly dilligence.
I found Karl Rudolph who was talking to his father Wulfgar.
I approached them with a “Goodmorning” even though they both looked like they hadn’t slept.
Karl Rudolph had been up all night, along with a part of the Sturmgriff Exodus, they had made a giant pile of firewood, some which could be considered dry.
Currently Galen and some of his druids were inland and finding a special tree called Flornwrungle which had a high content of oil, which would be the firestarter for the pyre.
With the morning light I walked to the prisoners.
There were 2 different kinds of lizardmen among the prisoner, both looked distinctly different, and also different from Kerthax from the Whispering Wind tribe.
One group was athletic looking and had woodland camouflage of green and brown, and the other group were a dull red with orange swirls.
“Mordenhorst, I want the prisoners separated, each should be guarded by 2 Hipponians, and if possible they should not be within eyesight of each other, and definitely outside hearing range. I want zero communication between the prisoners.
Mordenhorst went about his duty, and he was an efficient guy, so after 5 minutes they had all been separated.
I walked along the river to the first prisoner, he had the woodland camo scales, and was still a bit wounded..
“You are from the Mirefang tribe, correct ?” I asked him.
He glared at me but did not speak, the guard raised his fist to Bud Spencer dunk him on the head, but I motioned for him to stop.
“I take it that Nezugru has also taken a contingent of your tribe's children as hostages, I wonder what he does with them, are they used as slaves, slain when too weak to toil for him and then raised as his undead servants ?”
“I wonder why you show such devotion to a god who cares so little for your tribe”.
“Its too bad I left my Whispering Wind advisor back at camp, maybe he would have been more persuasive to your kind. I will have to be blunt, either you give me some information.”
I pointed to the growing stack of wood, bone and corpses behind me.
“Or you end up in that funeral pyre as living sacrifice. I am the Stormlord and while I would like to be a magnanimous god, these are hard times, and I can be as hard as Nezugru. Are you ready to decide for all of your tribemembers ?”
The lizardman growled at me, then started speaking “I am Luric a Fangblade Stalker of the Mirefang tribe, what do you want to know ?”
“I guess Fangblade Stalker is your class, what does it do ?”
“We have bonuses to stealth, venom handling and dart based weapons like thrown darts and blowguns”.
“Tell me about the red ones”
“The Crimson Scales have always been a proud tribe, they took great honor in hunting the most dangerous beasts of the swamps, and adorning themselves with trophies of their kills.”
Luric explained.
“I don’t know the details, but somehow Nezugru has gotten control of them, a large contingent of them came to our tribe camp Venomshadow Hollow, 5 days ago. Demanding our fealty and 50 of our children to go back to what they call the holy city of Solkarnezh. They had the great Skrox skeleton beast and also many smaller skeletons. The Mirefangs fight with dart and poison which is highly ineffective against the undead. Our clan chieftain allied us with them, but I know our chieftain, and she doesnt like to bow her head to anyone. This was out of necessity, for the clan's survival.”
“A group took our children with them, east towards the great mudflats where the Crimson Scales roam. Another group went south to the gnomish camps.”
“Each group was led by a disciple of Nezugru, and they took many of the Mirefang warriors with them.”
“One group were going south, and this group which moved to the north. We were to give the same ultimatum to the Stygian Axlotl. Recruiting their tribe to Nezugru’s empire”
Luric finished his explanation.
I looked at him in thought.
“Luric, I will set you and the other Mirefangs free, you will decide for yourself if you will fight for Nezugru, but know that you can ally with me instead, I will not demand your tribe to give up your children, though I will demand loyalty, for now let your chieftain know this.”
“Nezugru is as much your tribe's enemy as he is mine. You will either serve him dead or alive, not much choice. Your chieftain would do well, to consider that to survive this new age, hard choices might need to be made.”
“Nezugru might have the power to raise the dead, but there is a storm coming, a Hipponian storm across this swamp, and no one in this swamp will be unscarred by it.”
“With me or against me, it will be your individual choice. Even if your chieftain will not ally with me, I propose to instruct my troops in sparing any Mirefangs which surrender, spread this to your clan”
Luric looked at me, and then at his bindings.
“Release me, and I will travel back to Venomshadow Hollow, and speak with our chieftain. The stalkers of the Mirefang clan are proud and dislike being pushed into an agreement, either with Nezugru or you. I will think about this and inform her.”
I nodded while looking at Luric.
“I will speak to the rest of your clansmen, and then I expect you can all travel together. Let also the chieftain know that I have an alliance with a gnome god, and all who attack the gnomes will encur my wrath.
I left Luric with his guards, the other Mirefangs held similar dispositions as Luric.
So I got started with the Crimson Scales. And they were a real piece of work.
The third Crimson Scale I interviewed, actually tried to attack me. Surrounded by about 500 Hipponian warriors unarmed and restrained by 2 guards, he still tried to assault me.
