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[ZEITGEIST] The Continuing Adventures of Korrigan & Co.
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<blockquote data-quote="gideonpepys" data-source="post: 7585630" data-attributes="member: 79141"><p><strong>Session 220, Part Three - The Carnage Parade</strong></p><p></p><p>Mirsk was not heavily fortified, but there were sufficient defences to stave off a simple assault by small bands of raiders, or hostiles from the far north. Such things had not happened for centuries. The worst violence experienced by Mirsk had been the destruction of the railyard just over a year ago, an incident that was squarely blamed on the new king of Risur and his accomplices.</p><p></p><p>Nevertheless, the dwarves appeared to take Korrigan’s words at face value – not least because it didn’t take long for them to be confirmed by advanced sightings, but also because traffic along the icy Volgir had ceased for the last few days, and here was a singular explanation. Without panic – dwarves never panic – the inhabitants withdrew behind their fortifications. </p><p></p><p>A few hours later, the doomsday army arrived. The ice sleds fanned out, and the occupants disembarked chaotically. The giants took up the left flank. Nebo guarded Komanov at the centre, but now it was far easier to get to them, with the army strung out on either side. This is why the unit had waited for the army to lay a second siege, and why the news that Komanov needed to attune the Cyclopean Revelation had been so important, otherwise they would have needed to strike sooner.</p><p></p><p>When the army had taken up its initial positions, Betel and Yarost blew on their horns and the camp grew still. Groups of Komanov’s most loyal cultists weaved through the army, handing out alcohol rations while loudly proclaiming their ideology:</p><p></p><p>“All must end. The world is all we know. The world must end. Let us witness that end. A serpent wraps its white coils around our destiny. Let our strength bolster his. Let our souls feed him. Let our glory be the last image seen by his cyclopean gaze. The battle is nigh.”</p><p></p><p>Uriel alone saw all of this from the frost giant camp. The others were on the Coaltongue, but during the chaos of disembarkation, Uriel had used one of the gith’s flying discs to transport the chest of Risuri gold he had brought to the feet of the frost giant Jarl. She was suitably impressed and agreed that they would not fight for Komanov.</p><p></p><p>Uriel prepared to depart, but what happened next gave him pause: The leader of the vsadni, Nebo, came into view, mounted on a colossal white wyrm – a creature almost as breath-taking as one of the fey titans. Nebo himself was equally imposing, clad in black adamantine (his vulnerable ice-chunk concealed). Together they drew a huge sled of ice, upon which Grandis Komanov sat enthroned. She stood, and thousands of dwarves grew silent. Various braziers and bonfires around the camp were snuffed, their flames replaced by a wavering blue light in the shape of Grandis Komanov’s face so that each of her followers could see and hear her.</p><p></p><p>She addressed them with a long speech, slow and intimate at first, reinforcing the bonds they shared through recent suffering, and a shared history of conflicts that never could bring peace. Slowly, though, she built up the intensity of her rhetoric, elucidating a condensed list of that painted the leaders of Drakr in the darkest terms possible – as oathbreakers and cowards. She named the great cities of Drakr, landmarks in each, and with proclaimed that the monuments crafted by these corrupt leaders must be torn down.</p><p></p><p>As she spoke, the strands that linked each warrior with the hivemind grew more solid, and some even glowed. Before now, it had been nothing but a background hum, now it was visible, as an audible, roiling, angry cloud. Tellingly, though, no such strand linked Grandis to the hivemind. Perhaps, thought Uriel, that is what prevents it from building? Their focus was not connected.</p><p></p><p>Komanov finished her speech with these words: “Warriors of the Final Army, the world’s end is nigh. Its eyes? Dark! Its heart? Like a frozen river! Its breath? Crushed from it like a goat trapped in the coils of a serpent. None of us can be saved. All that remains is for us not to shrink in fear from the icy end of the earth, but to be brave, to stand like giants until the final light. The song of our people, the tale of our families, has lasted centuries, and now we shall give that song the grand finale it deserves. We shall sweep across this land like a scythe, and our march shall leave no life behind to suffer a pathetic, whimpering death. Glory! That is what we bring! For if this world is to die, let it be in battle! Let it be in passion! Let it be at our hands!”