War Progression Story Their First Look Into Darkness

Disclaimer: While somewhat shorter than the last post, it still boasts roughly the same amount of content. This is only part one of a two part introduction to the new subplot that will be featured for the remaining duration of the Elven War story arc. This new subplot will allow players to submit orders, request aid in hosting in game events etc. More details will be revealed in the Notes & Comments section following the progression’s main content.


The dawn crept over the horizon and through the dense forest, casting a pale light through the morning fog. Among the lush green flora protruded more prominent colors: shades of red, blue and orange poked through the bushes as Mu-Allar crept nearly silent towards their rendezvous. In a small clearing before them sat Cro-Zzhin, his body covered in mud to mask his vibrant colors. His warriors formed up around him, waiting patiently for the return of their scout. After a few more minutes of silence, the Digmaan finally took action as he waved for two of his Mu-Allar to go after the scout.

Jazzousz Mu-Yaotl and Lloxern Mu-Yaotl broke through the treeline to find their scout, staring mortified at what was supposed to be their objective. While she had done her job, Reina Kurokawa had found more than she bargained for. Below the trio sat the first of the Elven forest camps, completely decimated with an all too familiar purple mist dancing atop the corpses of Elven warriors and mages alike. Among the charred and ruined encampment crept a few Kathar soldiers, ensuring the warriors not caught in the miasma were dead. The two Mu-Allar quickly and quietly pulled Reina away from her lookout point and back through the trees to their clearing.

By the time the trio returned, the Digmaan had been joined by the rest of the platoon who all waited eagerly in the clearing. After a prod from the Mu-Allar, Reina stepped forward to the Digmaan. “And? How do our enemiesss defenssses appear? Can they be broken?” He hissed in a hushed voice. The young scout shook her head, a terrified look still on her face as she replied “They already have been.” Her look paired with brevity of her response prompted the Digmaan to move forward himself, waving the other troops along with him. After a few moments, they crossed through the treeline once more to the sight of the charred encampment. Mateo Silva pushed his way to the front alongside Cro-Zzhin, staring at the blackened edge of the forest in disbelief of his own. Heinrich von Hauger quickly joined them at the front, sizing up their new enemy’s potential. “Kurokawa, did you see any troops alive when you first surveyed this position?” He questioned to which Reina merely nodded in response.

At this, von Hauger gave the command for the conscripts to be sent in first with the support of a medic. A small band of ragtag fighters known as “The Rooks” who were serving their time in the military were sent forward. Led by on Moji Shimuzu, the conscripts pushed down into the camp, careful not to venture into the clouds of swirling violet mist. Unfortunately for those present, Poppy Cuffbert spotted a Regalian prisoner lying among those within one of the clouds, their hand just outside of the mist. She reached down and grabbed his hand, pulling as she called to one of the Rooks to help her. With the aid of Haelmir de Catlanio, the two managed to haul the man from the unnatural haze. Zuzumi Rassa joined the two, quickly removing the man’s helmet and administering smelling salts to wake him. The second the soldier opened his eyes, they realized they had made a terrible mistake. Small black tendrils crept into his sclera, blocking the normal white almost entirely as he grabbed Zuzumi by the shoulders, hoarsely croaking one word; “Run.”

As the man collapsed again, Kathar warriors burst from the trenches around them, rushing towards them with weapons drawn. Almost in the same moment, a horn sounded from the treeline as Digmaan Cro-Zzhin barreled forward, his claws carving through the armoured Kathar like a hot knife through butter as he cleared a path to the Rooks. Not far behind him were his Mu-Allar warriors, Lloxern and Jazzousz who began to struggle against two Kathar skirmishers. Fortunately, Tullion Kearney was not far behind either, managing to help bring down the skirmishers and reopening the path. The rest of the Rooks followed suit as Addison Beckett managed to outmaneuver a Kathar spearman into impaling another Kathar foot soldier. Before he could land a killing blow on the spearmen however, an axe flew through the air as Aliksander Viduggla found his mark in the spearman’s chest.

As the Regalian troops struggled against wave after wave of Kathar reinforcements, Ikelan Mordakae attempted to rally the troops against the onslaught, carving through several Kathar warriors and calling the scattered Regalians to his position. Despite their best efforts, the holdout quickly became one of pure survival. Frenjir Viduggla made an effort to open a path to Ikelan’s redoubt, but was stopped quickly when a Kathar warrior’s bone sword snapped his arm, sending his bone clean through his skin. As Frenjir lay there, unable to fight back he looked to where his Marshal should have been only to see an empty hill. Yvette Viduggla launched herself at the warrior, knocking them to the ground and giving Grevvn Viduggla enough time to pull his kin from the front line.

