NationStates Jolt Archive

"Sir! Our location has been found - those damned paladins are on the way already!" an acolyte of the Order warned his leader.

"Will they never let us be? Our duty is to protect the balance - yet they constantly persecute us for some vague evil deeds that they seem to think necromancers commit. Very well, we must leave - but where can we go? There is too much risk in connecting with other cells of the Order - we are trapped without allies. The elven mages do not trust us, and other humans scorn us, not knowing what we truly do - unless some sign can give us a location to go to, we cannot truly escape. No, we must evacuate those who cannot fight, and prepare ourselves - a force of undead will await the paladins."

The acolytes, initiates of an Order with a task greater than any other, steeled themselves for battle, calling forth bodies and lending them psuedo-souls to animate them. Those who could cast attack magic moved to the well-defended towers; healers stood by at various points, ready to move where needed.

OOC: I kept the location vague - you can be local people, the alluded to elves, the paladins, the nation that we are hiding in - or something totally different. /OOC

OOC: Tag, so I don't have to log on to my puppet to check for new posts /OOC

<TAG> for later posting, when I have time.

"Master."
"Yes, Adapt Haeln. What is it?"
"There appears to be an order of paladins hunting a group of necros."
"Do you know if they use the blight?"
"No."
"Send a Arci to investigate. If it turns out they use the blight contact the paladins, if not contact the necros."
"Yes master."

A short while later a glowing cat with wings and a razor thin tail sped of toward the paladins, one there it found thier preys general location and sped toward the camp of the necromancers.

ooc: the blight is when a necro uses a spell called blight to turn a living person into an undead, with out the dying involved. a very evil spell

OOC: Freg it, I'm not going to bother using my puppet. By the way, this order of necromancers doesn't use evil techniques like the blight./OOC

"A beast! It approaches rapidly - a scout?" called out one of the watchers. He was a planeshifter, and was using the Astral Plane to boost his vision - he wouldn't be able to make out detail, but a living being would glow like a lantern in the heart of night, especially in the present sunset.

"Interesting," the leader of the group said, as he thought for a moment. "Describe it."

"Feline, sir - but winged, and it has a tail."

"Even more interesting. The paladins would not use such a creature, so it isn't them - but is whoever sent it an ally or a foe?" If we kill it, we could drive away a potential ally, but if we don't, it could report to enemies. "Observe it. If it comes within our attack range, notify me - I'll decide what to do then."

The Arci continued speeding toward the general location of the necromancers camp, looking for traces of the blight.

"Its not turning back!"

"Very well. Send off a warning ray; if it ignores it or doesn't display any sign of alliance, kill it."

As the raybeam flashed by the Arci, it flicked it's razor-thin tail in the air 'cutting' a void which it entered.

Once the Arci returned to the mage council, it told the information to Haeln who informed the Master of the council.

"Master, the Arci reported no traces of the blight, but that the necros attacked it."
"Haeln, go talk with these necros and see what the deal is, then report back and I shall make my decision."

Haeln slid into his combat robes, picked up his Arci, who opened a portal to the ground near where it was attacked, and Haeln stepped throught to see the necros..

"The beast has dissapeared - no, Sir! A man, now, with the abberation! He does not move to attack us, yet."

"I will deal with him myself. That beast is not the only thing that can use planar magic." The Necromancer leader had felt the rifts that had opened, and could een pinpoint their location; few animals used those powers with the finesse and efficency that would be required to make it undetectable. He could, but chose instead to spook the creature, and test its reaction when it felt him popping by it.

Whoosh!

A cloaked man, with his face completely concealed, slid into being behind the man and the abberation, detected only a moment before by the creature. "Who are you, and what do you want?"

"A few things, one why did you, those under you or your superiors attack my pet? Two I came to see whether you were worthy of aid against the paladins, as of now you arn't impressing me." Haeln replied, without even bothering to turn around.

"And my assessment is that you are nto impressing me enough to request your aid. Your 'pet', whose affiliation we could not determine, was flying at us; we could not even recognize the species. It could be a messanger or an enemy spy; we have no way of knowing. Wehn it ave no sign of its intentions, we engaged. What would you have your men do, in similar circumstances? If it is anything else, your aid may be a liability, and we cannot afford that."

"A: This is known as an Warp-Arci, if you had tried to study it you would realize that no paladin could or would summon it. B: Attacking without provocation or a knowlaged of what you were up against is simply asanine, for all you know it could have flattened you without effort. In a similar situation we would ID the creature and learn what it was/could do first." Haeln replied, "Also from assessments of the number of paladins, without aid you are screwed, so if you wish I'll leave you to your fate."

The man smiled. "Perhaps you are capable of studying a foregin creature that rapidly, but I'm afraid that was beyond us. We already knew the paladins did not summon it; if you think they are our only enemies, you truly do not know who we are. And while attacking without provocation may be asinine, waiting for it to attack is worse. We are decent judges of a creature's power; its life aura is generally a good sign, though not always. It was strong, but we could have overpowered it without any significant damage being done. It's rifts are good, but esily enough tracked; we could have killed it in transport with just the necromancers who can use planar magic, deprived of the rest of our forces.

