[NS:]Harmonia Mortus Redux
30-08-2006, 22:13
The distant hills of the former Sunlit Kingdom, now somewhat blackened, were brilliantly outlined by the rising sun, a few corpses were still present from the festivities of last night, the first night the Sunlit Kingdom had experienced for five hundred years.
The initial terror of the sun setting had been bad enough, many had gone mad at the arrival of darkness in such a fashion. Dawn of the second day had been almost as horrible. Light was no comfort to the people now, only serving to make the carnage of last night clear.
The Dead had been quite effecient in most cases, heads were cleanly sliced from shoulders, spears plunged into necks or chests. Those that fought back were in somewhat worse condition, often they were 'disarmed' prior to death.
In a very few cases gibbets had been erected, under the direction of a Prince or perhaps a minor sergeant, to hold some former resistance leader or town elder. Many of these had been burned or flayed.
The towns that Mehrunes Dagon had passed through were often burned to the ground and littered with stakes on which the entire populace and been impaled.
Possibly the worst aspect of it was the lack of carrion eaters in the Sunlit Kingdom. Being 'perfect' it had had no need of them, but now the corpses would sit for weeks, gradually rotting away with nothing to eat them.
A few villages tried to bury the dead, or burn them, but there was no way all of them could be taken care of.
In the course of a single night nearly half of the population of the Kingdom had been killed.
They were being rapidly replaced though.
Other servants than the ever-present undead were arriving through the Portal in the Great Hall, formerly of King Reginald the Just, now of Sheogorath.
Most of them were the dimunitive Goblins, who made up the bulk of the population of Oblivion. There were some humans, sorcerers and warriors pale from years or decades away from the sun, who served the Princes. A smattering of other races filled in the other roles.
A new city was gradually rising to replace the capitol of what had been the Sunlit Kingdom, whitewashed and tiled houses gave way to stark stone houses, the smoothed white streets became hard-wearing cobbles and the great Castle was altered significantly. Formerly a piece of architectual confectionary with high, thin white towers that could no more stand against a siege than a moth could stand against an oncoming truck, the walls had, through some magic, thickened, the gates became professional works full of nasty suprises and the towers became bastions with walls twenty feet thick capable of shrugging off the most powerful magics.
Few saw this, mostly because they were running in terror at the time.
Sheogorath didnt notice either, he was busy at the time.
As dawn crested the castles new walls, he looked up and stretched. He didnt have to, his present body was composed of magical energy formed into a shell of matter. It was hard to work as a giant cloud of energy. Stretching felt good though, some psychosomatic reaction no doubt.
He looked at the work he and his Goblin crew had acomplished in the night, the ship had been brought over from Oblivion where there was enough magic to acomplish its function without modification. Here, it requried a...boost.
Grinning, Sheogorath snapped his fingers, whereupon he vanished.
Instantly, he re-appeared on the top deck in a uniform that would have blinded many mortals. It appeared to have been composed of the skin of a chameleon on a powerful halucynogen in a disco, and had enough medals on it to deflect medium-sized planetary impacts.
"Mr. Kruk, start the engine!" Striking his best Admiral-ish pose, Sheogorath waited.
Nothing happened.
"'Ey, Mr. In-Charge Guy...where's da engine?" A pair of Goblin eyes stared out from the darkness of the ships hold.
Sheogorath sighed, "You dont remember? You built it last night."
Silence, then a muffled thump as of one Goblin slapping another.
"Oh ja, we know were it is now. Jus' a sec."
Several more thumps followed. A loud crash came from below decks and smoke emerged from the hold.
"We got it on now! Joo c'n go now."
Grumbling something about good help, Sheogorath gestured to the mage manning the wheel.
"Full steam up!"
With a grace that belied its medeival apperance, the ship rose. Sunlight gleamed off of brasswork.
"Align crystals five and six!" Sheogorath spoke into one of the specially cast speaking tubes that led to the engine room.
"Align crystals four and five." Came the Goblins response.
"FIVE and SIX you idiot, count your thumbs to!"
The mage turned the wheel, sending the ship into a slow turn that brought it around the castle. "Everything seems to be in working order, milord. If the Goblins dont blow us up we can run through all the trials today with no problems. The Wabbajack should be ready for field use within the week, at the furthest."
Looking over the rail, Sheogorath could not help but feel some pleasure. Flights in Oblivion were restricted to a rather low level, since as you stretched a plane out it tended to flatten as well, and many of the Princes didnt care to fly anyway. But now Sheogorath regretted that he had not done this before, the ship was several hundred feet up now, passing next to a cloud.
"Good. Mage, do you think it would be possible to get rid of the rabbits from here?"
The mage winced slightly, "I doubt it Lord. The rodents simply wont die. You saw that even Mehrunes couldnt get rid of them...we may just have to get used to them."
