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Deceitful Penguin posted:Yikes, do the Dremer get meaner the longer they go on? Yes, they also get a unique structure if they take down a Great Wizard and they can build a ton of super powerful Dremer units and basically be a pseudo-empire if that happens (never let that happen ever seriously).
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Jun 15, 2014 03:58
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So basically you've got to stop your fellow warlords from falling to the Dremer, however you can?
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Jun 18, 2014 02:07
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Sounds like it. And considering that IQ seems to be a rare resource in this world, it's looking more and more like total conquest for the greater good would be the best option right now. Just saying.
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Jun 18, 2014 02:46
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Dr. Snark posted:Sounds like it. And considering that IQ seems to be a rare resource in this world, it's looking more and more like total conquest for the greater good would be the best option right now. Uh, yeah, about that... can Dremer spawn in the other planes?
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Jun 19, 2014 17:18
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JcDent posted:Uh, yeah, about that... can Dremer spawn in the other planes? No, they can't spawn in them, but they can totally come through the gates after you. You can definitely build some cities in a demiplane and then turn it into an impenetrable fortress from which to sally forth against the Dremer hordes, consigning the entirity of Arcanus to Dremer control. I have done this, but it is super tedious because Arcanus rapidly turns into a mess of impassable wreckage with no player around to keep the Dremer down.
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Jun 19, 2014 17:28
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Dr. Snark posted:Sounds like it. And considering that IQ seems to be a rare resource in this world, it's looking more and more like total conquest for the greater good would be the best option right now. It's even worse than it sounds. Every time we get a message that some great mage has destroyed a town, what that actually means is the Dremer have captured a town. Which turns it into a dremer castle. Which spit out more Dremer. Our fellow mages aren't burning towns, they're losing them. At this point it's not a question of whether the Dremer are going to kill the other great mages, it's a question of when.
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Jun 19, 2014 17:48
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Chapter 10: The Direst Of Portents  This was a pressing time, so it required some pretty desperate measures. One such measure was summoning fire elementals. Volatile, angry, made from molten rock and plasma, these were horrible, aliens creatures. Not as alien as Dremer, since quite a few people lost relatives who got too near potential temple grounds or portals. Also, the summoning ritual would infuse one’s robe with strong, hard to clean smell of smoke, and that was horrible.  And Emrah was discovering new truths and powers in her soul. Being a priestess of life, she was anemic to death. And as she grew in strength, so grew her immunity to it, to a point where death magic spells would bounce off her most tenderly.  Almost as sidenote in King Lich’s research, Holy Word was discovered. Written on a torn piece of paper from a lost holy book (likely of Dauros), it did one thing and one thing only: it hurt the undead. That was a lesson the lich wouldn’t soon forget, as reading the Word made his teeth burst out and clatter away like pebbles. Half a day was lost looking for them in his study.  "Some say that these tree spirits have existed in Ardania long before the men. Others believe that demonwoods are the creation of Andrevus the Dark Mage. But the one point upon which all are agreed: demonwoods, no matter their history, harbor ferocious hatred towards all other creatures." - From "The Overall Description of Everything" by Master Alfus Bumblegate  “Some people even think that Demonwood is created when an evil spirit comes to our world to possess a living creature, but is too weak to do so and possesses a tree. This is, of course, very, very, stupid”  "Recent converts often underestimate vampires, believing them to be something like intelligent predators. Allow me to warn you against this misconception: better by far to avoid vampires as if they were the bubonic plague. Vampires are not only merely intelligent, but highly-educated, shrewd, and more than capable of controlling their lust for blood. On top of this, vampires are often superior to necromancers in regard to the powers of darkness." - From "Necarium Tomeus" by Necromaster Barbaross the Deceased.  “Avgustus, I have had vampire subjects before.” “Really, m’lord?”“Yes, they are quite good for a necromancer. Sentient, for one, a thing that’s quite rare, and they’re technically dead, so they’re also good on that front. On the other hand, they’re really dramatic, brooding, whiny, and they write the most horrible poetry!” “How horrible, m’lord?”“Well, I have started wars to keep them occupied and away from writing. At any rate, we’ll crush them and then I’ll find that little Krypta worshiping dweeb and choke the life out of him”. “Oh” “Oh no”A bloody cloud in the shape of a multi headed dragon was hanging in the sky. “I think it’s conclusive that he was not defeated by our ‘peers’. Melchior, search everything you kind. Find an explanation on what happens when Dremer defeat a great mage”. “I… I will m’lord” Almost like divine intervention, Dauros’ Total Protection scroll appeared in King Liche’s tower. It provided, well, total protection against any and all curses and harm. Unfortunately, Dauros was a kind of forceful diety and his protection would hit the protected somewhat hard, stunning them.  He did try to fly away, in the end. Well, levitate. Unfortunatelly, he was just a son of a cooper who painted his face and clothes with soot and ashes and accidentally learned some magic, felt a divine connection… King Lich, however, was a practiced mage who had already died a few times and that didn’t even bother him. So naturally, the kid was swatted out of the sky and crashed on a grave. And before he managed to get his bearings, a skeletal hand closed over his throat and lifted him up. He struggled, he really tried. But it was a lich, someone entirely out of his league. So his face blued, his eyes bulged out and, before long, he was dead. King Lich threw his body away and motioned to the werewolves surrounding the cemetery. And as they descended on the graves to clear out the unsanctioned dead, Lucius beckoned his girl to get into the damsel carrying sack.  And while life was extinguished in the far north, a new life begun in far a away desert surrounded by lands corrupted and blasted by the Dremers.  “Why is our city named Damnedpost?” “Because it’s a post for the damned. Now go dig for gold”.    “Lucius” the Lich said one evening, when they were sitting in his study, Lucius sipping wine and Lich sipping nothing because he’s undead “Even with this new alliance, I don’t think we’re going to win.”The werewolf swirled the wine around in his mug.  “Sol managed to capture a city” “Yes, but they’re burning them even faster. Lucius, I don’t think Ardania can be saved, even by us”That made the were visibly uncomfortable. “So, no other plans? This is it?” “Oh, I have at least one idea left. But let us try to destroy that blasted anchor first, shall we? The plan was so very sorely needed. For while Damnedpost seemed to be relatively safe, there was no way to make inroads to the east. Corruption and Dremer were everywhere. And soon, Ladis wasn’t.  Unfortunately, not all of Dauros’ spells were very useful. Dremer didn’t curse. They killed.  A line of goblins stretching back to the horizon were carrying barrels of mana. “And he only asked some gold for it, m’lord?” “He seems to be getting desperate lately. Cities burn all day and night. Three in one week. Desperation” “Miralbus, stop. I never helped you against any other mage and I won’t help now. Not with the Dremer running around”  “If you won’t help, I’ll defeat him myself! I will get all the ingredients myself and save Ardania no matter what you do! Blargh!” Ad the ogre was doing a little better. Pulled away from the Anchor patrol, he was tasked with taking out a new Dremer gate. Sure, getting blasted with Dremer magic and cut by their boney blades was unpleasant. But he was building immunity to it. Just like drinking pure spirits or milk straight out of the cow. Sometimes at the same time. Adr was going to celebrate just like that after he crushed the Dremer gate.  “Miralbus, haven’t we already talked about this? Wasn’t our alliance already broken? I will not fight Sol” “You’re a traitor and a coward! I’ll deal with you after I deal with the Dremer and the flat angles falling on me!” “So, Miralbus is going crazy and Sol can’t even appreciate that I’m saving him. This war is going horrible” “Quite…. Quite so, sire!” Ardania itself was also under considerable strain of Dremer assault. All the corruption and devastation was taking its toll on the land, and the land could take no more. It burst and ruptured, spouting flaming rocks and lava, destroying buildings, cooking goblins and turning farms into ash. It wasn’t a pleasant sight, nor a pleasant experience.  Faced with such hardships and challenges, King Lich had to something more about it. He was at the edge of his capacity as a spell caster, but that wasn’t enough. He needed more and he needed spellabolic steroids…   "The Shy Ships of Arethi are more than mere war machines; they are a symbol of the magical superiority of the elves, and a manifestation of the High Truth." - From the "Servants of truth" by High Keeper Teyaran the Rigorous The first sky caraveil, Manifest Duck, rose from the Chamber of Flight, it’s black hull blotting out the sun, the fell emanations of its engine causing mutations in goblin populations that fell under its shadow. “The engine seems to be made from impossible angles and colors out of space” “Well, these days, we really have no choice, now do we?” "No, no we don't"
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Jun 21, 2014 05:01
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Oh hell. Two down, how many more to go? ...do you still win the game if the Dremer wipe out everyone else?
