Part 9

Holy mother of god.. this entry took Forever to pen..

Before we begin the penultimate lesson prior to the class break, I feel I should answer some of your further concerns raised.


That really depends on whereabouts you're from, I'm Scottish born, and always add the H, as do most British people, I've noticed


An adept display of strategical thinking, but you are somewhat off centre here, take again, another look at the Map, specifically, the area where Keap was playing hide and seek with Bartholomews forces. Note how the land is already claimed in his favour? The passage of time isn't shown in these shots, however, it should be noted that the time we had grabbed this, little more than a day (roughly about 10-15 minutes) had passed, it would not have been possible to tunnel there and keep that area, most specifically because at the time of first blood, we would not have had the resources, nor the man power to fend him off. We would have been able to cause serious damage to his forces, but not completely hold them off. As a result, we made the concession to allow him his beachhead, whilst we secured a ready supply of both gold, and pretrained creatures. This gave us the strength advantage, which we used in a game of hide and go seek to sap his strength, and picking off his gold supply.


Again, incorrect, whilst we did not explore it, we did totally control it, recall the invasion of the Barbarians towards our base, it was our imps who had disturbed them. In the Northwest of the map. At the time, it held no great strategic advantage after the purge, no gold supplies, and naught but lava.


Nail, on the damned head. Minions are the source of your strength, but if you're afraid of losing them, then they've all the effectiveness of a paper tiger.


That's the game. I was almost tempted to fix it myself, but decided not to, and just stick with what the game has to say, despite its lack of accuracy, it's more 'true'


Traps are a personal preference, we find often, that they're not too much use, except in realms where we are constantly on the defensive, in whch case we like to vastly fortify our main entrances, and place many fake entrances around, layered with boulder traps to destroy the unwary, as often those are instant kills.

Whilst handy to repel the few invaders you'll see, they often go to waste unless you're specifically on the defensive, doors are handy for restricting access to areas of your dungeon, for example, training rooms when you're running out of gold, and pay day looms. Regardless of whether you play on the defensive or not, it is always a good investment to get a Workshop, simply because in times of low income, it's output can actually supplement your gold. Lightning traps for example, sell for 500 gold each, yet cost nothing to produce.


We'll have to wait and see, it's likely, and I was leading the 'story' in that direction, with a potential surprise towards the end of the story.

Now children, suitably satisfied with your answers, we shall move onto the battle for Moonbrush Wood.

Moonbrush Wood

A forest town with a welcoming population. Demons and the legions of Hell could ride in, and would probably be offered cheap lodgings and a night of good cheer in a warm cozy tavern.

But before we do, I feel it appropriate to inform you of the history of the land a little, see Moonbrush wood, is a part of the Northlands, but most importantly, it is also the ex-home of the scarred and now scattered Wizards guild. Many of you have no doubt wondered as to the cause of this split, well, to the astute amongst you who have no doubt meticulously studied, you'll realise that I was it.

Before the split of the guild, we operated under a strict code of ethics and morals, that was set in place by our forefathers, and our so called.. betters. Of the guild, there where many representatives on the inner council, usually one of each type of magic. There where two representatives from the Paladins of Drogon, who, given my understanding, was some sort of Draconic Deity. A representative of each of the Wizarding schools, One from the Witches, one from the Fairies, One from the Ice specialist Wizards, and one of the Fire specialist Wizards.

Whilst unsure as to the cause, disturbing rumours reached our ears of a growing plague amongst the inhabitants of several nearby villages, a great many of us left to discover the source of this plague. However, many of us began to suffer from it ourselves, and this was no ordinary plague, it changed us from the inside, we had many fevered visions that told us we where near death. When suddenly the strangest thing happened.. though it did not happen to all of us, we began to recover, whilst many died, several survived, and though I cannot be sure of it, I believe that this also happened to the Paladins of Drogon.

But as stated, the plague changed us, we began to hear the whisper of the shadow around us, and we where posessed of a madness that began to scare our compatriots, until we discovered that we where able to communicate with the other side, and it began to fill us in with information of the dark. In the months that followed, we began many dark experiments of conjuration, we created the portals that bring your demonic minions, we created the dark magic that permeates your prisons to bring skeletons to life.

When our good willed cousins discovered, they where horrified. And thus began the battle that shook the foundations of the very realm, hundreds where decimated as fire, ice, and shadow was cast about it with nary a thought as to the consequences. There are several bastions of wizard strongholds remaining, but they are as impotent as they are near empty.

And so it was with a smile on my face, that we set forward to destroy the strongest of the wizard bastions, and to force them to the hills.







The war between us had devastated the land to an almost unheard of degree, several mad, and violent Wizards and Warlocks had constructed a labyrinth worth of Theseus in the north west of the map, whilst those Wizards whom had remained in power had constructed four great libraries in the center of the map, in the midst of a moat, filled with Archer Mercenaries whom where hired by the still extremely rich Wizards.



Despite their wealth, they had left a temple constructed by the shadow in the south, right near our heart, which was quickly captured and put to good use. Spying out ahead we scouted our eye to the centre of the realm, where we discovered a curiosity, a vampire who was alligned against us..

