Sagiro's Story Hour Returns (new thread started on 5/18/08)
- Thread starter Sagiro
- Start date
KidCthulhu
First Post
Nah. You see. That's the really EVIL thing about Sagiro. Even when we're ready for it, he still finds new ways to make us suffer. He's a mad genius, really.
KidCthulhu
First Post
Well, to while away the time, I can give you a little sample of Ernie's little poem about the Battle of Verdshane. (with many thanks to the late Dr. Seuss)
Emperor at the Door
By Dr. Ernie
Do you like the Emperor?
We do not like the Emperor.
We do not like that Naradoc.
We would not like him on our block.
We do not like the Emperor.
We do not want him at our door.
Would you like him in Verdshane?
Would you like him in the rain?
We do not want him in Verdshane,
not even in the pouring rain.
We do not like that Naradoc.
We would not like him on our block.
How about in Circle Black?
Come stab ‘ole Grey Wolf in the back!
Not Circle Black.
Not in the back.
Not in Vershane.
Not in the rain.
We do not like that Naradoc.
We would not like him on our block.
[to be continued...]
Emperor at the Door
By Dr. Ernie
Do you like the Emperor?
We do not like the Emperor.
We do not like that Naradoc.
We would not like him on our block.
We do not like the Emperor.
We do not want him at our door.
Would you like him in Verdshane?
Would you like him in the rain?
We do not want him in Verdshane,
not even in the pouring rain.
We do not like that Naradoc.
We would not like him on our block.
How about in Circle Black?
Come stab ‘ole Grey Wolf in the back!
Not Circle Black.
Not in the back.
Not in Vershane.
Not in the rain.
We do not like that Naradoc.
We would not like him on our block.
[to be continued...]
Sagiro
Rodent of Uncertain Parentage
Sagiro’s Story Hour, Part 162
Oasis. Once the home of the now-defunct Order of Preservation. Later home to a group of Sharshun styling themselves the Oasis Mages Guild, though for centuries it has been illegal to organize any mages' guild within city limits. And in its Ava Dormo reflection, there is a tower without doors or windows, with which the Dreamwalkers were warned not to meddle.
It seems someone is meddling with it now.
Less than a minute later, all of Company are flying at top speed through a light drizzle toward their assigned corner of the Mud Zone. Corporal Edridge has been included in a Rary’s Telepathic Bond from Morningstar, along with Dranko and Pewter.
As they skim over the trees the sounds of battle ring out from below. Here and there through the canopy they catch glimpses of soldiers, some on the move, others engaged in small skirmishes. As feared, at least some of the invaders have appeared in the forest outside the Mud Zone.
The area by the Secure Shelter is still clear, and Aravis spots the roof through a gap in the trees. He flies down with Attrius and Portia. Morningstar and Skorg follow. While the rest keep flying, those five enter the Shelter and lock the door behind them. Aravis sits on one of the bunks and immediately drops into the Crosser’s Maze, while Morningstar sits opposite and wills herself into Ava Dormo.
Skorg has been loaded down with freshly-brewed healing potions, ready to administer them if Morningstar’s body becomes injured.
Attrius and Portia look at Skorg.
Skorg looks at the two bodyguards.
All three look down at their charges, whose minds have departed for parts unknown.
“You get used to it,” Skorg shrugs.
* *
The Company flies on over the trees, looking for signs of trouble in their part of the woods. As they near the edge of the Mud Zone they see that things there are going well, everything considered. Hundreds upon hundreds of enemy troops have arrived in or near the center of the Mud Zone, and are slogging through the mud as well as they can toward the perimeter. As the enemy gets within range, hundreds of Charagan archers are launching withering volleys of arrow fire into the soup. It is hard to count the dead from their vantage point, since the Mud Zone itself is over half a mile on a side, but it’s clear that there’s not much they need to do to help that situation at the moment. Still, some of the invaders who arrived closer to the perimeter have reached the tree-wall and are starting to fight their way into the forest. And from all through the trees comes the clamor of battle, joined where the enemy has arrived outside the Zone.
From somewhere far to the north comes the sound of many wolves howling in unison.