That was when I knew that somehow Nezugru had wormed himself into the heads of these Crimson Scales, and that I would likely have to slaughter them to the last woman and child.
So either they needed their anti-worm medicine or we would end up with a old fashioned genocide.
I would need to discuss this with Alfstan and Karl Rudolph. I was quite sure that Kurinov would think that a little sunday genocide was an effective means of showing an example to both my citizens and outsiders.
In a world filled with actual monsters, and not just people behaving as monsters. Wouldn’t it be nice if there was a state actually fighting the monsters. Not just killing a dictator's misguided people ? Nezugru seemed precisely like that, a despot with necromantic power instead of weapons of mass destruction.
Galen interrupted my thoughts. With Aislin at his side.
“Stormlord, may I speak with you”
“Yes, Galen”
The Hipponian druid sighed, then said “Mylord, a fair number of the Ghostmarsh Druidic Society will travel with the Mirefangs. And find our own path in the swamp. Know that we will always serve you.”
“Before you object, I was told this was our way, in a dream by the Lightning Mother herself, I don’t know what will happen but we are resigned to follow our fate in the hands of the Lightning Mother”
Aslin raised her eyebrows, and rolled her eyes.
I just looked baffled at Galen.
“You had a prophetic dream with the Lightning Mother ?”
Galen looked uncomfortable when I questioned him.
“Uhm yes” Galen said.
“And what pecisely do you imagine doing with the Mirefangs ? I asked tersely.
It quite possibly wasn’t fair towards Galen. But one of my godly aspects just blindsided me, and I ever so dislike surprises.
“Uh, uhm herbalism ?” He vaguely said.
“What do you mean with herbalism ?” I asked.
“Well its a skill that some of us has unlocked by observing plants with electro metavision. And the Mirefangs might have interesting herbs.
I interrupted him “wait, how come I didn’t get herbalism. I have been studying plants with electro metavision for over 2 weeks, and you have been at it for only about a week”.
Galen looked even more troubled.
“Uh noble Stormlord, maybe you need to focus a bit more on what you are uh doing, and not on the uh next thing on your so-called agenda. Druidism is all about nature, and nature is very patient.”
I gnawed hard on the little woodpiece that I had put in my mouth, while I glared at Galen. Not angry at all about being called an impatient little child.
“Thanks for the advice Galen” I said a bit icily, then took a deep breath. Galen was responding to a mission from myself, or something, and I should appreciate his zeal.
I had the idea that Hipponians might not be too welcome in certain areas of the swamp, before but especially after our fight this night, it was a brave thing Galen was doing.
I sighed and looked up at Galen.
“Sorry, i’m just worried for what will happen to you and the other Hipponians. If you meet Shikman please give him my regards”
“Now I want to setup a couple of password phrases with you, so that we can ensure that any messages sent between us are legitimate.
We went aside for a bit, which annoyed Mordenhorst, while we exchanged security sentences.
Karl Rudolph came over and reported that the pyre was finished.
The Sturmgriff tribe came together in front of the pyre, where both the bodies of the tribe and the enemy were stacked.
Stacked in a tall pyramid, I sure hoped that it would be burn, what with all the wet and swamy wood.
Karl Rudolph lit the pyre in silence. And the oiled kindle in the bottom of the pyre immediately ignited.
I stepped forward and spoke to the Sturmgriff tribe.
“Warriors, Last night we fought our first battle. and I am honored to fight with you.
Though we fought good and hard, we still lost some of our brothers and sisters.
Now we will ensure none from this battle will come back as an enemy, we will give them all peace.
The surviving lizardmen will be sent home.” A grumble came from the crowd.
“Yes they are our enemies, but we are not slavers we are warriors”.
“Let the lizardmen tell their master of how we crushed their mighty skeleton monsters.”
“Let their master know that their holy city of Solkarnezh is doomed, it is only a matter of time until we will have an even greater pyre, where we burn their master and any who stands in our way !”
I needed to come out to the lizardmen like I was going to attack them yesterday, and I needed to not make any hard deadlines for myself from the perspective of the Sturmgriff, so I thought this was fitting.
I clasped arms with Galen, making a classic Arnold broshake with him, but he didn’t get it, and got a bit awkward, or more awkward.
“Karl Rudolph, release the Mirefangs”.
The mirefangs and Galen’s group of most of the Ghostmarch Druidic Society moved to the beach, and then set off to cross the river going south.
After a couple of hours, the Pyre was a blazing inferno, and I decided we might as well leave. It was a clear day, and the column of smoke was thick and tall, and I imagined it could be seen from afar, maybe possibly at the Zakkaramunian falls, but possibly also by Nezugru’s scouts, so I had the exodus make itself ready while the pyre was burning.
Now we moved directly against the river flowing from the falls, and the rafts were hard to push against the current, and the most injured of the warriors were still not fully regenerated, and had to be hauled on overflowing rafts.
Thus we slowly made way up the river towards the falls.