"Your analysis of the Paladin force is accurate, but you have only seen our Necromancers. It just so happens that this town, before it was abandoned and well before we moved in, contained not an ordinary graveyard but a full necropolis as a result of some great war that had happened long ago. A rather large force of skeletal warriors and zombies would meet the paladins in the open feild, while our mages attack from a range; we are in a very difficult spot, especially if they press the charge instead of breaking on our lines and falling back, but not 'screwed', as you so delicately put it." He knows as well as we do that the paladins will fight to the death, not break; and in that case, we certainly will die.

"However," he continued, "your help would be useful, and any aid you could provide would be helpful. Competing now over which of us is superior is folly, and though I do not know why you fight the paladins, I will trust you. Enemy of my enemy..." is my enemy's enemy, no more, no less he did not add.

"I shall be back once I have spoken to the master of the acadamy I attend. Also keep this in mind, we are neither your allies or nor the paladins enemy." Haeln replied as the Arci flicked it's tail, he stepped back and disappeared.

Not an ally, nor an enemy of the paladins, but they will help us anyway? That is suspicious - perhaps they wish to reach a future agreement or treaty? But he said academy; that makes little sense. Who would stand up for the Order without knowing what it is we really do? Still, for now I must trust them to protect my people.

"We have only an hour before the Paladins arrive. Make room for mages to bolster our ranks; we will not fight alone."

Cheers rose to meet his words, and the necromancers hastily moved into better positions. The fortifications had been improved as much as possible; with the elements arranged thus, perhaps even against superior numbers truimph would be possible. For now, it all depended on the number and quality of the mages sent by this academy, and their leaders.

OOC: I'm going to bump this in the hopes that it will live until tomorrow. /OOC

OOC - Im gunna take the paladins if u don’t mind.

IC - General Silt was leading his men into battle. Two thousand strong, it was the biggest ever amassed by the local Paladins. They would take out this evil city once and for all.

All on horse back, trained sword technique from the age of five, they were a force to be reckoned with, and they would keep fighting till their souls were resting in heaven.

Silt held up his sword, and all the men went quiet.

"Today we fight an enemy that does not live, but is not resting. That is cold, but has fire inside, an enemy, that threatens to destroy all forms of life and humanity in this kingdom. In the name of God, I ask you to slay every one of these beasts to help keep our families safe, and the human race alive. Good luck gentlemen and good fight"

Haeln after returning to the academy and consulting with his master, gathered the mages that would be best for this situation. Each of the mages that had been voluntold had either and Arci or Aci. Each one of the Arci/Aci opened a warp link and appeared just outside the necro's camp.

ooc: There are 20 mages including Haeln in the group

OOC: Sweet! We have paladins now! /OOC

The Necromancer leader was already there to greet them. "Thank you for your aid; all of your help will be insturmental in the defeat of the paladins. Twenty mages is a small amount, but I have no doubt all of you are skilled enough to make up for that. Time is short, but if I could have a general idea of your individual strengths and weaknesses I could find a place to position you in our defenses."

"These eight are third degree masters, these eleven are ninth degree adepts and I am a first degree grand master. The adepts have no great weakness or strenghts. The masters are divided into two groups, these being fire and wind, and earth and water, thier weakness are the counter balanced elements. I am a shadow and a ep mage." Haeln replied

"Thank you." The Necromancer spread a map out on the table of the keep. "As you can see, the only entrances are here, on the North wall, and here, on the South. They are coming from the North, so they have a direct path to that entrance; I would like to position two of each group of masters and three adepts along the North Wall. An Earth/Water master and a pair of adpets would do well bolstering our main force in the front with area attacks to the enemy lines, with a Fire/Wind master and another pair of Adepts behind them, casting ranged targeted spells. The remaining two masters and two adepts should be part of our mobile infantry unit; they will be watching the sides and the back of the fortress, to tell us if the Paladins move to the back gates and to whittle their numbers down while we move our larger force down from the North. I would like you with me in the Keep, our base of command; I think your mages would rather take orders from you. If needed, we will both move into combat, but for as long as possible, we need to keep to a command position where we can survey the battle. Do you have any objections?"

OOC: Adapt Haeln in your first post here, but I am a first degree grand master. [...]Haeln replied in your last... is he lying, or was that an error? /OOC

"Not really but with the Arci/Aci, rapid transit of small number of people is fairly simple, which may force you to redecide your strategy as they can move your people much faster than normal." Haeln replied

ooc: neither, Adapt is a term between a higher and lower ranked mage, sort of like master and apprentice.
Adept is a ranking level.