There is another bright flash of orange light, another tumult of thunder, and more enemy troops appear in the Mud Zone and elsewhere.
As they swoop out over the trees in their quadrant, a few of the Company spot an especially thick knot of fighting in a partial clearing. Kingdom soldiers are shouting and running through the woods, converging on the battle. The Company flies down and sees a grim sight. About fifteen ogre-sized humanoids with gray skin and sharp claws are tearing through groups of disorganized Kingdom soldiery.
The Company descends and attacks. Grey Wolf begins by casting mount, a spell which only last night Step had learned existed.
(Step: “You mean I could have had a magical horse in every battle we’ve fought? And you never told me?)
(Grey Wolf: “Er…”)
And then the Company tears into them. The ogrish creatures are more powerful by far than the rank-and-file Charagan footman, but they have no obvious recourse against (for instance) flying spell-casters. Ernie spots a large group of the monsters in one general location without friendly units nearby, and (fingers crossed) reads blade barrier from a scroll. (He still remembers what happened the last time he tried to use an scroll to cast divine magic beyond his means (when a heal spell fizzled at a bad time during the fight with Mokad). But he gets through the words, and a disk of knee-high spinning blades starts slicing the ogre-beings to ribbons.
Adding insult to injury in fine fashion, Kibi follows up by casting confusion on most of the enemy within the blade barrier. Several of them stand around stupidly, not understanding that their lack of action is a ticket to swift bladed death.
Still, not all of them are caught in this trap, and if nothing else they are extraordinarily tough. Many continue to fight, and more kingdom forces fall to their claws. Then Step comes galloping in through the trees, executes a devastating ride-by attack that all but cuts one of the ogroids in half, and veers safely away before turning for another pass. Several members of the Company who have never seen Step attack on horseback are agog.
“Mental note to self,” mutters Grey Wolf. Always have a magical horse for that man.”
Although a few of the Company take wounds at the hands of the foul monsters, the airborne fighters and spell-casters combined with Step’s ferocious mounted assault make relatively quick work of the enemies who survived the blade barrier – confusion combination.
Even as the last foe falls, Dranko’s expression is pensive. It’s not because the battle still rages all around Verdshane, or at the sight of the allied soldiers who fell at the hands of these beasts. It has more to do with the ongoing connection he has with Morningstar over the Rary’s Telepathic Bond.
* *
Morningstar, seated comfortably, falls asleep at once. She casts her mind into Ava Dormo, intending to appear about fifty yards distant from the lonely tower near Oasis. Being a highly skilled Dreamwalker she appears right where she expects. What she sees – well, that is less expected.
Over a hundred feet away is a tower of gray rock, tall and slender and impervious. And forming the third point of an equilateral triangle with Morningstar and the tower is the enemy.
The enemy in this case is a large square formation of over a hundred black-armored soldiers, their spears bristling through a set wall of tower shields. The entire area of space around them is lit up as if by powerful floodlights, though there are no light sources to be seen. Over the top of the shields, Morningstar can see that a strange device like a large ballista made of dark green metal squats in the center of the square. Even as she begins to fly upward to get a better view, a blast of bright greenish light blasts from a cannon-like barrel on the ballista-device. It streaks toward the stone tower but misses high by about fifteen feet.
A hundred feet on the other side of the tower, Ellish soldiers are appearing by ones and twos; already there are several dozen, squinting into the bright light, but undeterred. Some are hastily conferring while others form a shield wall of their own. Morningstar soon sees why. A hail of arrows comes arcing from inside the enemy formation, slamming down around the Ellish Dreamwalkers.
As Morningstar flies higher, she sees that there are dozens of archers inside the square, forming an even tighter cordon around the ballista. And standing next to the blasting machine is a tall figure in blood-red plate. Morningstar doesn’t need to see the helmeted face to recognize her old adversary: Octesian, who years ago was squeezed through the planar boundary along with Meledien and the late Restimar. She swears vehemently. Back when they first met, Octesian had already learned to deal damage in Ava Dormo that caused wounds in the waking world. So while she and her Ellish forces can only knock people out of the Dreaming by overcoming them in combat, Octesian can actually kill.