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Jun 22, 2014 17:01
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No. 'Defeat the Great Mages' is outright disabled as a victory condition in Armageddon, replaced by 'Defeat the Dremers'. The other victory conditions(Spell of Unity, Kill God's Avatar) can be enabled or disabled at your will.
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Jun 22, 2014 17:29
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We might not see Half-Life 3 till Kingdom Come, but we might end this LP this month! Here's a small sneak peak:
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Jul 19, 2014 02:54
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Oh boy that demiplane has been left alone for awhile.
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Jul 19, 2014 03:35
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JcDent posted:We might not see Half-Life 3 till Kingdom Come, but we might end this LP this month! Here's a small sneak peak: Wow that looks quite crowded (and colorful).
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Jul 19, 2014 09:13
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Torrannor posted:Wow that looks quite crowded (and colorful). Those things are always crowded with strong mobs. Still, like you noted, a very pretty demiplane. Way better than, say, moonscape. Image how visually interesting those are. On a semi related question: would it be OK with (both of) my readers and LP rules if I posted about 30 image long updates for a week or so, to be in tune of "finishing this LP this month"? Then I could immediately do an OP of Warlock 2: Hope We End This Before 2016
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Jul 23, 2014 04:31
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JcDent posted:
Sure.
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Jul 23, 2014 05:24
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Whatever works best for you, man.
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Jul 23, 2014 05:25
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Seems fine to me!
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Jul 23, 2014 05:34
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Sounds good.
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Jul 23, 2014 08:18
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Chapter 11: Wild Fronts and Frontiers The horn sounded the advance. Over the snowy hills and rocky earth legions of werewolves and trolls surged forth towards the towering structure. A detachment of old trolls has been destroyed by magical fires that night; now, lances of life magic flared and sped over the advancing troops to crash into anchor. The black mages that were keeping watch reeled under the assault. And that was the only moment of laxity that werewolves needed. Elite troops climbed fleshy walls and tore into the mages, crushing their weak neck with massive canine jaws. The black mages, knowing they could not hold the position, fled into the nearby forests… and into a werewolf ambush. The screams lasted till late night.  Finally came the trolls. Filled with lust for vengeance, they swung their heavy clubs and the walls of the anchor burst with black blood and foul smelling ichor. The first anchor was no more. “That is one down. We need to find more, before Ardania is too far gone”“I’m still curious, sire, as to why the mages would guard a structure of the Dremer. Most irrational”“Melchior, we’re dealing with people who became ‘evil’ for the sake of ‘balance’. The closest they ever came to being rational was to become werewolf rations”.   A renewed Alliance with Miralbus (those got broken so often that King Lich kept the updated status on a chalkboard) allowed the forces of the undead king do some reconnaissance into the quarrelsome mage’s land. The picture was grim: the only lands not to bear the stigma of Dremer corruption were uninhabitable mountains and lava fields.  And there appeared to be a Dremer castle on the coast just outside the borders. “Call for reinforcements. We’re going to check it out” Soon enough and with the help of an Arethi air ship, the castle was destroyed. Unfortunately, it revealed more Dremer to the east. And King Lich rediscovered how to make magical artefacts. These were simple magical trinkets, only slightly more magical than an enchanted jug of gypsy tears.  In a far away island, a miraculous light flashed and a nest of flying serpents was devastated. Serpent families were torn apart, with flashes taking either parents of children, leaving the rest behind to fend for themselves. As for those who survived teleportation, they were pressed into service of King Lich V.  Pressed into dangerous service of scouting contaminated, Dremer infested regions.  “Lucia” “Emerah”“So, how is it, working with Sol?”“It’s good, I’d say. Not much actual work, the constant border war is fought with ghost wolves and forts mostly”. "A waste of your talents, I say""Sometimes I just want the Dremer to win to end the drudgery" Sol’s envoy droned on about peace, friendship and camaraderie, about the importance of mages working together in the face of a common threat, a joint effort and other things of little meaning (especially considering the history of Miralbus-Sol wars). King Lich’s attention was elsewhere. Among the sacks of gold and barrels of mana laid an unassuming scroll of terrible importance. Meta-teleportation. The spell was made or discovered by Randolph the (self-proclaimed) Great, a mage of great talent that he squandered on trivial and insignificant intrigues and petty crimes. His use of meta-teleportation was probably the greatest example of such behavior. The spell was powerful, able to teleport creatures to any place of Ardania or even other planes. Compared to this, the regular teleportation spell was but a parlor trick. Randolph used meta-teleportation to run a cheese smuggling ring.  The werewolves on the south-eastern front beat a hasty retreat into Miralbus’ realm. The combined pressure of Dremer were too much for them. On the other hand, they had some good news, too. Werewolves were creatures of battle first and nobility second, and thus they evolved as they fought. One of these new developments was the poisonous bite. That day, many a snake was bitten to merry howls of “oh, the irony”.   “Sir, this is a new ohricalcum-corundum alloy, straight from Galarcarn. The production run isn’t efficient enough to plate every new ship, but the more experience crews managed to requisition them” “And now your people are affixing them with hammer and nail…”“Nevril hammers, sir!” Sound of hammers were heard in other parts of the world, too. Once the site of the Dremer anchor had been thoroughly burned, salted, raked over, frozen, burned again, blasted with bolts of darkness, then frozen once more, it was deemed safe for goblin and gnome habitation. So the new city of Riften rose, all with the express intent of studying the hell rift nearby. Already scholars were noting down the color and size of flames that burst from the rift every time a goblin or drunk gnome wandered into it, as well as the intensity of the screams of the damned.  Fireball, an important spell for adventurous and/or suicidal mages, was barely a sidenote in King Lich’s research for greater, more important spells.  “Rintirn must fall” read the title of the petition scroll that an emissary of Golddale presented to the King. What followed was a weirdly eloquent text detailing the grief that Golddalians suffered at the loss of the flagship (and so far the only ship) of the realm’s navy, the Golddale Duck. It was summarized that Rintirnians, with their disregard for proper wilderness grooming standards and magical fauna extermination practices, were the ones most at fault for the loss of the ship. Underneath were the various human signatures. “I don’t get it. How did they manage to pen a letter like this?” “Mercenary scribes, sire. They’re quite ferocious and infamous for their skill in penmanship” Yet again in far west, goblin cogs burned in a bay as werewolves left them defenseless in a drive to explore the unseen landmass. The loss of ships didn’t really matter much, since werewolves, freshly proven in the battle for the anchor, scoured the shores for fresh kills. In their wanderings they overran a hermit hut full of wild werewolves. The wild beast were caught amid some sort of strange posing conquests and were cut down to (were)man. None survived and the hut was ransacked. A bag of gold was found, as well as a useless spell scroll. Thirst for blood (and national service) satisfied, the troops continued their march.  “Sire, don’t you think such gifts are wasted on other mages?” “Hopefully not. Still, the little border war can’t last forever, can it? Maybe then they’d improve their lands a little”.  And while the west was troubled by a stupid war with little progress and less gain, to the east werewolves were clearing our Dremer in vast swathes of unclaimed land. Invaders fell, one after another, as werewolves kept coming with claw and fang. Fresh troops relieved the ones at the front, and magical fire from a floating healer and Arethi ships rained from above. King Lich took this chance to discover a way to summon Earth Elementals. In practice, they were more like angry, floating chunks of rock and crystal, and a lot more disappointing than their Fire Elemental cousins. Not really useful as laborers and taking up valuable casting time, they were quickly forgotten.  “See, the rock is carved with magical runes. Of course, elves would never use runes, but these serve the task quite well, you know” “Quite” “Yes, hmmm, and then we set the rocks on fire. And what a magical flame it is! Then we just put them in the magical driver and *SWOOSH*! Something is dead” And while certain werewolf mulled whether he should be worried about gung-o attitudes of elven skyship pilots, a new city rose to the north of current conquests and the poetically naked Damnedpost. With magic cleaning just enough lands for settlers not to be immediately consumed, New Bigden was built to benefit of the nearby gold veins.  A furry fist punched clean through the skull of an old skeleton and another pile of bones clattered on the floor of the crypt. Werewolves of the western expedition had just cleaning up a crypt and were now looking for things to loot. Various burial riches amounted to a fortune of 160 gold pieces. A corpse of a witch was found, clutching a scroll tightly to its chest. A little gentle persuasion and a few broken bones later, the scroll was liberated and sent to King Lich V to pore over. “Figures that a dead witch would have a useless spell”.  Damnedpost finally finished a grand project: a Nevril smelter! Sure, raw nevril was extremely toxic to goblin diggers, transforming them into blueish, metal skinned wraiths that shambled around until collected by werewolf handlers for drowning. And the run-off from the smelter let to many horrible diseases and birth defects in the goblin shanty that took water from the creek. “You know, m’lord, gnomes and dwarves are immune to such poisions and human diggers would only need a simple leather uniform to protect them. Why not use them instead of goblins?” “Humans, dwarves and gnomes need to be paid, and that would raise the price of outfitting a unit by five gold pieces. And that protection from Nevril armor inserts can’t come soon enough” And while increasingly large western expedition fought demonic trees, undead, vampires and ogres…  …and the south-east expedition neared one the last Dremer castles (that they knew of)…   …Nevril plates, scorched by foul Dremer magic, were about the only things that marked the final resting place of Emrah the Saviour, prime healer under King Lich V.
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Jul 23, 2014 11:57
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Ugh. Is it possible to revive heroes? Great update as always. I particularly liked the elven Skyship crew. And the cheese smuggling ring (did he use the spell to teleport onto a planet made of cheese?).
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Jul 23, 2014 13:00
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Torrannor posted:Ugh. Is it possible to revive heroes? Nope. Dead heroes are 100% dead. Apparently necromancers can only raise GENERIC troops.
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Jul 23, 2014 13:32
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Chapter 12: Invading Demiplanes “Agile Mind” was a great spell, sought by many mages. It might not exactly extend life, but it did expand consciousness. It suppressed the disbelieving part of the mind that resisted magic as something “irrational”. It made it easier to still care about your mortal subjects, no matter how meagre they were in comparison to your own power. It almost reduced certain spells to cantrips.  However, “Agile Mind” did not offer answer as to why casting it bathed the region in purple light for a few days. Still, nothing bad came out of it, even though Golddale duck saw an increased rate of pregnancies and discovery of something called “jazz”.  After “Agile Mind”, Helia’s “Blessing of the Sun” seemed like a trifle. Sure, it made crops grow faster and casting it made you feel like Helia’s warm words were gently caressing your mind, but King Lich V already had other spells at hand.  Away from purple glows and agile minds, the werewolf numbers in the western expedition were growing, with court weres leading packs of younger noble weres. The fresh young troops saw this expedition as a grand adventure and as a way to prove themselves, especially since the going wasn’t that tough. The number of ogres was a little alarming, but nothing some tooth and claw couldn’t handle.  Not everyone had a chance to prove themselves on the frontier, however. Snoop-Jim‘s felt that he was quickly outstripped by new, flashy warriors, while he was kept behind the lines, to look for mysteriously spawning trouble or Dremer incursions. To calm his mind, he spent time reading old scrolls and sacred texts to calm his mind and become a more philosophical warrior-poet.  “Yo, dis home be channeling his spirit and sheet, get rekt, Drema foo” “Mana Spring” was a strange that improved mana production. Working on the old adage “you have to spend mana to gain mana and burn cities with your mind powers”, it was a combination of various effects: straightening copper conductors, fixing grammar mistakes in runic wording, various quality of life improvements for mana barrel makers, and so forth. Naturally, King Lich V immediately forgot about it.   “Elven wenches!” “Gems!” “Anchor!”  The merchant struggled to drag the sack of gold out of the throne room  “Thank you, sire! You won’t be sorry for buying this!”King Lich V just waved his cold dead hand impatiently and dismissed the merchant. A small lizard person stepped forward and let out a burst of words that mentioned jujus, koatls and other strange things. “What on Ardania could the little critter mean to say?” “Sire, I have no idea” “Allow me, my liege. While I was still human, I had some travelling done and I think I recall some of the language of Koatls, this being one of them.” “Ahem” “Ah, yes. This one claims that his name is Morlock and he had been sent by his master, Pakatz Ringing, a high koatl. Seeing as you are the only one capable of fighting Dremer – coming of which had been foretold in Koatl holy texts – he wants to offer you his services. But not for free: he wants gold he could spent fortifying his village so that it would survive in his absence” “…what is a high koatl, anyway?” “*polite cough* I might finally be of service. I just remembered something of that name being mentioned in of the books I had. In his "The Overall Description of Everything", Master Alfus Bumblegate states this: “High Koatls are the exemplars of versatility. In the tradition of their nation they take whatever role is most needed by their people at a given moment. If ambassadors are needed, then High Koatls will be ambassadors; if there is a need for traders, then none can trade better than a High Koatl; if war is at hand, even seasoned battle marshals would be glad to serve under the command of these fearless commanders. With equal ease the High Koatls can be mages, astrologists, prophets, cooks, or nurses. And if there comes a national holiday, and a sacrifice should be made, then the High Koatl always has a traditional sacrificial knife at the ready.” “Interesting. Do we have money to pay him?” “After buying that ring? No, my liege” “Can we catch the merchant?” “Again, no, my liege. Reading the text will have given him enough time to disappear among the market vendors, probably to get robbed or blow his money on gnome prostitutes”. “Well, tell Morlock to wait a bit…” “Sir, the younglings are charging forward, they’re aiming for the anchor!” “I’m not surprised. They have tasted blood and seen the frailty of the ogres! It’s perfectly understandable”But then there was a horrible crack of magic, a great stench arose and black lights flashed on the horizon.  “All of them… gone… just like that…” If the werewolf captain was frozen because of shock, soon enemies of King Lich V would be literally frozen. A new minor spell was discovered among the scrolls. “Fanfir’s Disclipine”, it was called. As the name suggests, it horrendously misused: Fanfir was a mage who styled himself a great warlord and a great warlord needed a great army. Unfortunately, Fanfir was bad a tactics and worse at leading or training men, to the extent that he couldn’t get them to stand in formation. His final solution was to freeze them in place. Unsurprisingly, this lead to his demise when his frozen army was defeated by a rampaging mob of drunk gnomes.  “…and that’s why some need to make sacrifices for the cause” said King Lich V before using a spell to push a goblin spearmen unit through a magical portal. On other side, goblins were starting pick themselves up from the ground. The ground was pink, soft and cool, covered in places by soft green grass. And almost everywhere you could see lush pink forests swayed in the wind. The goblins were starting to feel good and maybe even happy about this new predicament. At least they would be fighting in nice place, with ample places for desertion. Then the monsters fell on them.  "Only certain of the inhabitants of Ardania turn into ghosts after death, and only certain ghosts choose vengeance as the principle goal of their existance. But it is fine to behold what wonders can be done by one who is devoted to one single goal. Especially if that someone is not restricted by time limits..." (From "Necrarium Tomeus" by Necromaster Barbaross the Deceased) “So, it’s the ghost that killed our brothers” “That is most troubling to see and hear. I saw a captain spar with the ghost that was in the King’s employ. Claws and fangs are basically useless against it” “Well then, sound the retreat and hope our king comes up with a plan”.  "These elementals are in essence living diamonds, which - as you might imagine - makes the task of harming one a fool's errand." (From "The Overall Description of Everything" by Master Alfus Bumblegate) “…and these findings lead me to conclude that the Riltirn Punitive Expedition should either be either abandoned or postponed, since the presence of Diamond Elemental would make the conquest really difficult”.  “Another benefit of this expedition to the Eastern Seas was the discovery of “heavy stones” mechanic. Now, carrying heavier stones aboard the ship aren’t an option. However, using a derivative mechanic of flaming stones, we use Elven script to inscribe the stones with the hardest philosophical questions faced by the Arethi – therefore the hardest philosophical questions in Ardania – as well as with parables, riddles and other such quandaries. So the stones become heavy with meaning and crush our enemies with weighty existential questions”. “Those Elves really spend too much time staring at the engine cores, it’s unhealthy”.  “Well, the imps are now dead, but at least they torched that Thicket and got some barrels of mana through” “And the spell, my lord. This is going to be of much use in our upcoming fights” “As my lord sees, this is exquisite armor made from the finest, hardest to obtain materials. Why, some of them are said not to exist in qualities needed for armor or are stupendously difficult obtain! Many of them had been obtained by paying large piles of gold to the eastern farmers, who spend day after day looking for rare materials to sell. Truly this is a worthy investment!” “Worthy it might be, but I don’t think the realm could afford it at the time.”The merchant stood there, puzzled and scratching his head. “Could his highness then spare some rash ointment or spell? To keep the good business relations…”But how can one spare mana or attention when the biggest transplanar invasion was happening at that very moment? The crack trained veteran court werewolf elite, laden with best magical gear and powerful enchantments, were the first ones to cross the boundary between world and enter the demiplane. Once they secured the beach head, additional units meta-teleported in and took their place on the battle line. Even trolls were there. Overall, the landing was a bit scattered but it was expected that werewolf skill and resilience, backed with magic, would win the day.  Back in Ardania, there were still some matters to be taken care of. Unwittingly dragged into a war against Sol de Torvega, King Lich V elected to sign a separatist peace agreement that would end the hostilities. He sweetened the deal with a Harvest Blessing spell. Not that that the deal needed sweetening, but it was apparent that other great mages needed all the help they could get.  “Sword of Truth” hovered over Riltirn, blasting defenders and guardhouses to dust. The captain signaled the King to announce that they had found another anchor, and then ordered the ship to descend, right in front of the mayoral mansion.  “This is an outrage! How dare you attack us, the true servants of the Truth? You who sold your hides so cheaply once lord Amberon fell! You infidels!”The only answer to the accusations was the sound of magical driver spinning up…  A great axe slung over his shoulder made sparks on the rock floor as a great barbarian approached King Lich’s throne.  “King of bones! Lord Krolm sends you a request! Build a temple, a great temple of rough stone and hard wood, fill it with nubile maidens, great warriors and vaults of ale and vine! Dedicate it to Krolm! Earn his favour in such way and he’ll grant you some of his favored Blademasters!”Moved by the speech, King Lich V could do nothing more but agree.  However, it was a lot easier to shoo away another “great” goblin archer who wanted to sell his services to the King.  “This is the biggest butchery in the realm, m’lard. We started with them Wild Domesticatud Donkeys, and now we can chop up everything. Goats, sheep, sea serpents, ogres… everything will be cut up and sorted. We tried with Dremer, but that didn’t work. Their blood, it ain't right”. “So, how is the meat sorted?” “The best, freshest parts go to the werewolves, of course, the less choice meats are for gnomes and the few humans… and the rest is send to goblins, naturally” “Naturally” “Well, they don’t deserve better, m’lard. We tried to get them to work here, but then one o’em chopped his hand off, and the other started eating it”. The Demiplane invasion was going full strength. Even some of the younger werewolf nobles were brought in for rearguard and mop up action. The invasion zone was already cleaned of enemy presence and the veterans were now tearing into earth and flame elementals. The smell of burn fur was in the air, but werewolves were healing at an astonishing rate. Thus, while bloody, they were steadily advancing and pushing the natural inhabitants back.  “Sword of Truth” shuddered in the air. Magical shards of diamond were raining on it, piercing the hull, impaling the crew, cutting wires and smashing arcane control instruments. Soon enough, the ship could take no more, shattering into large pieces that fell to ground, all to the terror and ruin of people of Riltirn. But that wasn’t the end of their sorrow, since the engine detonated in the market square, tearing out a huge bunch of it and transporting it gods-know-where.  “M’lord, the goblin barracks are on fire!” “It’s understandable. I tried the new flaming weapon enchantment on their spears. Predictable results, I’d say”.   “Magic node is very good for growing magical apples, apparently” “How did you even come up with the idea?” “We didn’t. We just wanted that one guy who always talked about growing apples in north to go away. So he did… to a magic node”. “Well, just hope this doesn’t attract unicorns”.   "Note: Black Minotaurs are significantly fiercer and more dangerous than their fawn-colored cousins!" From the collected works of His Majesty's Advisor. “We should have trained some of them ourselves, m’lord” “Maybe we should have. But the task at hand is killing the ones we didn’t! And don’t let the word get to the guards at the Elven casino.” “So this chest that appeared from thin air and crushed this man’s wife?” “Yes, lord. Apparently magical treasures are just appearing all over the realm” “Maybe the magic items, special that they are, are being displaced by Dremer explosions?" …and as cherry on that cake, a war with Sol de Torvega dropped from the sky, too.