"Hmmm." Sheogorath sighed, "At least the Goblins wont go hungry, they seem to enjoy them."
The initial terror of the sun setting had been bad enough, many had gone mad at the arrival of darkness in such a fashion. Dawn of the second day had been almost as horrible. Light was no comfort to the people now, only serving to make the carnage of last night clear.
The Dead had been quite effecient in most cases, heads were cleanly sliced from shoulders, spears plunged into necks or chests. Those that fought back were in somewhat worse condition, often they were 'disarmed' prior to death.
In a very few cases gibbets had been erected, under the direction of a Prince or perhaps a minor sergeant, to hold some former resistance leader or town elder. Many of these had been burned or flayed.
The towns that Mehrunes Dagon had passed through were often burned to the ground and littered with stakes on which the entire populace and been impaled.
Possibly the worst aspect of it was the lack of carrion eaters in the Sunlit Kingdom. Being 'perfect' it had had no need of them, but now the corpses would sit for weeks, gradually rotting away with nothing to eat them.
A few villages tried to bury the dead, or burn them, but there was no way all of them could be taken care of.
In the course of a single night nearly half of the population of the Kingdom had been killed.
They were being rapidly replaced though.
Other servants than the ever-present undead were arriving through the Portal in the Great Hall, formerly of King Reginald the Just, now of Sheogorath.
Most of them were the dimunitive Goblins, who made up the bulk of the population of Oblivion. There were some humans, sorcerers and warriors pale from years or decades away from the sun, who served the Princes. A smattering of other races filled in the other roles.
A new city was gradually rising to replace the capitol of what had been the Sunlit Kingdom, whitewashed and tiled houses gave way to stark stone houses, the smoothed white streets became hard-wearing cobbles and the great Castle was altered significantly. Formerly a piece of architectual confectionary with high, thin white towers that could no more stand against a siege than a moth could stand against an oncoming truck, the walls had, through some magic, thickened, the gates became professional works full of nasty suprises and the towers became bastions with walls twenty feet thick capable of shrugging off the most powerful magics.
Few saw this, mostly because they were running in terror at the time.
Sheogorath didnt notice either, he was busy at the time.
As dawn crested the castles new walls, he looked up and stretched. He didnt have to, his present body was composed of magical energy formed into a shell of matter. It was hard to work as a giant cloud of energy. Stretching felt good though, some psychosomatic reaction no doubt.
He looked at the work he and his Goblin crew had acomplished in the night, the ship had been brought over from Oblivion where there was enough magic to acomplish its function without modification. Here, it requried a...boost.
Grinning, Sheogorath snapped his fingers, whereupon he vanished.
Instantly, he re-appeared on the top deck in a uniform that would have blinded many mortals. It appeared to have been composed of the skin of a chameleon on a powerful halucynogen in a disco, and had enough medals on it to deflect medium-sized planetary impacts.
"Mr. Kruk, start the engine!" Striking his best Admiral-ish pose, Sheogorath waited.
Nothing happened.
"'Ey, Mr. In-Charge Guy...where's da engine?" A pair of Goblin eyes stared out from the darkness of the ships hold.
Sheogorath sighed, "You dont remember? You built it last night."
Silence, then a muffled thump as of one Goblin slapping another.
"Oh ja, we know were it is now. Jus' a sec."
Several more thumps followed. A loud crash came from below decks and smoke emerged from the hold.
"We got it on now! Joo c'n go now."
Grumbling something about good help, Sheogorath gestured to the mage manning the wheel.
"Full steam up!"
With a grace that belied its medeival apperance, the ship rose. Sunlight gleamed off of brasswork.
"Align crystals five and six!" Sheogorath spoke into one of the specially cast speaking tubes that led to the engine room.
"Align crystals four and five." Came the Goblins response.
"FIVE and SIX you idiot, count your thumbs to!"
The mage turned the wheel, sending the ship into a slow turn that brought it around the castle. "Everything seems to be in working order, milord. If the Goblins dont blow us up we can run through all the trials today with no problems. The Wabbajack should be ready for field use within the week, at the furthest."
Looking over the rail, Sheogorath could not help but feel some pleasure. Flights in Oblivion were restricted to a rather low level, since as you stretched a plane out it tended to flatten as well, and many of the Princes didnt care to fly anyway. But now Sheogorath regretted that he had not done this before, the ship was several hundred feet up now, passing next to a cloud.
"Good. Mage, do you think it would be possible to get rid of the rabbits from here?"
The mage winced slightly, "I doubt it Lord. The rodents simply wont die. You saw that even Mehrunes couldnt get rid of them...we may just have to get used to them."
"Hmmm." Sheogorath sighed, "At least the Goblins wont go hungry, they seem to enjoy them."