“This should give them something to think about,” Morningstar says to herself.
She casts blade barrier at knee height, centered on the metal ballista.
There is understandable chaos within the ranks of the enemies, as the black-armored soldiers scramble to escape the circle of whirling blades. Some of the archers are sliced apart, and some of those who are able to move quickly out of the spell area are badly wounded. But many escape unscathed, including Octesian. They form up in a new perimeter, just beyond the edge of the blades, and resume guarding the ballista. They show no sign of moving to attack the amassing Ellish forces.
The magical device fires again, and this time the bolt of green light smashes into the tower with a sound like thunder. A sickly glow plays around the stones for a moment before it fades.
Morningstar moves with the speed of thought to join her assembling sisters, who now number well over a hundred. As she does, she thinks to Dranko over the telepathic bond: “Did anything just happen out there in the battle?”
“Yeah,” Dranko answers. “There was just another big blast of thunder with some flashing lights, and a new boatload of enemy soldiers appeared.”
Morningstar moves to join Amber, June, Swan, Previa and others who are arguing about the best course of action. Quickly she sets them straight.
“Every time that cannon strikes the tower, more of Naradawk’s soldiers arrive in Verdshane. We have to press the attack, and find a way to destroy that ballista. Beware of Octesian, the one in the red armor. His sword blows can kill your waking body.”
Their battle plan is made quickly. Most of the Ellish sisters move forward in formation, spreading out to engage the enemy, hoping to press them back into the blade barrier. Evenstar and her older priestesses form up from a distance, and through sheer concentration begin to remove enemy shields and weapons from Ava Dormo. The reconstituted enemy shield wall starts to flicker strangely as some of the shields vanish. But Octesian’s soldiers are also proficient Dreamers, and the shields blink back into existence as quickly as they are removed. It’s a strange sight: enemy weapons and shields flashing on and off as if in strobe.
Morningstar focuses her mental energies on the ballista itself; she knows that she can affect objects in Ava Dormo, creating, destroying, reshaping. But the device withstands her best attempts at a direct mental assault. It fires again, and another shaft of green energy slams into the tower.
“There goes another one, huh?” Dranko’s voice sounds in her head. Morningstar curses again.
She changes tactics. Instead of concentrating on the ballista itself, she focuses her thought on the ground beneath it. The earth starts to ripple and fold. The device sinks a bit and then tilts, canted to one side. It fires again, and its energy bolt misses by a good hundred feet. Quickly she lands near some of her soldiers and spreads the word, instructing some to concentrate on warping the ground underneath the enemy weapon, and others to continue pressing the attack. Then she moves forward to join the melee. Behind the sounds of battle is the incessant clanking of magical blades whooshing through the air and clanking harmlessly off the metal ballista.
Octesian has easily fought his way through a knot of Ellish soldiers; Morningstar takes a deep breath and flies down to attack. They exchange blows, and Morningstar gets the worst of it, slashed by Octesian’s glowing black longsword. She falls back to be healed by one of her sisters.
Back in the Secure Shelter, Skorg sees wounds open up on Morningstar’s body, and quickly feeds her a healing potion.
To the north, the Company has just finished off the humanoid soldiers. Kibi flies above the trees again to check in on the Mud Zone. Even from a great distance he sees a strange new thing: a large block-shaped object like a huge siege engine, set upon huge stone cylinders like a great steamroller. Stone arms protrude from its sides. Whatever it is looks extremely dangerous – or at least it would be, were it not sunk several feet into the mud. Kibi flies a bit closer, until he can see that dozens of enemy soldiers are enduring arrow fire as they attempt to move the siege engine.
He is happy to see that it’s not budging.
Soon after a runner comes sprinting through the trees. After taking a few seconds to catch his breath, he gives his report to the Company. “There are two strange wolf-pack creatures, one to the north-east, and one to the south. Fortune’s Children are in the area near the northern one, but they are already in bad shape. A red-armored warrior has been spotted to the northwest of the Mud Zone, near to where Matthias and his troops are. Hundreds of foot soldiers have appeared in isolated pockets outside the Mud Zone altogether. Inside the Mud Zone we still command the field. Have you received and understood this report?”