Kathar mages emerged from the treeline they had hidden in earlier. Kathar Warriors followed, Heinrich von Haugher and two of the infantry officers were brought to the front alongside the mages in binds. As the mages began their ritual, the Kathar troops on the ground suddenly retreated back to the woods, leaving the Regalians to focus on their captured comrades and the horror they were about to undergo. Several mages produced black crystals from within their robes, striding towards the prisoners as they chanted. The incantation grew deeper in tone as they neared the men, with Garth and Hansen Viduggla being the first they approached. The crystals began to glow with an eerie purple light, and a small beam of light formed between it and the men’s chests. The other two mages approached the Heinrich, beginning the same process with him. As the beam of light formed between himself and the crystal, all Heinrich could do was watch as his officers suffered from the excruciating pain of the ritual, realizing it had been a trap all along.

Just as Heinrich and the Viduggla men resigned to whatever fate was instore for them, Guillaume d’Goss broke through the treeline, his axe cleaving through several of the mages in one swing as the others hurriedly muttered the rest of the incantation. He was joined in short order by Jean-Marc Peirgarten and Valdis Kade who both struggled on their own, but found rhythm in working back to back. Just as the Knights reached the captured men, the crystals detonated, sending all the men flying back and casting the last mage off the hill. As the group regained their bearings, they looked up to see the orange sky of the dawn had turned black, now filled with haunting purple flashes of light.

Hardly a second after, Deo dei Termini and his officers dashed into the clearing, ordering their troops down to assist the survivors of first platoon. Led by Hengest Harhold, the second platoon’s footsoldiers moved in supported by medics and mages alike. In a matter of minutes, the Regalian troops had secured the ruined Elven camp and the medics tended to the survivors. Elizabeth and Dianne Black both inspected the miasmatic fog, unsure what to make of it while Jocelyn von Duerr was utterly baffled by the odd burns on Hansen’s body, as they were not similar to burns from normal fire in any way. Meanwhile, Winfried von Rahm struggled to handle the excessively high injury count as more and more Regalian troops came back from the outskirts of the battlefield.

The Kathar seemed to have retreated as the battlefield lay eerily silent. Mateo Silva was joined by Julius Peirgarten, the two exchanging looks before casting their eyes across the open fields that lay before them. The flashes of violet light had become more centralized, swirling in the darkened sky over the fields. “Ever seen something like this before?” Mateo mumbled to his fellow soldier. Julius remained silent a moment, deathly still. “I don’t hear the birds anymore, Silva. Even the air is dead.” And he was right, not even the faintest rustle of leaves nor the distant call of a bird could be heard. There was only the crunching of their boots on the charred dirt. Then came a blinding darkness, the violet lights in the black clouds disappearing as the world around the troops became pitch black for a few, eerie seconds.

Suddenly, a bolt of violet lightning slammed into the earth below, a loud boom filling the air as dust kicked up towards the soldier’s makeshift defensive line. Julius and Mateo along with those closer to the foreground were blown off their feet by the force of the dust storm, while some like Anna Caladwen dove into the broken trenches hoping to escape whatever was coming next. Those who hadn’t been blown away or taken shelter made up formations, with the foremost being led by Seraphina von Ebene and her Tenpenny grouping. The two platoons prepared for the next wave of the Kathar attack, bracing shields and readying swords—but as the dust settled, they quickly realized the Kathar had retreated on purpose.

In the distant fields was a monstrous humanoid figure cloaked in the same violet light that had danced around them and their wounded. Loriette Haaven quickly pieced things together, hurriedly dragging away as many wounded as she could into the underground bunkers the Elves had dug out. Julienne Peirgarten joined her not a moment too soon as the earth began to shake with the figure’s approach. They had managed to get nearly half the wounded down to what they believed was safety before the creature reached the fortifications and they retreated from the line. Hengest Harhold and Nathan Kade led the battlemages to the front, ordering the foot-soldiers to form a ring around them. Taliandra and Merilya Jouhari were the first mages in the line, stepping shoulder to shoulder with the Tenpenny infantry as they prepared to cast. The creature had already stopped roughly fifty feet from the Regalian line, seemingly looking down at them while they shuffled about. The Regalian’s were almost into set formations when the creature finally moved, extending one of its cloud-like arms and drawing from the darkness a bladed stave, made from the same violet light that surrounded its body.

Before the Regalian officers could issue an order, the creature thrust the stave forward, sending a torrent of purple and black flame towards the formations. Taliandra Jouhari was barely able to conjure Kilhid in time, being pushed back by the overwhelming force of the dark fire that forced her away inch by inch. Merilya Jouhari was far less fortunate: utterly frozen in terror she was unable to react in time, the flames launching her back into the trenches with the wounded, her body ablaze. Fortunately, Keltie Ledsarge was near at hand, and quickly snuffed the flames with her own Kilhid spell before turning her focus back to the front lines. Hengest Harhold was busy trying to pull his troops away from the new threat, hurling infantrymen behind rocks and into trenches, including Shae Wren who unfortunately was thrown and landed, slicing her arm on a broken board. Despite his best efforts, Harhold was unable to reach the Digmaan’s Mu-Allar, Jazzousz and Lloxern who had been caught in the flames, their plumage ablaze as they rushed back to the mages.

