(IR) The 3rd IR, Turn 4 (thread 1)

[Edena_of_Neith]

To Rhialto

To Rhialto:

The Time of Reckoning has come for the Black Brotherhood.

With practically every Power on the planet devoting serious efforts to hunt down and destroy the Black Brotherhood, this being (justifiably) just about their top priority, the Black Brotherhood is going to suffer serious reverses this turn.

Expect severe losses.

A lot of Black Brotherhood agents are likely to be captured by Forrester and Kalanyr, whose 10th level magic makes capture of living agents possible (and extraction of vital information from them possible too.)

The time of your secrecy has passed.
You will now be forced to fight.

Since the Black Brotherhood is deliberately trying to destroy Oerth, as quickly as possible, aiding the twin illnesses, and since they have publicly stated that this is their goal, what do you think all the other Powers intend to do?

As for the Sending of Tharizdun ... Tharizdun can communicate with people, and he can even injure people in the way you describe, for he is a DEMIPOWER in this IR.
That means, Tharizdun can be attacked and killed, in this IR.

If Tharizdun was a Lesser God or greater, he could not be killed.
But then, he could send messages only, and not harm anyone, for the Gods are not involving themselves in the IR in any way other than verbally.
And then, only if a Player does it. Your Moderator has kept the Gods strictly uninvolved on his own part.

 

[Alyx]

The wind whips around a silent figure, sending his crimson cloak waving. He is kneeling, waiting, watching. His green eyes steadily flicker as he turns his head slowly from the southwest to the east.

From the southwest a red hand stretches over the world. A foul enveloping taint emanates from that place with cruel intensity. All Oerth seems to tremble from that taint. The sun is struck in the very sky. The ground moans in pain. Red ooze creeps forth from dark pools of bloodlike liquid. The red elf favors that crimson colour, but this approach is defilement twice over to him. Red means danger and death, is that not enough? Why now taint, as well?

Then from the east approaches a different taint. Here the light is met by an opposing cloud of floating darkness. Light is overborne by an evil blackness, a much more tangible taint that is nonetheless subtle enough to accomplish what it desires. And oh yes, the shadow is indeed alive. The red elf is not fooled. This shadow is not satisfied by peace. It would not survive in a land without war. It only wishes to kill, to torture, to attack.

"How can this end?" He whispers softly, a silent proclamation of doom. When one is surrounded by shadow and taint, by failed dreams, by fallen comrades and evil tidings, hope seems lost; or at least far away. What can one do to fight the invincible darkness, the inexorable defilement, when all the earth itself seems to fight with them against you?

Then the red elf stands, his left hand flourishing with a habitual twist that he takes comfort in. A blade springs into his crimson glove out of nothing, a blade tinged in a soft glow of ruby and scarlet. He stands tall once again. His mind forces unwelcome thoughts into an unconscious box. He speaks strongly into the open, still clear air about him. “If we do not win, we can at least stop the tide from flowing, if only for a time. Such is our fate before, and such is our fate now, and my hope is that our future fate will also remain thus.”

With those words, he turns to the west.

When one’s fingers are to be used to plug a broken dike, it is best to bring an army to aid you in the effort. And to the west was that army.

The nations of Celestial and Nippon led the center, endless rows of dedicated swordsmen and peerless lancers on horse after horse. These horses were chargers, trained to flinch never in the face of combat and against the mightiest of spells. With this physical force came another one of monks, clerics and wizards, dedicated forces that trained daily against one another in mock duels.

On the left wing was another force, a legion of elves from Varnaith, borne over the seas in defense of another nation. Every man and woman in that army fought as a unit. The hierarchy of command was clear and yet flexible if needed. This army knew order and embraced it even amid the heat and flurry of battle.
On the right wing came another force, the mariner elves of the Lendores. They had seen much action in this war, be it on the water against their natural enemies or in the black swamp in a desperate flurry of slashing cutlasses and knives. They were veterans now, they had learnt how to fight on land the hard way. Each soldier was a warrior trained to attack fiercely and to finish any opposition.

But it was in the vanguard that the heart of the army came.

The forces of Celene marched solemnly through the remains of their nation, grim fighters in battered armour that nonetheless still held. They marched with very little sound. Something inside them had been destroyed – each had lost a home, a family, and friends – and that had scraped away their soft exterior, leaving only a rock inside. As the sword is forged on fire, the hearts of the olves had been forged for battle. They did not want blood, did not care for hate, and did not yearn for revenge. What they wanted was to fight, to die if they could, and in doing so strike a blow to shake the world.