The Company is left to ponder what to do next. Some want to go help Fortune’s Children, and others itch to confront the red-armored enemy (whom they assume must be the hated Meledien). But Dranko turns to the others. “I think Morningstar’s going to need help. Her troops are fighting Octesian, and its him that’s causing troops to appear. I’ll explain as we fly. Quick… back the Shelter!” That ends the debate. The rest of the Company begins to fly.
…to be continued…
Oasis. Once the home of the now-defunct Order of Preservation. Later home to a group of Sharshun styling themselves the Oasis Mages Guild, though for centuries it has been illegal to organize any mages' guild within city limits. And in its Ava Dormo reflection, there is a tower without doors or windows, with which the Dreamwalkers were warned not to meddle.
It seems someone is meddling with it now.
Less than a minute later, all of Company are flying at top speed through a light drizzle toward their assigned corner of the Mud Zone. Corporal Edridge has been included in a Rary’s Telepathic Bond from Morningstar, along with Dranko and Pewter.
As they skim over the trees the sounds of battle ring out from below. Here and there through the canopy they catch glimpses of soldiers, some on the move, others engaged in small skirmishes. As feared, at least some of the invaders have appeared in the forest outside the Mud Zone.
The area by the Secure Shelter is still clear, and Aravis spots the roof through a gap in the trees. He flies down with Attrius and Portia. Morningstar and Skorg follow. While the rest keep flying, those five enter the Shelter and lock the door behind them. Aravis sits on one of the bunks and immediately drops into the Crosser’s Maze, while Morningstar sits opposite and wills herself into Ava Dormo.
Skorg has been loaded down with freshly-brewed healing potions, ready to administer them if Morningstar’s body becomes injured.
Attrius and Portia look at Skorg.
Skorg looks at the two bodyguards.
All three look down at their charges, whose minds have departed for parts unknown.
“You get used to it,” Skorg shrugs.
* *
The Company flies on over the trees, looking for signs of trouble in their part of the woods. As they near the edge of the Mud Zone they see that things there are going well, everything considered. Hundreds upon hundreds of enemy troops have arrived in or near the center of the Mud Zone, and are slogging through the mud as well as they can toward the perimeter. As the enemy gets within range, hundreds of Charagan archers are launching withering volleys of arrow fire into the soup. It is hard to count the dead from their vantage point, since the Mud Zone itself is over half a mile on a side, but it’s clear that there’s not much they need to do to help that situation at the moment. Still, some of the invaders who arrived closer to the perimeter have reached the tree-wall and are starting to fight their way into the forest. And from all through the trees comes the clamor of battle, joined where the enemy has arrived outside the Zone.
From somewhere far to the north comes the sound of many wolves howling in unison.
There is another bright flash of orange light, another tumult of thunder, and more enemy troops appear in the Mud Zone and elsewhere.
As they swoop out over the trees in their quadrant, a few of the Company spot an especially thick knot of fighting in a partial clearing. Kingdom soldiers are shouting and running through the woods, converging on the battle. The Company flies down and sees a grim sight. About fifteen ogre-sized humanoids with gray skin and sharp claws are tearing through groups of disorganized Kingdom soldiery.
The Company descends and attacks. Grey Wolf begins by casting mount, a spell which only last night Step had learned existed.
(Step: “You mean I could have had a magical horse in every battle we’ve fought? And you never told me?)
(Grey Wolf: “Er…”)
And then the Company tears into them. The ogrish creatures are more powerful by far than the rank-and-file Charagan footman, but they have no obvious recourse against (for instance) flying spell-casters. Ernie spots a large group of the monsters in one general location without friendly units nearby, and (fingers crossed) reads blade barrier from a scroll. (He still remembers what happened the last time he tried to use an scroll to cast divine magic beyond his means (when a heal spell fizzled at a bad time during the fight with Mokad). But he gets through the words, and a disk of knee-high spinning blades starts slicing the ogre-beings to ribbons.
Adding insult to injury in fine fashion, Kibi follows up by casting confusion on most of the enemy within the blade barrier. Several of them stand around stupidly, not understanding that their lack of action is a ticket to swift bladed death.
