Part 16: Chapter 9.2: Help

Chapter 9.2: Help



And, almost as sidenote to victory over Amberon, some of Grum-Gogs cultists were hunted down and killed most unceremoniously. This pleased the god of all that is praiseworthy about barbarians (and he wasn’t even against certain grooming standards) and thus King Lich was rewarded. A sack of gold fell from the sky, nearly crushing a goblin, and the lich was rewarded with a feeling he had never felt before: hatred of magic. Now, Krolm was usually displeased with mages and their spell using ways, since the only way a proper barbarian used magic was by wielding a magical sword so that he or she could cleave things in twain more easily. As such, Krolm would fantasize (as much as gods do such a thing) about closing his hulking barbarian arms around the neck of magic itself and choking it dead.
Of course, magic was out of choking reach even for the gods, so King Lich was only imparted with a power to interrupt enemy spell casting.



But the war against the damned Dremer was not nearly over. And with devastation uncovered during the incursion to the south, it seemed that there was a load of work left. As such, all of the lich’s subjects (that were able to think) felt compelled to push forward. And nobody felt it more than werewolves.







Meanwhile, odd things were happening with monsters and cities. First, Sol de Torvega lost his dark elven city to independent monsters. According to Melchior, those might have been survivors from King Litch’s earlier neutral conquests. Nevertheless, seeing Sol become so sloppy was a tad unnerving.

Much like Ash-Haar continuing slaughter of his own race. Ratcliff, if the name was of any indication, was a monster city before the mad goblin king burned it down. This, of course, didn‘t sit well with King Rrat and their treaty was broken.



"Dremer throwers look much like Dremer warriors, but some distinguishing features are apparent... Throwers are thinner and instead of bone blades, their right arms look more like, well, right arms. But they are significantly more developed than their left arms, and well suited to throwing sings"

- (From the notes of Sir O. Look, Captain)

“Well, this is unpleasant”

“What is?”

“This bone knife that I have stuck in my ribs!”

“Really? Oh, I think I have one, too! Wonder where they come from?”

“I think it might have something to do with those thin, lanky Dremer there”

“Well then, old chap, let’s not tarry. Wake up the lads, there’s killing to do!”



And while Dremer stalked the land and werewolves stalked the Dremer, the defiant citizens of King Lich’s realm erected a new grand, holy temple.Agrella is the godess of healing and all that is good and blooming, so this is was a spit in the ugly, bloodshot eye of the Dremer.



The news of this temple energized Emerah and, combined with her disgust at the devastation that the alien invaders brought upon the land, resulted in her power blooming. That was almost literal, because her influence was so strong right now that her allies healed just by being next to her.

As such, Emerah was walking (flying) anathema to all that Dremer represented.



The temple wasn‘t the only grand construction project, however. Way up in the north, werewolf veterans (the only kind of veterans to have survived) opened a military academy were younger werewolves and other smart creatures under King Lich‘s command could be tought finer arts of warfare.

“The fact that we can use formations of goblins to simulate battlefield conditions, down to casualties taken when trying various new assault methods, is of undeniable worth to the art of war”.





"Yesterday His Exaltedness, Our Great Mage, presented a special award to three distinguished werewolves, amidst a great cheering crowd. Daniel Tactic received an award for his victory in the battle by Saint-Mouseburg where he eradicated a troop of demons. Audric the Elusive was awarded for his unrivalled survival skills, and Patric Tenbucks received recognition for his contribution to the State Treasury. The multitudes hailed these new Court Werewolves with joyful howls and bellowing."

- (An extract from "Everybody Wants to be Bitten", an article by the noble werewolf Wolfus De Crunch).

With the realm expanding ever onwards and finally having people that could actually be good administrators as well as examples to… uh… future conquered peoples that can take examples, King Lich decided to make werewolves more prominent. Many new baron, viscount, count, duke and other titles were created, and quite a few werewolves were appointed to many newly established positions in court.