The red elf stood now on the crest of a silent hill, looking at this force. He had forged these separate and disparate peoples together, long ago. Now it had led to this, a force that would have outnumbered and outfought any other in the days of the Greyhawk wars. Now, after recent events, it was not so imposing a force. But it was, perhaps, enough.

“If one is doomed to die and fade into the night, perhaps it is best to do so with a song.”

With these words, the red elf turned to solidly face the east. The shades would not remain content with what they had. And when evil moved to strike, the forces of the sun would burn away whatever darkness attacked it. Or die trying.

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There is my repost. I'll wait and see what happens next before beginning my next actions on this field o' battle.

 

[Kalanyr]

Edena- I already said I was stopping the Shade Poison and the Blood Waste advancing.

And finding away to make my undead immune to Acerak's Apotheosis, see above for my ideas.

 

[dagger]

Olinstaad Corond in a war council with his advisors and representatives from many peoples and powers. They are crowded around a war map, busy talking and discussing plans.

“The stinkin’ Shade don’t know when to quit, we have sent them back to there holes twice and still they choose the path of aggression. “ says Olinstadd

“Aye, we own em’ a lump or two!” shouts Norin a dwarf hero who recently joined the Kingdom of Ulek, as he slams his mailed fist into the table, “and by Moradin, we will give it to em!”

At this point an elf comes in armed with an assault rifle. He wears an insignia of the Kingdom of Ulek and a patch for the Duchy of Ulek underneath it. “Well the people of the Lortmils finished putting the bomb bays on the Spelljamming mountains.” Speaks the elf in a low voice, he smiles “and some holy water bays too.”

“Good, make sure they are full loaded, also the anti aircraft weapons. They won’t be thirsty after this battle.” jokes Olinstaad. “Ye get those trolls we grew to work on those telephony things?”

“Oh yes, they are working on it as we speak” says the elf

“What about us?” asks an astral deva standing next to a gnome and halfling from the former Welkwood.

“Ye find that damn axe I told you about, I might need it when I go into battle. Don’t worry about the Welkwood, will get it fixed right up soon enough.”
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Edena:

I am going to use my Spell Jammers to provide air cover for Kaboom’s sky ships as they transport the below forces (and any other forces). The forces are being transported to the Cairn Hills; they are not traveling over the Bloody Waste.

Kaboom: 20PL
Isle of Hope: 50PL
To the following powers we are also offering to transport via Kaboom’s sky ships if the want or need it to the Hills to battle the Shade. Also my Spell Jammers can carry 20 PL, so we should have plenty of PL transport:

William
Creamsteak
Zelda
Iuz
Serpenteye
Alyx
Gnomeworks
Uvenelei
Darkness
Black Omega

If you are not listed but had planned on catching a ride, please don’t hesitate to speak up; my dwarven scribes are a little slow.

Also I have the following rapid action force below made up in case they are attacked to provide additional cover if needed.

16 PL (my Npc’s)


After all armies have been delivered to the battle against the Shades (it might be awhile , I know). My Rapid Strike Force and Dwarven Spell Jammers will hang back and wait for the battle against the Shade to begin. Using the spell jammers speed, altitude advantage and the magic of my Npc’s, we are going to try a surprise flank attack and drop in on the Shade from behind. After the battle is raging, they will start using there their bomb bays, holy water bomb bays, on board artillery, rocket launchers, and other goodies. We will try to create a hole so the invasion force can really start to advance. If Olinstaad has that axe I talked to you about I would like him to use it too full effect.

If it looks like a flank attack will not happen then the Rapid Strike Force and spell jammers join the battle normally from the NORTH.

 

[The Forsaken One]

Kal.

U kicked the experimental spelljammer of the mountain right and all other red goo wast? THought I read you did, jsut want to make sure we stay damn damn damn far away from this goo until we precisely know what it does.

Edena, Festys PC's and NPC's + Mine and Valkys PC's and NPC's will PERSONALLY track down the forces from the BB adn obliterate them after pulling out every nerve center of information they poses. Kalanyr finds them, we clean them up or retrieve them. This is starting to get personal, for we intend to be victorious in this world, and in that case it might come in handy if there was a world

And if there will be a massive battle against the shades again, Vaeregoth will stand at the very front besides those that mayB will earn my respect. I shall stand by lord Kalanyrs Forces, if they are not there I shall stand by the side of the Coalition of light and Darkness.