In the midst of our digging, we encountered an entrance to the Maze we mentioned earlier, not being prepared to explore it fully just yet, we closed the door to there, and set a lone imp to explore. He didn't get far.



With our dungeon satisfactorily constructed, and our minions well on their way to training, it was finally time to invite an honoured guest to dine at our table.







Horned Reapers (or Horny, as your other minions call him, notably, when he's not listening..) are angry. It's their only state of mind. They're angry, they're violent, they're a force of nature. It is never possible to have a 'happy' Horned reaper, only a temporarily pacified one. It is said often that a Knight and a Horned Reaper are a match for each other, and that they counter each other, almost as a cancel. That's not true, Horned Reapers devour knights for breakfast, there are very few things that can defeat a Reaper in combat.

At around the same time as we brought Horny forth to our domain, we also gained the ability to construct a graveyard. Graveyards are amazing things, with enough bodies in its topsoil, it can create a Vampire from the lingering life force.



With enough minions at our disposal, we began to plan our assault.





I suppose now is an appropriate time to fill you in on the subtleties of the varying magical users. We have already had an introduction to the delicious (Especially with mushroom sauce..) Fairies, however there are two other types of casters.



There is the Witch, the caster of Nature, there are naturally attuned to the subtleties of nature, the witch has the ability to float on a solid wall of air, carrying her over Lava and anything blocking her path, whilst also posessing the ability to Freeze her enemies in place, and to blow multiple friends, and foes together into a muddle, smashing them against walls. They are reasonably tough creatures, with their skin taking on the property of bark when attacked in melee.



and there is the Wizard, holding many of the same Abilities as Warlocks, they are just as resourceful, they specialise primarily in Fire magic, and ranged combat.

We placed several doors in the path to the entrance of our dungeon, and constructed a bridge to our island.. and allowed the force of Archers to come and investigate. We where not disappointed.

Given that our young Reaper was still quite unexperienced, but eager, we gave him an a challenge, we would haste him, but he would have to bring us the heads of the amassed archers outside, which at this point was numbering five. He did not disappoint.















With the Archers removed from their posts, we decided to take over the island.



And then, we set the Reaper back in, with a little help from a set of traps.









With one Wizard dead, and three to go, we decided to head to the Eastern Island.





Checking to ensure our minions happiness, at least one of them appeared to be happy..













Born in Battle, came the first of our Vampires, and so with all the lack of the Damned, did he live.



Vampires are powerful creatures, they can be killed several times over, and rise again, only somewhat the weaker from the kill. They can only be killed permanently by the Furious fists of the Monk.

With the death of the Giants, we moved onto the second great library.











With the second Library under our control we then expanded East. But not without taking out our Vampiric misguided friend.







Monks are pious creatures, living only to serve their god, theirs is a different god to the Draconic god, served by the now extinct Paladins. They specialise in keeping their comrades alive, and slaying Vampires.

Not wanting to risk our Vampires just yet, as they still had much to learn, we sent out our good friends, the Demon Spawns.













Samurai are the only answer to our Mistress, they are as fast, they are as trong, they posess the same destructive powers. Samurai are... a part of the dark, they channel the same dark energies of the mistress, but where the mistresses revel in it, the Samurai merely use it. Samurais and Mistresses loathe each other with an ungodly passion, Samurais, because they feel that Mistresses are of the worst possible build, revelling in dark energies that should not be trifled with.

While Mistresses hate that Samurai lived through the energies that warped them, that they share the energy that provides them their strength, and worst of all, that they keep their sense of justice above all other things.





We took the third Library with little effort, however, as we did so, the Heroes attacked en masse, after finding a route to the center island, they SWARMED.







The battle gave our Demon Minions finally the strength with which to reach maturity, becoming Dragons.





Dragons are noble creatures. Strong, Proud, Knowledgeable, and with a thirst for blood. Barbarians and Dragons, had battled in the northlands for centuries over grazing, and hunting lands. They can blow fire across clear stretches of land, devastating land, cattle, and flesh alike.



Their lairs are constructed of the bones of their prey, coated with the treasures of their prey.

We then moved forth to massace the final library, destroying centuries of accumulated human knowledge as we went.







As the final Wizard dropped, he completed his final spell, drawing the Lord of the Land to avenge him.

And his many, many, many friends.



Of the battle few memories survive, but one that shows for the ages isthe fight between the Lord, and the Reaper.











With the realm clear of enemies, we finally finished exploring the Maze.



Inside this door, was the door to a hidden realm.





And thus ended the battle for Moonbrush Wood. Not with a bang, but the whimper of a lord falling. And so Apprentices, I trust you paid full attention today, this was an exhausting class. The midway exam is after tommorows lesson, and those who fail become spider food..

Neverdorf

Once a flourishing homestead, now it's a stinking hole in the ground. It will be years before even the hardiest weed grows here again. War, on the other hand, is in full blossom.



As an aside, I spent around a good hour and a half writing this up, jesus, this thing HURTS. This'll probably be my last entry for several days, as I'm pretty creatively tapped at this point, I dont know how else to add to this historically, but I'm sure more will come to me in time. If you are enjoying this, please let me know, it warms the cockles to know that people enjoy my writing