And, of course, the werewolves on the front suddenly became landed nobility and “eternally welcome to the King’s court, all in recognition for their sacrifice and actions in the fight against the Dremer threat”.



Icering was a spell with somewhat ignoble origins. One wizard, not exactly the best judge of character, married a woman that was exceedingly frigid in bed. In fact, she was so frigid, she was actually cold to touch. Naturally, the wizard started working on a spell to solve his problem, because when the only tool you have is a magical wand, every problem looks like an incantation. Sure enough, he made a spell that expelled her frigidness outwards. Unfortunately, it froze the whole estate, living only the now-widowed woman alive.

She then shacked up with an elven threesome and became rich by selling a modified icering spell.



One of the few good news that came from outside the borders of the realm – there were precious few of those these days – was that Sol de Torvega and Miralbus the Hat actually stopped their hostilities. Hopefully, this meant more attention towards solving the Dremer issue.



After that, King Lich had to visit a new elven Transmutation lab where the elves, using the extremely rare extraplanar element ‘dupetanium’ were turning lead into gold.

“We also considered using suckeranium and rubellum, but those are somewhat rare”





The situation in diplomacy had, however, turned for the worse. Sol de Torvega sent a short letter claiming that their alliance had been broken and offering no explanations. At the same time he burned another neutral city for no apparent reason.

The only silver lining was that werewolves destroyed a new Dremer gate that had popped up on their continent and reclaimed a sizeable amount of gold and mana barrels.



Yet even further to the south east, Ardania took on a most abysmal look. Fields stretching to the horizon had been covered with the Dremer taint. Aliens were roaming everywhere. And entire swathes of land had been obliterated, burned into an impenetrable twisted wasteland. At this point, werewolves were too powerful, too magical to be bothered by the Dremer corruption, but the sight was still unsettling.

Nevertheless, those lands contained copious amounts of gold, something that interested the King greatly…



Haste was another spell used to, well, hasted the downfall of Dremer. First discovered as a way to let couriers and red hooded girls outrun wolves, it was also useful for armies, especially in tactical maneuvers.





Having in mind that using elven forces might be an option some time in the future, King Lich ordered training facilities built. Rising in black towers radiating fell purple energies, those places drilled the elves in use of bows and magic.

The fact that there were enough goblins for live fire - a standard practice in the kingdom - also helped.









The diplomatical side of things was far from peachy. First, the Goblin King broke his agreement with the realm of the lich. Then Miralbus the Hat had the gall to request his assistance in war against Sol de Torvega. This was, of course, out of the question, and the alliance between the two great mages was broken.



To add insult to the injury…

“You there, old dead man! Listen to the message of your goddess Krypta!” squeeked a pale, lanky youth, dressed in black, just like the band of his followers “The Lady of Darkness, Death and Oblivion demands that you yeld to her and return to your place. You will show your devotion by striking down Paladins of Agrella and showing the life worshiping fools that their efforts area meaningless. For what is more final than…”The youth droned on for some length while King Lich slumped in his throne and considered digging a moat so that people would stop barging into his throne hall.

Suddenly he had a flash on insight and motioned Lucius to come closer.

“Lucius, aren’t these the youths you mentioned to Avgustus?”

“Yes, my liege. There’s even one of the maidens that I, uh, deflovered”

“Is it the fat one?”

“No, it’s the one you can almost see behind the fat one” Lucius pointed towards a girl, who, at that moment, became very flustered and gave a shy wave of hand. “Why do you ask, m’lord?”

“Oh, you know” the lich said before leaping out of his throne and seizing the lead youth by his scrawny neck.

“Listen, you little impudent crotch goblins! I really don’t care about your adolescent poetry, nihilism and pretense! You and your nonsense about Krypta can go to hell, for I don’t need her servants or favor! I am power by my own right and I have vexed death five times already! I will not turn my back on the goddess we just built a temple to” he shouted and threw the leader down.

“And if you raise any more skeletons to cause me trouble, I’ll give most of you to the goblins!”

As the frightened adolescents scurried through the door, Lucius shot the king a questioning look.