</p><p></p><p>To thunderous cheers, the five Vsadni galloped through the entire camp as they sang a rousing war song to whip up frenzied adulation of Komanov. More chaos: dozens of people died, either trampled by the beasts or pulled up onto the sleds for gruesome sacrifice. Uriel left this appalling seen behind, and – flying low until he was out of sight – took his stone disc back up on to the Coaltongue.</p><p></p><p>Then the unit held a carnage parade of their own:</p><p></p><p>They took the Coaltongue down fast. As it swept over the unsuspecting army, the bomb-bay doors were opened. Dozens of incendiary bombs and high explosives were dropped and the Tyrant’s Eye cut a continual swathe through whatever was beneath it. The hivemind thickened and roiled in response. It was difficult to see anything, save for the heads of the vsadni, but thanks to the Third Blade of Srasma, Gupta knew exactly where to find Komanov. Judging things as best they could, they leaped overboard at her command.</p><p></p><p>As they floated downward, they witnessed the summoning of a great blizzard. Brought into being by the hivemind, possessed of zealous belief in the icy end, the blizzard was a living thing that now sought to embroil the Coaltongue as she completed her bombing run and banked away. Three of the Vsadni took to the air on their fimbulwinter steeds and joined the pursuit.</p><p></p><p>“We are at war,” shouted Korrigan, acknowledging the possibility of casualties. Fortunately, they were few – Admiral Smith had drilled his crew for what happened next, as they lured the blizzard and vsadni away as fast and as far as they could. As soon as the storm hit, Smith engaged the fey portal pad, and Coaltongue jumped to deep space. </p><p></p><p>Squads of dwarven fanatics and a great skeletal phalanx stood between the unit and Komanov. Gupta stalked towards her with the single-mindedness of a Vekeshi excoriant, shrugging off bullets and blows. Uriel used his deathly gaze to bring the dwarves to a halt – all those that could see him. Others opened fire, doing more damage to their brethren than to their foes. Then Rumdoom cleared some serious space, with a magical burst of frost that hurt friend and foe alike. Fortunately, his heroic friends could withstand the onslaught. Komanov’s army could not.</p><p></p><p>Nebo and the Frostwyrm Distemper now loomed over them, but above the chaos, Komanov’s magical voice could be heard, bringing their foes to a standstill.</p><p></p><p>“Let them pass!” she commanded.</p><p></p><p><strong>End of Session</strong></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="gideonpepys, post: 7585630, member: 79141"] [b]Session 220, Part Three - The Carnage Parade[/b] Mirsk was not heavily fortified, but there were sufficient defences to stave off a simple assault by small bands of raiders, or hostiles from the far north. Such things had not happened for centuries. The worst violence experienced by Mirsk had been the destruction of the railyard just over a year ago, an incident that was squarely blamed on the new king of Risur and his accomplices. Nevertheless, the dwarves appeared to take Korrigan’s words at face value – not least because it didn’t take long for them to be confirmed by advanced sightings, but also because traffic along the icy Volgir had ceased for the last few days, and here was a singular explanation. Without panic – dwarves never panic – the inhabitants withdrew behind their fortifications. A few hours later, the doomsday army arrived. The ice sleds fanned out, and the occupants disembarked chaotically. The giants took up the left flank. Nebo guarded Komanov at the centre, but now it was far easier to get to them, with the army strung out on either side. This is why the unit had waited for the army to lay a second siege, and why the news that Komanov needed to attune the Cyclopean Revelation had been so important, otherwise they would have needed to strike sooner. When the army had taken up its initial positions, Betel and Yarost blew on their horns and the camp grew still. Groups of Komanov’s most loyal cultists weaved through the army, handing out alcohol rations while loudly proclaiming their ideology: “All must end. The world is all we know. The world must end. Let us witness that end. A serpent wraps its white coils around our destiny. Let our strength bolster his. Let our souls feed him. Let our glory be the last image seen by his cyclopean gaze. The battle is nigh.” Uriel alone saw all of this from the frost giant camp. The others were on the Coaltongue, but during the chaos of disembarkation, Uriel had used one of the gith’s flying discs to transport the chest of Risuri gold he had brought to the feet of the frost giant Jarl. She was suitably impressed and agreed that they would not