(IR) The 3rd IR, Turn 3 (thread 2)

Edena, suddenly Vecna has a vision of Lord Melkor, who seems really angry:
You fool! It seems I made a mistake giving you control over my forces on Oerth! For it seems your insanity rules upon you! First you speak on being wise, waiting for the right time, and suddenly you get angry and declare the war against half the world WITHOUT CONSULTING ME!

Lord Melkor

Did Vecna not accept the offer that I rejected? The offer to become a God under your patronage. As Vecna's divine lord and master you should be able to control him. He knelt before you, he gave you his soul, he is your bitch now.

The God Emperor of the Dark Union of Oerth and the Great Empire of Aerdi

Then Lord Melkor extends his will, and it reaches to his most powerful servants, ones that trully belong to him.

-SHADOWLORDS! HEAR YOUR MASTER! DESTROY KAS AND IUZ! DO IT NOW! DON`T LISTEN TO VECNA`S ORDERS CONTRADICTING THIS!

-Somewhere on the battlefield, Azorgax, self proclaimed King of Shadow Dragons, commands his brethren against Dragons of Torillians. But then he hears the voice, leaves battle in hands of his lieutenant, Glaurung, and goes with few of his servants to find and kill Kas.

- Baelros, Demon Lord of Shadow, commands his forces against Pomajr. Covered in Darkness and Flame, armed in Black Axe and Flaming Whip, he kills Orc after Orc, and they escape in fear. But suddenly he teleports, to fight against Iuz.

- Liches of great power, Rhamagaum and Waganard, lead Shade wizards against mages of elves and Kevellond, throwing spellls of death. But they hear voice of Shadowking, and teleport, one towards Iuz, one against Kas.

-Sauros, greatest among Sahde Ililthidi, master of psionics and art of quick death, seeks Anabstecorian, to prove that HE is the greatest of his kind of Oerth. But he cannot disobey his God, and, with his elite assasins/psions, comes against Kas.

-Rivalen Tanthul, Archpriest of The Shade, leads clerics of Melkor against Archcleric of Veluna and his fellow clerics of the light. They channel pure Negative and Positive Energy against eachother, waves of light against purest darkness. But he has to abandom it, and goes to find Iuz.

-Finally Shadowlady Ahlissa suddenly teleports from Vecna, to stand against Iuz.

The forces of Vecna and the Shade continue to press the attack.

The united front against Vecna cracks, then sunders, breaking apart.

William, Black Omega, and John Brown are forced back with heavy losses from Dyyvers, which falls again.
They are forced back into southern Furyondy by the screaming Legions of Vecna.

In the center of the line, Dagger and Uvenelei are unable to hold the Welkwood.
The elves and their allies fall back in bitter retreat to the frontier of Celene, and the elven fortresses there.
Other parts of Dagger and Uvenelei's armies fall back to the heights of the Kron Hills, or the safety of heavily fortified Verbobonc.

In the south, Turrosh Mak and GnomeWorks lose their front lines.
All the trenches are overrun, the tanks and artillery pieces shattered and destroyed on the battlefield.
They are forced back, harried by the relentless forces of Vecna, falling back, thousands falling in the grim retreat.
Turrosh Mak's great line of frontier fortresses in the Pomarj prove useful now, as the offense of Vecna and the Shade is finally halted there.

A greater part of Forrester's reinforcing army from Toril has been destroyed.
The remainder is divided up amongst the defenders wherever they are.

And still Vecna is coming through, driving through the defensive lines of the elves, storming into the fertile fields of northern Celene, advancing on Enkstad, the capital city.

- - -

And no, Melkor has no control over Vecna.
NOBODY has control over Vecna, unfortunately - including Vecna. Especially not Vecna.

However, since you are back, Lord Melkor (Talos) ... you are now once more in control of the Shade.
What do they do?

I am assuming a three way battle has broken out between Iuz, Forrester's kender, and the Black Brotherhood for control of the Doomgrinder.
The control room is filled with fighters and the din of fighting, and nobody is at the controls themselves.

The colossal juggernaut starts walking off in a random direction, speeding up gradually as it goes, gears working faster and faster.