OOC: Right, thanks. /OOC

"Our MI has planar magi, as does our main force; however, we have made provisions for delays because of enemy attacks. It is foolish to teleport while still in combat; we will have to ensure that a withdrawal is possible without the enemy overruning the area we move troops from. Anything else? We need to get you men in place quickly; we have little time."

"There are some spells that can serve as area-denial weapons for use on re-deployment." Haeln said as he said something to his Arci, and each of the Arci/Aci flicked open a gate and took it's mage with them. Each mage arriving at thier assigned spot.

~In a mountain not too far away...~

"There have been rumors of a coming battle between General Silt's paladins and a cabal of necromancers..."

~A cloaked figure hissed. He was one of four others that stood around in the artificial chamber, hewed from the rock of the mountain, and formed into a dome. There were several pools of water lining the room that had formed from the slow drip and trickle of calcified formations dotting the ceiling. It served well as the council room for the Orishala dragons. Each of the four wore dark robes adorned with arcane symbols depicting a single element. The one whom wore Wind spoke first, Water replied second.~

"I have heard it too, though I am reluctant to act on it."

~Earth grumbled his agreement to Water's comments. Fire spoke out quickly.~

"We can't just let this battle go on its own accord, I have already learned that those of the Astral side with the Necros... Things will continue to escalate on both sides and the continent will be embroiled with war. One side must fall now and forever, or all that we domained over will be lost."

"But, which one?"

COLORFUL
BUMP

As the mages moved to their locations, the Necromancer leader asked, "Forgive me, but have you established a means of instantaneous communication with your men? I can speak to all of my squad leaders and their seconds instantly to coordinate actions; I assume that you can easily do the same. Once the paladins arrive, it will be critical to maintain speed of reaction." Sorry I cannot tell you the details of the plan, but you will catch on fast enough.

"Essentially yes." Haeln replied as he pulled up a chair and took a powernap.

OOC: Bump. Christac, we are waiting for you! /OOC

OOC: Bump. Christac! We need you to post! /OOC

General Silt's men were advancing on the fortress. As a skilled leader and swordsman he was at the front. They were getting into firing range. "Archers!" Silt shouted, as the first group of horsemen pulled back.

Another group took their place. These knights however wielded crossbows. Within seconds the outer wall of the fortress was flooded with bolts. As some on the battlement fell Silt shouted clearly "reload and fire again! KEEP THEM DEAD!!"

Neither side was moving at this point. This was the skirmish before the battle.

Some of the mages on the wall got up and cast a spell causing a windstorm, which would screw the flight trajectories of the bolts to hell and back.

ooc: crossbows take a while to re-load, more powerful but much slower than bows.

"Crossbowman... my plan may work better than I expected." Mera! Thord! Awaken them, now, while the enemies are reloading the crossbows.

Near the back lines of the enemy, the earth trembled, and a large group of undead that had been reburied out from the town rose. Not expecting an attack from the back of their area would weaken the paladin response; even worse would be the fact that the skeletons were attacking with even just an arm out of the ground, leaving little to strike back. Zombies were bringing down horses, while the skeletons struck the riders. The undead were sure to be defeated, but they had done their job; the gates opened and a second undead force charged through at the enemy front lines.

"Grandmaster, I am forcing the enemies to cluster; once they are in packed groups, have your gaiamancers use area spells to max effect." In the meantime, necromancers on the walls began to attack; the battle was now underway.

Haeln gave the order throught his Arci, as well as giving general attack plans, all the while appearing to remaim asleep.
The W/E masters, with power from the adepts, cast two spells, one turning the gound to mud, the other causing stormclouds to form and rain to begin to pour down.
The F/A masters, with power from thier adepts, began the more deadly spells, they also cast two spells, one raising the temperature of the rain to near boiling(95 degrees celsius) the other to cause bolts of lightning to rain down on the steel coated paladins.

ooc: basically if they remain in armour, they fry from lightning, if they get out of armour they get burnt from the rain.

(bump)

Durknov the barbarian smiled as he smelt blood over the hill, he ran up with his small band of fighters behind him to see a siege in progress on a small city.

He grinned and openly laughed.

"Brothers, we have found the land to the west that is so plentiful in wars! Now we shall prove our might and begin a new tribe, here!"

The men roared and hefted their large weaponry, Durknov sent their fastest scout to the city gates to see how much the necro's would offer for them to help defeat the paladins...

OOC:
I just used what groups you are so you know what I'm talking about, they don't know that its necros and paladins fighting...

Its a band of about twenty barbarians from the north.

(bump)

OOC: Err, the paladins would kill your scout or capture him before he reached the gates, so I'll assume you are coming to the back gates. /OOC

Sir! A barbarian at the back-
"Excuse me, but there is someone here to meet me; I'm sure you can hold the fort for a moment," the necromancer told his ally, as he teleported to the back. A crescent blade was already at the barbarian's throat, placed there after teleporting in behind.

"What do you wish? If you are here to make enemies, get in line; if you want an alliance, tell me your terms now."

(bump)

(bumpity)