fight for Komanov. Uriel prepared to depart, but what happened next gave him pause: The leader of the vsadni, Nebo, came into view, mounted on a colossal white wyrm – a creature almost as breath-taking as one of the fey titans. Nebo himself was equally imposing, clad in black adamantine (his vulnerable ice-chunk concealed). Together they drew a huge sled of ice, upon which Grandis Komanov sat enthroned. She stood, and thousands of dwarves grew silent. Various braziers and bonfires around the camp were snuffed, their flames replaced by a wavering blue light in the shape of Grandis Komanov’s face so that each of her followers could see and hear her. She addressed them with a long speech, slow and intimate at first, reinforcing the bonds they shared through recent suffering, and a shared history of conflicts that never could bring peace. Slowly, though, she built up the intensity of her rhetoric, elucidating a condensed list of that painted the leaders of Drakr in the darkest terms possible – as oathbreakers and cowards. She named the great cities of Drakr, landmarks in each, and with proclaimed that the monuments crafted by these corrupt leaders must be torn down. As she spoke, the strands that linked each warrior with the hivemind grew more solid, and some even glowed. Before now, it had been nothing but a background hum, now it was visible, as an audible, roiling, angry cloud. Tellingly, though, no such strand linked Grandis to the hivemind. Perhaps, thought Uriel, that is what prevents it from building? Their focus was not connected. Komanov finished her speech with these words: “Warriors of the Final Army, the world’s end is nigh. Its eyes? Dark! Its heart? Like a frozen river! Its breath? Crushed from it like a goat trapped in the coils of a serpent. None of us can be saved. All that remains is for us not to shrink in fear from the icy end of the earth, but to be brave, to stand like giants until the final light. The song of our people, the tale of our families, has lasted centuries, and now we shall give that song the grand finale it deserves. We shall sweep across this land like a scythe, and our march shall leave no life behind to suffer a pathetic, whimpering death. Glory! That is what we bring! For if this world is to die, let it be in battle! Let it be in passion! Let it be at our hands!” To thunderous cheers, the five Vsadni galloped through the entire camp as they sang a rousing war song to whip up frenzied adulation of Komanov. More chaos: dozens of people died, either trampled by the beasts or pulled up onto the sleds for gruesome sacrifice. Uriel left this appalling seen behind, and – flying low until he was out of sight – took his stone disc back up on to the Coaltongue. Then the unit held a carnage parade of their own: They took the Coaltongue down fast. As it swept over the unsuspecting army, the bomb-bay doors were opened. Dozens of incendiary bombs and high explosives were dropped and the Tyrant’s Eye cut a continual swathe through whatever was beneath it. The hivemind thickened and roiled in response. It was difficult to see anything, save for the heads of the vsadni, but thanks to the Third Blade of Srasma, Gupta knew exactly where to find Komanov. Judging things as best they could, they leaped overboard at her command. As they floated downward, they witnessed the summoning of a great blizzard. Brought into being by the hivemind, possessed of zealous belief in the icy end, the blizzard was a living thing that now sought to embroil the Coaltongue as she completed her bombing run and banked away. Three of the Vsadni took to the air on their fimbulwinter steeds and joined the pursuit. “We are at war,” shouted Korrigan, acknowledging the possibility of casualties. Fortunately, they were few – Admiral Smith had drilled his crew for what happened next, as they lured the blizzard and vsadni away as fast and as far as they could. As soon as the storm hit, Smith engaged the fey portal pad, and Coaltongue jumped to deep space. Squads of dwarven fanatics and a great skeletal phalanx stood between the unit and Komanov. Gupta stalked towards her with the single-mindedness of a Vekeshi excoriant, shrugging off bullets and blows. Uriel used his deathly gaze to bring the dwarves to a halt – all those that could see him. Others opened fire, doing more damage to their brethren than to their foes. Then Rumdoom cleared some serious space, with a magical burst of frost that hurt friend and foe alike. Fortunately, his heroic friends could withstand the onslaught. Komanov’s army could not. Nebo and the Frostwyrm Distemper now loomed over them, but above the chaos, Komanov’s magical voice could be heard, bringing their foes to a standstill. “Let them pass!” she commanded. [B]End of Session[/B] [/QUOTE]
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