As fate would have it, it is now clumping eastward, towards the Dark Union.


Didn't Iuz have a staff? I seem to remember that he did.
He doesn't have it anymore.
A kender brushed Iuz. And that was sufficient.
Now, I don't know what the staff of Iuz does, but we are all about to find out, because the curious kender set it off.

Edena, suddenly tone of Melkor`s voice changes , now it sounds like a father speaking to his child, which might irritiate Vecna.

-You see, Iuz must die, he is most powerful of our enemies, and his armies will perish when their God falls.

-And as long as Kas is alive, God-Emperor will never support us.

Edena see my post beyond last two of yours, it seems you missed it.

On a lighter note

Edena_of_Neith said:

As fate would have it, it is now clumping eastward, towards the Dark Union.

Click to expand...

"Strange, oh divine highness, the doomgrinder is approaching our border. No other forces in the battle seems to head that way, if this is a part of some strategy it's beyond my comprehension. This is not what we would expect from Iuz."
"No, Goon, it is not. Most peculiar. Perhaps it's some sort of Iuzian Horse."
"An Iuzian Horse, my sublime benevolence ruling the stars in glory?"
"Well, not a horse exactly. It's an ancient Flannae fable. The warriors of Myconan besieged the proud city of Toy. After many years of battle they were forced to abandon the siege and left a large wooden horse as a gift to the Toyans. Well, the horse was hollow and full of soldiers and when it was taken inside the walls the soldiers came out and opened the gates. Then the myconian army could rush into the city and murder all its inhabitants. Maybe Iuz heard the story as well and decided that since he did not have a horse he would use a windmill."
"A most unusual idea, my heavenly master of all the planes and all time and existence."
"Yes, most unusual. And potentially quite dangerous. But the Doomgrinder is quite a powerful artifact. This is a wonderful opportunity for us. If the thing enters the Union territories we shall consider it a gift from Iuz. We shall insist on it. He has no right to bring it into the Dark Union of Oerth if it is not a gift. Prepare a force to take control over it if it crosses the border, order them to fight to subdue. We would not want to hurt the giver of such a generous gift."
"As you command so shall it be, oh (superlatives and compliments), and the very overgods must obey."

The God Emperor then resumes his drunken bender, er glorious celebration.

Brothers in Arms

Iuz stops fighting the kender and joins in with them against the Black Brotherhood. The Black Brotherhood should be overwhelmed and control established over the Doomgrinder. Iuz restrains himself with a great effort and appoints a lieutenant to work with the kender. The man looks like he has been sentenced to a death-by-torture sentence in Dorakaa, but accepts his assignment. Iuz teleports out with several unconscious Black Brotherhood agents bound, chained and gagged in tow behind him. He mutters as he leaves “I have some plans for these individuals.”

Two dwarven spelljammers arrive. With cables, spells to help secure the Doomgrinder and a lot of effort, they will pick up the juggernaut and set it to attack the rear of the Shade-Vecna armies. The dwarven spelljammers can move at 200 mph. The derro, dwarves, and kender will help. (The kender are asked to inspect the food supplies of the Doomgrinder to make sure everyone has enough for supper.)

If the hunt for the Black Brotherhood is greatly interferring with defense, it is stepped down. Fresh troops from the Baklunish-Esmerin confederation and the Alliance of the Northwestern Crescent are brought in by Dagger's spelljammers. Also, half the defense value of Erypt and Suhfang are brought in. The forces of Varnaith in the Flanaess aid Celene. Some of the forces of the Celestial Empire are also moved to help the front against Vecna.

Also, spelljammers and if Kaboom allows, flying fortresses and citadels, transport some of Zelda's and Turrosh Mak's troops form the Dark Swamp to attack the rear of the Shade army.

Word is sent to the Silent Ones of Keoland, an elite magical order of seers and spellcasters asking for any knowledge or assistance that they can give to help defeat Vecna and his allies.

Archcleric Hazen turns to Lord William Ronald of Keoland, Dyvers Mayor Larissa Hunter, and the recently knighted Sammel Hain who know appears as a 30 year old man instead of a 90 year old man.