Still, not all of them are caught in this trap, and if nothing else they are extraordinarily tough. Many continue to fight, and more kingdom forces fall to their claws. Then Step comes galloping in through the trees, executes a devastating ride-by attack that all but cuts one of the ogroids in half, and veers safely away before turning for another pass. Several members of the Company who have never seen Step attack on horseback are agog.
“Mental note to self,” mutters Grey Wolf. Always have a magical horse for that man.”
Although a few of the Company take wounds at the hands of the foul monsters, the airborne fighters and spell-casters combined with Step’s ferocious mounted assault make relatively quick work of the enemies who survived the blade barrier – confusion combination.
Even as the last foe falls, Dranko’s expression is pensive. It’s not because the battle still rages all around Verdshane, or at the sight of the allied soldiers who fell at the hands of these beasts. It has more to do with the ongoing connection he has with Morningstar over the Rary’s Telepathic Bond.
* *
Morningstar, seated comfortably, falls asleep at once. She casts her mind into Ava Dormo, intending to appear about fifty yards distant from the lonely tower near Oasis. Being a highly skilled Dreamwalker she appears right where she expects. What she sees – well, that is less expected.
Over a hundred feet away is a tower of gray rock, tall and slender and impervious. And forming the third point of an equilateral triangle with Morningstar and the tower is the enemy.
The enemy in this case is a large square formation of over a hundred black-armored soldiers, their spears bristling through a set wall of tower shields. The entire area of space around them is lit up as if by powerful floodlights, though there are no light sources to be seen. Over the top of the shields, Morningstar can see that a strange device like a large ballista made of dark green metal squats in the center of the square. Even as she begins to fly upward to get a better view, a blast of bright greenish light blasts from a cannon-like barrel on the ballista-device. It streaks toward the stone tower but misses high by about fifteen feet.
A hundred feet on the other side of the tower, Ellish soldiers are appearing by ones and twos; already there are several dozen, squinting into the bright light, but undeterred. Some are hastily conferring while others form a shield wall of their own. Morningstar soon sees why. A hail of arrows comes arcing from inside the enemy formation, slamming down around the Ellish Dreamwalkers.
As Morningstar flies higher, she sees that there are dozens of archers inside the square, forming an even tighter cordon around the ballista. And standing next to the blasting machine is a tall figure in blood-red plate. Morningstar doesn’t need to see the helmeted face to recognize her old adversary: Octesian, who years ago was squeezed through the planar boundary along with Meledien and the late Restimar. She swears vehemently. Back when they first met, Octesian had already learned to deal damage in Ava Dormo that caused wounds in the waking world. So while she and her Ellish forces can only knock people out of the Dreaming by overcoming them in combat, Octesian can actually kill.
“This should give them something to think about,” Morningstar says to herself.
She casts blade barrier at knee height, centered on the metal ballista.
There is understandable chaos within the ranks of the enemies, as the black-armored soldiers scramble to escape the circle of whirling blades. Some of the archers are sliced apart, and some of those who are able to move quickly out of the spell area are badly wounded. But many escape unscathed, including Octesian. They form up in a new perimeter, just beyond the edge of the blades, and resume guarding the ballista. They show no sign of moving to attack the amassing Ellish forces.
The magical device fires again, and this time the bolt of green light smashes into the tower with a sound like thunder. A sickly glow plays around the stones for a moment before it fades.
Morningstar moves with the speed of thought to join her assembling sisters, who now number well over a hundred. As she does, she thinks to Dranko over the telepathic bond: “Did anything just happen out there in the battle?”
“Yeah,” Dranko answers. “There was just another big blast of thunder with some flashing lights, and a new boatload of enemy soldiers appeared.”
Morningstar moves to join Amber, June, Swan, Previa and others who are arguing about the best course of action. Quickly she sets them straight.
“Every time that cannon strikes the tower, more of Naradawk’s soldiers arrive in Verdshane. We have to press the attack, and find a way to destroy that ballista. Beware of Octesian, the one in the red armor. His sword blows can kill your waking body.”