 

[Kalanyr]

Count in a big flying mountain on your attack on the Shade and as per the rules for catastrophes the Shade can have my gift of a giant ball of Holy Fire (unless Catastophes do 100+ Damage in which case the City of Gods can have it instead or can I teleport the armies of the city of the gods into the Shadow Throne? If I can I will).

To Battle!

How goes my efforts to avoid Acerak dominating my undead and to Halt the poisons of the Blood Waste and Shade?
!
Forsaken: Correct, the Spelljammer is elsewhere. Where is for me to know.

 

[The Forsaken One]

To battle!

I shall stand beside you my lord! Together under your lead we shall be victorious!

And let's test how sweeeeeeeeeeet our mythal is going to be and how happy the shades are going to be with iT^^

 

[Edena_of_Neith]

And all of you discover a new, minor little problem.

The Blood Waste blocks all travel across it, or over it - even by the Sky Ships and Flying Citadels of Kaboom's Sky-Sea League.

The Blood Waste stretches unbroken from the waters of the Nyr Dyv to the waters of Wolly Bay, blocking all ground troops from the west from attacking Shadow Throne.
Aerial forces must go around it.

However, that is not the end of it.

The waters of the Nyr Dyv cannot be crossed by boat. They are too gummed with poison for a boat to make it's way through.
The air over the Nyr Dyv is so poisoned half the mariners would be dead even if they made it across quickly somehow.
Thus, a ground attack from the northwest, north, or northeast against Shadow Throne is impossible.

The same situation is true in Wolly Bay, to the south of Shadow Throne.

If you travel by Sky Ship or Flying Citadel, you can travel high enough that the vapors from the now deadly waters will only make your forces mildly sick, should you pass over these two bodies of water.

The only clear ways into Shadow Throne, for ground troops, is from the east or southeast.

If you attack Shadow Throne from the air, with Sky Ships filled with troops, it will be a massacre.
Yes, Sky Ships have defenses and weapons, but when a Sky Ship or Flying Citadel goes down, everyone on board (ESPECIALLY the armies being ferried) goes with it.

TRUST me when I say the Shade are expecting such a stunt to be pulled against them, for it is the most obvious way in which they could be attacked.
They have some mighty big guns aimed up at the sky.
They intend to hold one of Oerth's biggest Turkey-Shoots. Your ships will make great target practice, and sharpen the reflexes and skills of the Shade gunners.
In other words, you may get into Shadow Throne that way, but expect a massacre of your troops.

- - -

In other words, you cannot attack Shadow Throne by ground troops from the south, southwest, west, northwest, north, or northeast.
It can only be approached on the ground from the east and southeast.

It can be attacked by air from any direction but the west, but you will pay dearly for the privilege.

That leaves you two other options.

Attack, on the ground, from the east, or from the southeast.

But an assault from the southeast is out of the question.
To do it, you would have to land your forces in the Bright Desert ... any further north, and your ships would be lost in the poisoned waters of Wolly Bay.
The Bright Desert has been poisoned by the Shade.
Your army will have to march through that poison for over 200 miles to reach Shadow Throne.
Half of them will be deathly ill by the time they get there, and a lot of them will be dying.

That leaves one final, feasible option.

You could attack Shadow Throne with ground forces, from the east.
They could land in the County of Urnst, then drive westward through the Cairn Hills into Shadow Throne.
The poisoning is still sufficiently light that your troops could make it in without much in the way of harmful effects.

There is one catch with this final option, however.

The County of Urnst is the property of the Dark Union.
The Dark Union, is the ally of the Shade.

I leave you, to figure out an answer to this unanswerable problem.

In the meantime, the Shade, knowing your predicament, are laughing and laughing and laughing ...

 

[Edena_of_Neith]

Kalanyr, you are able to halt the spread of the Twin Illnesses.
With your 10th level magic, this is accomplished.

Again, you cannot reverse the Twin Illnesses, or regain any land lost to them.
You are able to prevent the deadly poison of the Red Goo and the Shade from spreading any farther.

Kalanyr, there is nothing you can do to stop Acererak from taking over your Undead if he achieves Apotheosis.
Better hope you manage to kill him before he succeeds in achieving said Apotheosis.

 

[Mr. Draco]

edena, could you check your email? i'd like to put one of our (Dark Union's) plans into action now, but i need something from you (outlined in the email)...