The front of the formation, however, had already been decimated by the impact. Julius Peirgarten had been blasted off his feet and launched through the air which fortunately extinguished the flames. Unfortunately, gravity was still a factor, and he fell back to the ground, shattering the bones in his leg on impact. Meanwhile, Mateo Silva had ducked behind a nearby fortification, pulling the Imperial Guard Julian Fournier with him, narrowly avoiding the flames which receded after almost two minutes of destruction. This prompted some of the Regalian infantry to charge towards the demon, shields raised and swords at the ready. But it was to be all for naught.

As the troops neared the demon, it slammed the blade of its stave into the earth, shattering the ground under the soldiers and sending some into the abyss below. The artificial earthquake threw Nathan Kade forward, leaving his face hanging over the chasm that had opened. The dark below swirled with a similar violet haze for the briefest of moments before erupting with the haze, filling the Kade’s lungs and causing him to pass out. Fortunately for him, Imperial Hannah Lexen was nearby, and she hoisted him away from the noxious mist before it could begin spreading to the surface. Almost instantaneously, the fissures that had formed throughout the camp began emitting the mist. Saira Kiran and Reimund von Rahm were both inside the wounded bunker which quickly began filling with the noxious fumes, and almost immediately they were rendered unconscious along with all of the wounded inside.

Just in front of the bunker was Ikelan’s redoubt which had split in two, allowing the miasmatic fog to creep out. Anais tried to flee but found her foot impaled by one of the Elven traps, giving the mist just enough time to envelop her. Unlike the others however, she did not pass out. Instead, she felt a nauseating writhing within her stomach which prompted her to look down. It was then that the screams of Regalian troops began to fill the air. Upon inspecting her stomach, Anais noticed a far greater terror; black slimy tendrils were wriggling out of the open wound in her foot, slowly wrapping around the appendage, and it seemed she was not the only one suffering this horror. All about the battlefield, shrill cries of fear rang out as the demonic appendages took hold of many among the Regalian ranks. The bodies that littered the field suddenly sprouted tendrils of their own, the eyes of the corpses glowing purple before they shakily got to their feet, lurching towards the Regalian troops with the force of the demonic tentacles. As he gazed about the field, Alfred Rolfe couldn’t process the dread that had so suddenly overtaken the army, staring directly at a hulking mass of tendrils that approached him. Just as the creature raised a thick tendril to strike Alfred down, Eugenio Leocadio’s blade cleaved the nefarious appendage from its host. The creature turned to face Eugenio, showing him the face of the Regalian prisoner they had found earlier. bloody stump sat beneath the tendril he had hacked off, but it was quickly covered again.

It was after witnessing these horrors rise up across the field that Hamelin von Rahm gave the signal to retreat for those who were still able. Holding a line while the others evacuated, Lazaruz d’Soleil and his squad formed a shield wall in order to deter the tendril covered abominations. As they struggled against the last waves of the demons Lazaruz looked towards the horizon, only to see it was clear of any purple light or large smoke monster. Letting his guard down at the worst possible moment, the tendrils from Frenjir Viduggla’s arm wound latched onto Lazaruz’s foot, dropping him to the ground. A Tenpenny soldier hacked at the appendage, taking off just enough to free Lazaruz as the horn sounded, signaling the rearguard to fall back and rejoin the main force. Hardly needing a second call, the rest of the troops broke formation and fled back into the woods, leaving the hellish field behind them.


Notes & Comments:

• News of the Tendril Infection has not yet reached the Regalian Mainland, meaning no characters on the mainland should know about the events that took place on the Elven landmass.
• A new “war camp” has been established at /tp warship where lore staff will be hosting an event Friday at 6pm EST.
• What is being referred to as “Void’s Grasp” is now an illness with unknown origins and no known cure. Wiki: https://wiki.massivecraft.com/Thräl’laniir's_Pestilence
  • Players will be able to submit orders to research the cure using their own means and initiative.
  • Players can request Event staff to host “Cure Test” events when they feel they have found a viable cure for the affliction.
  • Players who are carrying the disease may ask others to roll for infection. Players cannot force this RP on others as per standard rules, but if a player agrees to roll for infection, they must do /r 100. If the roll is over 60, the character contracts the disease and is now able to spread it.
    
• The Shadow Beast has made its presence known to the Empire for the first time. There is no record of this creature in Regalia or the Empire prior to this event.
  • Similarly to the Void’s Grasp content, players can submit orders to research the origins of The Shadow Beast using their own means and initiative.
  • Players may also send in requests for the War Ministry to try any effort they feel viable against the creature, though these will be filtered through at the discretion of the War Ministry.
    
• Player characters who rolled below a 50 (Blue on the rolls sheet) are infected with “Void’s Grasp”, but will not suffer from the Tendril Control unless they have an open wound.
  
  
• Any player characters with open wounds would have had that appendage covered by the tendrils and controlled. If your character is mentioned as wounded in this post or rolled below a 25 on the roll sheet, they experienced this during the battle unless they suffered internal injuries or were set on fire.
  • Upon leaving the battlefield, any appendage affected by the tendrils will no longer be controlled by them, and they may be cut or cauterized off. This does not apply to the sclera tendrils, which will always remain present for those who inhaled the miasma/had an open wound.
    

Rolls streamed on Mixer 8/20/2018