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Jul 24, 2014 07:33
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Diamond elementals seem a bit unfair, is that immunity to everything but melee damage and spirit damage, and they only take 25% damage from these two? Also, please kill Sol de Torvega, he's an irrational and unreliable dick.
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Jul 24, 2014 23:33
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Demiplane invasions are really, really fun. You line up your best troops, load them down with every enchantment you can think of, and you send them in to establish a beachhead and fight seemingly endless waves of enemies. It's very Battle of Helm's Deep.
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Jul 24, 2014 23:51
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It's really important to grab a demiplane early before the monster generators go nuts.
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Jul 25, 2014 02:03
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Demiplanes are even more valuable in Armageddon scenarios because the Dremer never invade there. A stray dremer or two might follow your troops into the portal, but their spawners never appear there and the land never gets contaminated. Once you clear out the natives in one you can leave a token defense to squash the weak monster huts that spawn and just have a giant safe tax base there, supporting your war effort outside. It's also good we're sucking up to Krolm. He gives access to a really good spell in this context.
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Jul 25, 2014 02:34
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Torrannor posted:Diamond elementals seem a bit unfair, is that immunity to everything but melee damage and spirit damage, and they only take 25% damage from these two? Units marked as 'Supreme' are deliberately overpowered as gently caress and are basically set up to require an entire army geared towards their particular weaknesses to defeat. Supreme monsters spawn very rarely and most commonly in demiplanes that have run wild which is one of the reasons it is important to clear demiplanes asap. So yeah Diamond Elementals are hugely unfair but that is deliberate, they're supposed to be unfair. Plus, you know, as the text mentions good luck finding a way to hurt something made of living diamond.
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Jul 25, 2014 05:42
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There's only a few units tagged 'supreme' in the whole game. All of them are on other planes. You the player can get one, with luck; the Gold Dragon. Of course, the Dremer get one, too.
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Jul 25, 2014 09:36
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Can you actually build towns in demiplanes, or are they just there to loot?
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Jul 26, 2014 04:07
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Glazius posted:Can you actually build towns in demiplanes, or are they just there to loot? You totally can colonize demiplanes because, if you manage to clean the house (a difficult task more often than not, though it was hilariously easy with my werewolves), they're usually full of rare resources or stuff not found on Ardania, like dragon eggs and adamantium, I think. On another topic, there was no update yesterday because that time was spent fighting waiting times in a Japanese hospital (good think the Empire: Total War LP fit through 3G) and, arguably, exploring new things in Wargame RD's new DLC (Czechs have new WWII infantry, it's hilarious) JcDent fucked around with this message at 10:02 on Jul 26, 2014 |
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Jul 26, 2014 04:33
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JcDent posted:You totally can colonize demiplanes because, if you manage to clean the house (a difficult task more often than not, though it was hilariously easy with my werewolves), they're usually full of rare resources or stuff not found on Ardania, like dragon eggs and adamantium, I think. That sounds cool, building a dimension spanning empire. Are these demiplanes connected to each other or only to Ardania? I have no idea what you are saying in the second part.
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Jul 26, 2014 07:17
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Torrannor posted:That sounds cool, building a dimension spanning empire. Are these demiplanes connected to each other or only to Ardania? Only to Ardania in Warlock 1. It's a little harder to explain in Warlock 2.
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Jul 26, 2014 07:21
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Humbug Scoolbus posted:Only to Ardania in Warlock 1. It's a little harder to explain in Warlock 2. Warlock 2 is easy to explain; reality got broken and spat chunks of world all across the cosmos and now you need to hopscotch your way back from a fragment in the middle of nowhere to Ardania again. It's basically the same setup as Warlock 1 but in reverse; instead of starting on Ardania you start in a demiplane and you need to go through 3 - 5 more demiplanes to get a connection to Ardania again.
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Jul 26, 2014 10:39
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Chapter 13: Beyond Death‘s Door As the news of High Koatl‘s death (due to a rain of diamond shards crushing his ship) reached King Lich, he let out as heavy a sigh as someone who doesn't breathe could. “We’re not really hanging on to heroes, are we?” “Seems so, my liege. And all the magical weapons that randomly appeared are not rusting away in our dungeons, with no one to use them” “We seem to have a lot of ‘Bows of Ashes’ and ‘Kortana blades’” “Our theory is that after the original weapons were made and lost, people made echanted duplicates to sell or maybe use their name in rebellions. “Jak-Jak has the Blade of Kortana”, they’d say “surely he is the chosen one” and thus it would be on the way” Agr the Ogr was one of the heroes who enjoyed his position at the back of the lines. Among other things, this let him eat healthy and get a spot of exercise when helping locals raising bridges or so. In combination with his combat experience, this resulted in impressive amounts of muscles. Musles Agr would gladly flex to the delighted squeels of village girls, gnome-femmes, travelling elf-ladies and a rare Arethi.  “Kaladon’s Revenge on Nature” was a spell designed by a very ugly mage who resented being so homely. So, he decided to make a spell that would make nature regret it…by summoning volcanoes. Legends say that he died while testing it on a demiplane and that a magical portal can lead one to plane of nothing but volcanoes and lava.  "No, no, and no! What do you mean "Cockroach of Hell"? Hell's arse! There is no such thing as cockroa... Oh, ye gads! What is that thing?" (the final words of captain Robb Bob) After weeks of slicing through the burning silicate bodies of Fire Elementals (and absorbing their vitality through the mysterious and sinister vampyric weapon enchantment), the werevolves finally met their match. “Alright, men, this is not a fight that we can win on our own. Retreat, dress your wounds… and return with more warriors” “Sire, the bigdenians are worried about the magical testing area. They say black shapes fly in and out of it, and there are strange lights in the sky” “Have you told them that we have an elven flying ship nearby that flies by making mockery of laws of men and gods?” “Yes, but they’re still adamant about outer-plane invaders, conspiracies with lizard men and kidnappings” “True, I did order the area built on contaminated land, but it has nothing do with Dremers, and I had no other contact with Koatls outside that ill-fated contract. The kidnapping rumours are baseless, everyone knows that we lure goblins into the magic testing dome with rotten meat”.  “So we kill more Minotaurs and get another shield of Jan Ben-Jan? What did they do to make him feel so miserable?” “Steal a loaf of bread, perhaps? Many mages have done more for less” The most veteran of werewolves, currently fighting in the demiplane invasion, were becoming a terrible thing to behold. In combat, their skills and wrath knew no bounds. The wolf soldiers leaped from target to target effortlessly, ripping them apart with quick claw strikes and ripping their throats with savage bites. And even when the field was strewn with enemy corpses, their frenzy worked to carry them ever onward, to another battle.  So did they tear through dragon thralls, dragon cultists, feral orphans, dragon welps, dragon whelps and drakes guarding a dragon nest, tearing it all down to look for treasure and breaking the eggs to stop more dragons from being hatched (as well as some of that rare and expensive dragon omelet). Surprisingly, they even managed to rescue a very grumpy old captive.  "When they talk about magic and it's great powers, the names of magisters, archmages and even Great Mages themselves are often brought to mind. Few indeed recall that every powerful mage has an aunt or a sister or a granny that also has some understanding of arcane arts. And even when these lovely ladies are given mention, they are called merely "country witches" or "kitchen sorcerers". I shall tell me this: while the phrase might well be accurate from a certain point of view, it is quite unwise to invoke the wrath of any "kitchen sorcerer". If you do, all powers of a magister, all the miracles of an archmage, and all the spells of the Great Mages themselves will seem to you but a childish jokes in comparison with what an enraged Elder Witch can do." (From the memoirs of Archmage Fandar)  “Gnyah, what do you think you want?” “Currently? To kill everything on this plane, so I could settle it in case my fight against extraplanar invaders goes bad” “Does killing involve dragons?” “Well, yes” “Good! Then I’ll burn them in your service! I’ll burn all the dragons!” “Burn… a dragon?” “And I’ll burn Dremer, too! I’ll burn anyone who stand in Agniett’s way!” “Somebody drank a little too much dragon blood, it seems” The first lines of the incantation to cast “Thunderstorm” read “it was a dark and stormy night”, thus leading many mages to dismiss the spell as clichéd and boring.  “See, my liege, that one purified land passage from the mountains is quite troublesome. Yes, it lets us get fresh waters from the hills, devoid of Dremer tainted frogs and what not, and we managed to get the sheep and sheepherders down before we had a problem with some sort of new hill sheepmen, but it also opened the passage for various undesirables”“Such as?” “Such as involuntary chaste hermits, who forsake the civilization that denied them, well, wenches, and went on to live in the mountains, where they claim they could practice traditional manly arts or something.” “And then they contracted lycanthropy, because they weren’t the only hermits in the region. Now they think that they’re natural ‘pack leaders of both men and weres’, and, as such, women should start throwing themselves at them.” “Currently they’re marching on the Elven casino, because… well, you can figure it out yourself, m’lord”“Pathetic. Send someone to take care of them. Violently” So, as desperate mangy weres marched on Dreno, heroic werewolf champions were exterminating everything they could lay their spirit claws on in the demiplane. Not even dragons were safe. Usually safe from the wolfen elites because of natural flying ability, they still have to swoop in for the attack. And that’s when the werewolves pounce up… Eventually, such adventures lead to so many heroic feats that future titles and accolades started to become a real trouble, at least in the werewolves’ minds. “I think I’ll call myself ‘Duke formerly known as Wulfen the Dragon Slayer’ once this is all over. I’ll be the talk of the whole capital!” “Hey, Miralbus, I learned fireball. And I learned something else that you would so desperately need. I’m even giving you some mana to do it. No need to thank me!” “Dragons can’t catch you WHEN YOU’RE ON FIRE! EEEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEEEE!” "There are countless myths about nightmare wolves. Some deem them descendants of the first wolves of Lunord. Others describe them as shadows of long gone dark mages. But all these myths agree that Nightmare Wolves have legendary speed, strength and stamina - and no mercy for their prey." (From "The Overall Description of Everything" by Master Alfus Bumblegate) “…well, my paw is taking some time to regrown. Those nightmare wolves are fierce” “Aye, lad, the demiplanes are quite horrible, quite horrible indeed. Still, we will crush them, rest assured. Jest be thankful that we’re not the ones chasing the ghost off the Dremer anchor here” “There’s Dremer here?” “No, lad, only anchors. Guarded by powerful monsters, sure, but not a Dremer, nor a patch o’ corruption in sight” “But why would such creatures guard the anchors?” “I dunno, lad, I just dunno” “Yes…”“Yes!”“YESSSSS!!! MWAHAHAHAHA!...”King Lich’s shout trailed off to maniacal laugh as the skeletal monarch raced down the stairs of his tower, clutching a spell tome in one hand and a pack of reagents in the other. “What the…?”“Stay here. I have to check it out” “But…”But Lucius was already descending the stairs in mighty werewolf leaps. He found the king in the throne room, with a strange figure drawn on the floor, the stench of reagents in the air, and lightning crackling on lich’s hands. “BEHOLD, THE TRUE POWER OVER LIFE AND DEATH!”A word of power was spoken, lighting flashed around the room…  …and the throne room was filled with werewolves, all from a regiment that was wiped to a were-man by the diamond elemental. They looked around, confused. “My lord?” “We’re… back?”King Lich laughed again.  Later on, in the south, where laws of life and death were only slightly violated… After a few days of holding position over burned plains (another meteor strike), “Swift Strike” was finally moving again, even if it meant lying over noxious contaminated lands. A few days ago, they saw a bright flash of light driving away alien blight. And yesterday, settlers arrived surrounded by familiar blueish circles of meta-teleportation. With Burntown established and Dremer mages unlikely to attack it, the ship was retasked to more pressing matters.  Finally, the veteran elites managed to drive off the vengeful ghost guarding the Dremer anchor (apparently he used to be a mage who died alone and unloved because of his Dremer prophecies, and now wanted to stick it to everyone) and ripped apart the anchor, collecting the shinning round heart of the structure. “I bet we could use it to enchant a weapon or something” “Quiet, you. Our lord needs it to find Dremer world and send us to clean it, just like we did here”. “Oligofrenus’ Greater Incantation Of Extremely Reduced Visibility And Just Negligible Noticeability” was a simple invisibility spell, as much as such spells are easy. Oligofrenus used the spell to hide his daughter, who was convinced of many odd things, and thus a great shame to the verbose mage. Unfortunately, invisibility didn’t make her silent, so Oligofrenus was soon known as a very verbose mage with a voice following him and shouting racist things about the elves.   "Cave bears have long been extinct. Full skeletons can be seen only in few private collections. According to legend, these beasts are unthinkably strong and tough: they can withstand the strike of a troll's club, and answer with a stroke that would break the unlucky troll's backbone." (From "The Overall Description of Everything" by Master Alfus Bumblegate)  “Cockroaches, nightmare wolves, now black cave bears with red eyes. What’s next? Peasant ghosts that are one fire?” “Eh, who cares. We’d still have kill it”. “Not even that scary, what with the resurrections” “I heard from the guys that got back recently. Turns out it’s not really bad after death. Apparently a spirit tells you that you’re going to be resurrected and doesn’t let you into the afterlife. They don’t tell you how long you’re waiting because ‘no way to track time here’, still, you can do things with the other waiting souls” “Yeah, two guys even started a business this way, while two others got in argument, went for a duel once they were resurrected, and, well, had to be brought back again”.  “Songs of Korhal” reports Dremer sightings in King Rrat’s lands. One gate apparently exploded very close to a city, but it’s otherwise protected by impassable mountains and a fortress. Setting course north to investigate more” Werewolves were combing through the refuse left after the destruction of a Dremer gate. “Captain, what about this thing?” “Send it back home, I think our lord will know what to do with it” At first, Cliffnest had been established as a resupply point for the werewolves of the western expedition. After the demise of half the troops at the hand of the ghosts, and the retasking of veteran werewolves to the more important fronts, the town was left with a token (if elite) garrison. Over time, it became useful as a spot to explore the nearby ancient Ardanian ruins, as well as having great beaches. Then, the locals found temple grounds and decided to erect a temple to the one that helped them benefit the most: Helia, who’s sunshine made the beaches so popular among the rather pale Arethi and the elves of Dremo (and, in turn, made inns and bed-making profitable). They only needed a holy artefact, and, with the Wand of Helia, the temple was complete.  “Captain, I don’t think we’ll make it through this” “Then I'll see you all back at the capital, boys. Been an honor fighting with you all”. Granny Agniett was far away from werewolves wrecking a Dremer castle and selling their lives dearly to save King Rrat’s lands from the aliens. And she was preoccupied with another things. She dropped the shovel and reached into the pit she had dug under a great pink-leafed tree. Out came a black tome, seemingly unspoiled by being buried underground. Granny whispered a few words and opened her ‘Little black book’. Inside were various secrets she had collected during her long life and used as leverage and certain points. Like how certain skeletons weren’t as brainless or soulless as it appeared. Or how there was a Black Goblin Squadron, a small pirate fleet of intelligent goblin pirates. Or who was the real father of Tendral, Son of Vendral. All this and much more granted her certain…safety.  “Squeeks? Is that you?” "Extra! Extra! Read all about it! Maximus magazine feature exclusive! -- What has made the Paladins of Grum-Gog forsake their old beliefs and become Paladins of Life? What have they lost? What have they gained in their new service to Agrela? Is it true that the Paladins of Life now live longer? Are they really worshiping another God? All this and more in tomorrow's issue of Maximus. Find out before your neighbors do!" -A teaser from an unpublished issue of Maximus  “Yes. From Agrela’s bosom do I return to walk amongst the living. Agrela saw my need to save the land and the king and sent me back” “Can you… can you tell me what you saw on the other side?” “No, no one is permitted to tell you that. But I have glimpsed the future…” “An invasion and me among them… a horrible beast… a city in a sea of corrupt flesh… and no final battle, because I’m not there…”
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Jul 26, 2014 14:15
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Elder Witches! They're kinda meh at first glance before you realize that their slightly-higher-than-average magical damage compounds easily into three digits with enough magical items, enchantments and upgrades, and they've got a range of three where most ranged units have two. Give 'em flying or invisibility as well as Eagle Eye to let them see as far as they can shoot and they become ridiculous near-immortal doom-artillery laying waste to anything and everything.
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Jul 26, 2014 14:36
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 What's happening in the last pic?
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Jul 26, 2014 14:41
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I'm not 100% certain but I think those are screenshots of JcDent's attempt at the Dremer demiplane where Dremagor resides and it appears he was insane enough to actually build a city in that hellhole. The Dremer demiplane is a demiplane composed entirely of nasty fleshy growths that are hostile to everything except Dremers and you basically need terraforming spells to get through it to Dremagor without all your dudes being eaten by the ground. Dremers spawn randomly all over the plane though so building a city in there is insane even after you terraform the horrific flesh growths into usable land.
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Jul 26, 2014 15:16
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It's Squeek's vision (and the result of 9000 hours on Pixlr.com) of invasion of Dremer World! Another thing I wanted to say: when I first played vanilla Warlock, Blademasters (of Krolm) were the first temple unit I got and they could solo cities in two turns. That was amazing. And now, the most veteran pack of Court Werewolves are basically that (triple-number-damage, if you haven't noticed), and they're not even a temple unit. My first and only playthrough of Warlock 2 basically ended by getting one of the super lords and buffing/leveling him so hard, he was nigh immune to anything, a wrecking ball that crumpled anything I pointed him at and reclaimed Ardania mostly solo
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Jul 27, 2014 03:36
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Chapter 14: Forward Onto Glory “Doing a normal headcount of goblins is impossible, since they all look the same, and you can’t order them to march in line to count them. Getting their numbers through indirect means, like measuring the volume of fecal matter generated per settlement, is also quite the ardous task. With that in mind, we determined that goblins are not only deemed completely expendable by King Lich V, but are also in ample supply” “We also reason that goblin shamans are, in essence, goblins and thus expendable. So we have teams hunting for them, to capture and bring aboard the ships. Here, we have modified the rocks ships naturally fire” “As you can observe, these are fine iron chains attached to it and a hole drilled at the back of the rock. What we do is fill the rock with a certain mixture of beans, prunes and an assortment of other, usually rotting, food stuffs. The goblin shaman is brought in and presented with the “feast”. Once he starts eating, we lock him in chains. Once the beast has finished eating, digestion starts, filling his gun with potent flatulence and fecal matter. Once the rock is fire and the goblin splatters on impact, the smell can be quite deadly” “That is as fascinating as it is horrible” “Yes, you can’t imagine the difficulty of timing feeding and firing. We had a lot of early misfires when shaman released flatulence in flight, altering the course of the round quite considerably. Oh the troubles we went through solving that problem…” One of the bigger problems with the goblin garrison is that goblins never understood why one “should not kick someone while they’re down”. When the humans explained it, goblins took it the other way: if someone is down, this means they’re weaker, which means they’re easier to kick. As such, they started incorporating it into their battle drills.  “Har har, we won’t ever be beat. Unless we’re down”.  “You know what’s the biggest problem with resurrection?” “Please enlighten me, m’lord” “The enchantments, Avgustus, the encantments. They don’t carry on after deaths and I have to recast all of them. And it takes away from the time I could spend casting other, more useful spells” “This would almost be useful, if any of those incompetents had managed to research anything worth dispelling” Flying serpents, still thralls to King Lich V, were sent to explore the lands of Sol de Torvega. Unlike Miralbus the Hat, this beastly great mage was very fond of using purification spells to get rid of Dremer contamination. Presumably, this meant that his subjects were doing much better… or would be doing better, if not for desert that the realm was based in.   "Those of us who have dedicated their lives to serving the goddess of the Sun deserve nothing but praise and admiration. I know perfectly well from my own experience how painful the flame's touch can be, and how torturous its bright light. A werewolf must possess truly inhuman courage and resolution to pass the goddess' test and become a Wolf of Helia. Wolves of Helia are creatures of a transcendental order. The price for losing all humanity seems negligible in comparison to their newly obtained powers." (From "Howling at the Sun", an article by the noble werewolf Wolfus de Crunch.) There werewolves of the garrison had spent much time contemplating the darkness to their west. Dremers and anchors, ghosts and ogres. Great power would be needed to defeat such blights. Great power… like the one emanating from the temple of Helia. Nobody know what happened once the werewolves entered the sun-basked temple. Terrible howls could be heard and bright lights flashed every night. Finally, after days and days had past, they emerged from the pyramid. Imperceptibly changed, clad in armor of ancient Helian design, carrying strange halberds, they descended the grand stairs. They said only one thing to the gathered masses:  “Praise the Sun!”And so Wolves of Helia departed for war.  “My lord, I bring news of that the Temple of Krolm has been complet…”At that moment, a mighty kick swung the door open and in marched a company of barbarians.   "Blade masters claim they are the descendants of the Barbarians of antiquity. -- And judging by their look and manner, I shan't question it. But seeing them in battle, Your Majesty, why 'tis a thing of wonder. You'd be hard pressed to find even a master chef who could slice with such beauty and precision!" (From His Majesty's Advisor's address speech)  “My lohd, you hav pleazd ze God ov Wrath, ze Kreator ov Man. You hav earnt his faeva. Ve are now yooz to kommand” “What is that damnable accent?” “I have no idea, my liege, but you best sent them on their way, to crump someone before they get bored”  “YOU HAVE BUILD TEMPLES TO MY SIBLING AGRELA AND KROLM THE FATHER OF ALL. DAUROS DEMANDS A TEMPLE”“Ouch, my head is still ringing” “BUILD A TEMPLE TO ME AND I WILL GRANT YOU MY PALADINS. THEIR STRENGTH WILL BE NEEDED IN YOUR INVASION”“I think your voice loosened a rock in my tower and squashed a goblin family” “GOOD. GRUM-GOG IS A PARASITE AND A GIT, AND SO ARE HIS PEOPLES” “A git?” Wolves of Helia were just tearing through the countryside, killing ogres left and right in preparation to assault the last anchor needed for the teleportation. They hacked and cleaved, and hacked, and cleaved, until hills ran red and the crew of Arethi sky ship filed complaints of “stealing kills”.  King Lich looked through the telescope down into the rift: “Yep, that’s a demon” “See, my lord? Constructing this workshop was a great idea. We can do all sorts of neat things here!” “First, we grab an imp with this special imp grabbing hook. This saves times and material needed to actually summon them from whatever evil place they’re in” “Then, we place them in this Nevril holding pen. Here, we can do whatever we want. Autopsy revealed that imps internals are pure evil, for example. Really nothing there to harvest: if you cut off a chunk, it evaporates in a puff of pure malice and a lab assistant gets punched under unclear circumstances” “The more promising research gets done in this arena. We’re enlisting all sorts of hedge mages and ditch sorcerers to test effects of magic on imps, and the effects of testing magic on imps on the emotional wellbeing of testing crew.” “So far we have discovered nothing out of the ordinary. Unlike the demons who stalk a man’s mind and heart, the more corporeal ones are less of a threat. Sure, they can burn down barns, but a tainted king can get a lot more barns burned. Also, the corporeal ones don’t need a pure heart or clarity of soul to defeat. Just whack them with a sword or a spell enough times, and they’ll get send back” “Fascinating” “Oh yes! Now, if you have time, there’s one imp we managed to catch several times and it appears these rapid, repeated ‘banishments’ that happened here have had a sort of detrimental effect on what little psyche he had. Today, we have one of your torturer lycanthropes in the arena. Their spiritual claws cut into the core matter of the demon and we expect this to be quite the show. Care to attend?” “Ah, if only I could cast more spells or had the strategic thinking to find this one useful…” “Now that is a very good gift from our favorite god and creator” “How so, my lord?” “Unlike most other spells, this actually lets us reverse the damage done by exploding Dremer gates. Since we have been hearing about those explosions quite a lot, I’d wager that the lands we see are the least tainted, while rest has already been warped beyond any sane means” “This spell channels Krolms divine rage and, well, punches the land back into its original condition. There’s really… really no better explanation” With most sea serpents eliminated by the flying armada and spellcasting ability tied up with resurrecting elites fallen in defense of King Rrat’s realm, werewolves engaged in the largest fleet action to date. Many new corgs were commissioned and goblin crews pressganged do facilitate the transfer of troops for the assault on the last piece of the anchor puzzle. Snoop-Jim’s, having inherited the broom from the flying healer, didn’t really need a ship. “Yo, dis homie is traveling in style, weredawgs. Wish my homies and hoodrats could see it” “Imma gonna show dem Dremma honkies how to attack da Rratz. Imma gonna show dem good” “I curse ya, Dremma, I curse ya smelly hide! Ya weak, Dremma, nothin’ but a punk as bitch poser! Imma gonna get you! Imma gonna beat yo rear end, and you gonna poo poo yoself, and I will gently caress you up!” And so did the invasion commence. Ships disgorged werewolves and they bounded off to the hills. Quickly did they race ahead, fleet of foot and quicksilver in motion. It wasn’t long before they reached the Dremer anchor, cutting down a single wounded ogre that had escaped the wrath of their Helia worshipping brethren. The ghost, killer of many of their number, was the only obstacle left. And spirit claws rending ghost matter as easily as it does imp flesh, the spiteful mage was finally laid to rest, even if he didn't go quietly. With the ghost gone, the principal defenses of the anchor were gone and Dremer structure was torn apart in an orgy of werewolf fury. The attackers were drenched in ichor and bile, foul pieces of otherworldly flesh were scattered everywhere. But the core was recovered. And crushing it in his dead hand, King Lich V got the last bit of the puzzle. The spell that would whisk his forces to the Dremer world was done, he only needed to assemble his forces and launch the invasion.  Five companies of veteran werewolves and a company each of Wolves of Helia and Paladins of Life. Ardania had not seen such mustering of forces in a long time. But would they be enough to bring down the strength of Dremers? King Lich V concentrated. The mad formulas of the spell danced in his head. Maddening sounds pervaded the chamber of casting. Red lights started dancing and swirling around the assembled troops. Dancing and swirling, dancing and swirling dancing and swirlingdancgingand…  The sky was of the red most foul and the land was all putrid crimson flesh. Horrible stench hung in the air, growing worse near what passed for lakes. The forces had arrived in close order and were ready to act. “Werewolves, Helians and Paladins of the Dremer Expeditionary Force! You have embarked upon the Great Crusade, toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of free people everywhere march with you. In company with our brave allies and brethren on other planes, you will bring about the destruction of the Dremargor, the elimination of Dremer terror over the embattled peoples of Ardania, and security for ourselves in a free world!”The invasion had begun.
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Jul 27, 2014 05:26
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420 praise sun err'day  Noble wolves are amazing already with their incredible regen, add in +50% elemental damage right out of the box and you get something truly special.
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Jul 27, 2014 06:53
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Also a trader has come! Despit your crusading forces not using heroes.
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Jul 27, 2014 08:38
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