Their battle plan is made quickly. Most of the Ellish sisters move forward in formation, spreading out to engage the enemy, hoping to press them back into the blade barrier. Evenstar and her older priestesses form up from a distance, and through sheer concentration begin to remove enemy shields and weapons from Ava Dormo. The reconstituted enemy shield wall starts to flicker strangely as some of the shields vanish. But Octesian’s soldiers are also proficient Dreamers, and the shields blink back into existence as quickly as they are removed. It’s a strange sight: enemy weapons and shields flashing on and off as if in strobe.
Morningstar focuses her mental energies on the ballista itself; she knows that she can affect objects in Ava Dormo, creating, destroying, reshaping. But the device withstands her best attempts at a direct mental assault. It fires again, and another shaft of green energy slams into the tower.
“There goes another one, huh?” Dranko’s voice sounds in her head. Morningstar curses again.
She changes tactics. Instead of concentrating on the ballista itself, she focuses her thought on the ground beneath it. The earth starts to ripple and fold. The device sinks a bit and then tilts, canted to one side. It fires again, and its energy bolt misses by a good hundred feet. Quickly she lands near some of her soldiers and spreads the word, instructing some to concentrate on warping the ground underneath the enemy weapon, and others to continue pressing the attack. Then she moves forward to join the melee. Behind the sounds of battle is the incessant clanking of magical blades whooshing through the air and clanking harmlessly off the metal ballista.
Octesian has easily fought his way through a knot of Ellish soldiers; Morningstar takes a deep breath and flies down to attack. They exchange blows, and Morningstar gets the worst of it, slashed by Octesian’s glowing black longsword. She falls back to be healed by one of her sisters.
Back in the Secure Shelter, Skorg sees wounds open up on Morningstar’s body, and quickly feeds her a healing potion.
To the north, the Company has just finished off the humanoid soldiers. Kibi flies above the trees again to check in on the Mud Zone. Even from a great distance he sees a strange new thing: a large block-shaped object like a huge siege engine, set upon huge stone cylinders like a great steamroller. Stone arms protrude from its sides. Whatever it is looks extremely dangerous – or at least it would be, were it not sunk several feet into the mud. Kibi flies a bit closer, until he can see that dozens of enemy soldiers are enduring arrow fire as they attempt to move the siege engine.
He is happy to see that it’s not budging.
Soon after a runner comes sprinting through the trees. After taking a few seconds to catch his breath, he gives his report to the Company. “There are two strange wolf-pack creatures, one to the north-east, and one to the south. Fortune’s Children are in the area near the northern one, but they are already in bad shape. A red-armored warrior has been spotted to the northwest of the Mud Zone, near to where Matthias and his troops are. Hundreds of foot soldiers have appeared in isolated pockets outside the Mud Zone altogether. Inside the Mud Zone we still command the field. Have you received and understood this report?”
The Company is left to ponder what to do next. Some want to go help Fortune’s Children, and others itch to confront the red-armored enemy (whom they assume must be the hated Meledien). But Dranko turns to the others. “I think Morningstar’s going to need help. Her troops are fighting Octesian, and its him that’s causing troops to appear. I’ll explain as we fly. Quick… back the Shelter!” That ends the debate. The rest of the Company begins to fly.
…to be continued…
Last edited:
Plane Sailing
Astral Admin - Mwahahaha!
Great story, Sagiro! I'm especially pleased to see OneCertainStep's moment of glory since I was able to moonlight as him and swing a big sword 
What Sagiro doesn't capture here is the wonderful rendition of gormless, confused ogreish creatures having bits sliced off them by the blade barrier, which was absolutely priceless!
As you might guess, the tension around the table was palpable... there was a real sense of desperation in the defence against Naradawks forces... who will prevail?
What Sagiro doesn't capture here is the wonderful rendition of gormless, confused ogreish creatures having bits sliced off them by the blade barrier, which was absolutely priceless!
As you might guess, the tension around the table was palpable... there was a real sense of desperation in the defence against Naradawks forces... who will prevail?
Bill Muench
First Post
Sagiro said:
LOL... That's priceless. Keep up the good work, Sagiro!
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