"Lord Ronald, the Kevellond League has met. You are in charge until my return. If I do not return, arrangements for succession of the League Presidency has been made. Other arrangements have previously been made for the Oerth Alliance presidency."

"I can not stand idle while brave men and women are dying."

A message is sent forth to all those powers not currently allied with Vecna, including the Underdark Alliance (led by Kalanyr, Festy Dog, and the Forsaken One) and the Dark Union (led by Serpenteye and Mr. Draco.

"We fight against Vecna and his followers now. Although we have even warred with some of you in the past, we ask that you consider sending some assistance to oppose Vecna. If we fall, you will have him as a neighbor. He is not known for reasonableness or sanity. Whatever decision you make, we shall respect it. In this hour, we wish all but Vecna and his allies well."

"It is done," Archcleric Hazen says. "We shall have to do what we can. Every man and woman who can even lift a pitchfork or throw a rock or a bottle of holy water has been pressed into service. Lord Ronald, on behalf of Mayor Hunter and Sir Hain, we hope to see you again in this world. If not, we will meet again in that place where no shadows fall."

Hazen, Hunter, and Hain teleport away.

Lord Ronald looks at a desk full of papers and says "I hope to see all of you again."

Up yours, Sauros

Anabstercorian continues his barrage on the ground beneath him, the bolts of unstable ectoplasm leaving a trail of screaming death whereever they strike. He assaults both sides indiscriminately, careful to avoid attracting the attention of Vecna.

But what now falls about his vision? What mind does he now sense there upon the ground?

That, that is Sauros, the Defier, the fool who dared insult Ilsensine by turning to the mockery that is Melkor.

Searing with the unholy dominating will of Ilsensine, still glowing with black light from his dark blessing, he careens towards the ground, landing in front of Sauros like a meteor, sending the illithid flying backwards to land delicately in a combat stance, the fruit of years of martial training. Sauros' elite guard raise weapons and prepare to fire before Sauros holds up a hand. He intends for this to be a one on one. He is condident of his power and his god, and he tenses his tentacles defiantly.

They gaze at each other, the Shadow and the Will. No words are necessary, only thoughts, vageu concepts of anger and statements of intent.

Then they scream at each other, a psionic blast that echoes across the battlefield, and Sauros buckles beneath the psionic dominance that is Anabstercorian, his brains quivering under the effects as Anabstercorian slams him with his ustoppably powerful Mind Blast over, and over, and over, zapping him with a dimensional anchor to keep him from escaping in to the myriad planes. The fight is short and bloody, ending with Anabstercorian grinding Sauros' face in to the dirt with the heel of his boot, as his brains ooze out his ears and eyes.

<< I think we can safely say that Anabstercorian, with his 80 level advantage over Sauros, in addition to his superior magical arsenal, will win this fight decisively. However, if Edena says otherwise - Which I doubt - Consider this whole pose null and void. >>

Anabstercorian looks at the massive hole in the combat lines caused by his Mind Blasts, the dead and the dying screaming in nightmare and madness and agony all around him. The elite guard quiver around him, their brains oozing out their ears. The fight was difficult - He may have had to burn a Wish and several Heals. Nonetheless, he is victorious. Mercilessly he finishes them off before retreating to the slime pools of the Godspires.

<< Edena, I spend a day back at the Godspires resting up and getting serious pampering - Massages, the finest in brains, a heated slime pool, the works. I'll also prep a few more Miracles to boost that Thrall.
I'll need three Miracles, one for each Thrall - I intend to hit Vecna with a psionic Thrall power, a divine Monstrous Thrall spell, and an arcane Dominate Monster spell simultaneously using a special magical item I'll create with Wish spells. This item is a single use creation that is blessed by Ilsensine himself (thus the Miracles) so that it will affect even creatures such as Vecna. Each of my top Solistarim mages will burn a full level of XP in making this little S.O.B. I don't intend for him to have a snowflakes chance in Malebolge at resisting the effect of...

The DICTUM.

Insert dramatic music here. >>