“Most, sire?”

“I’ll give that one girl to you, for your excellent service”

“Oh”



Back in the Dremer Zone of Infestation, the court werewolf force discovered a sight as troubling as filling with hope: a magical portal! As a rule, magical portals lead to small pocket dimensions, usually filled with untapped veins of rare metals and other magical resources.

Unfortunately, those places didn’t have great mages or kings, and, as such, monsters ran rampant, to the point where sometimes you couldn’t even shoot a fireball without it landing on someone.
Even more unfortunate was the fact that those monsters were not only numerous, but also very strong and aggressive…





"Old Trolls are like old sores -- you'll never be rid of them."

Ancient Ardanian saying.

And while trolls weren’t the most useful in portal crashing, they were still extremely useful in Dremer crushing. So much so that the regiments of young trolls mustered by the king attracted some old trolls to their ranks. Old trolls were meaner, tougher as well as sporting impressive hair styles. Surely with such troll men in their lead they’d crush all any Dremer gates, castles…and anchors.



Ladiss was also receiving benefits from this protracted fight against the aliens. For example, he had learned that he was casting some elementary spells wrong.

“The way I used to cast this firebolt… It’s a miracle I didn’t turn myself into a toad!”



And King Lich discovered a spell he never really needed, until now. “Burning Prosperity” was rumored to have been made by the Red Great Sorcerer, but that was just a myth. The spell itself was incredibly complex: in a designated area, it would magically increase the attractiveness of surroundings, the coloration of grass, the taste of water, as well as granting “mead glasses” effect to some, and more lust to others, as well as various other fertility increasing effects. The result would be increased population growth .





"It appears that Sea Serpents are distant relatives to the native dragons of Ardania, which have been thought extinct since before the times of the Great Kings."

From "The Overall Description of Everything" by Master Alfus Bumblegate.

Master of the Guard, Jonh, lowered his spyglass and spat over the parapet.

“Sea serpent. Where there’s one, there’s a hundred of them. Alright, boys, load the ballistae”



“By the King’s degree!
Penetrating elven farms in forbidden to EVEYRONE on the penalty of death! Most of you don’t have the mental faculties to understand the eldritch geometries at work in elven crop rotation and exploding brains are very hard to clean up.
Signed,
His Majesty
King Lich V”



“Now, Lucius, this spell might be a little odd, but I want to get rid of that mountain so I could place the troops better. Pay attention!”

“Yes, m’lord, but… mashed potatoes?”

“Apparently you need to build a model of terrain before you can mash it” said the lich and smashed his fist onto a pile of mashed potatoes crudely shaped like a mountain and surrounded by all manner of sorcerous symbols “Haha!”

“I see, my liege” Lucius retorded while flicking a pinch of mash from his tunic.



"The very first sea kraken was created from a usual squid by the notorious mage Pearce the Green, as part of his protest against the over-fishing of these mollusks. The creature he made in protest was more powerful than any thought possible, and its first order of business was, sadly, the swift digestion of its creator."

- From "The Overall Description of Everything" by Master Alfus Bumblegate

Emerah the Saviour was doing some flying scouting over the sea near the Anchor. Fortunately, she spotted one of the greatest beasts of the sea: a kraken! “Fortunately” because she was a flying mage of life and the kraken was just an overgrown octopus who could never reach her delicate thighs with his tentacles.



Agr, the elder ogre, was hired to fill in the spot left by the banished ghost. His skills would quickly be put to the test.

“I guess if he knew that we killed the relatives that he came here to look for, he’d be quite… agry”

“Oh shut up you”





Receiving two suggestion for an alliance that were backed up by a promised of spells gave King Lich an idea. And idea that would might help save them all.



For while great mages were still engaged in petty squabbles…





…King Lich could still support them with beneficial spells, as they all needed help…



"And the winged birds shall be their heralds, and terror shall fall from the sky." (from the Prophecy of the End, translated by High Librarian Brit Kongrell). "With all respect to the High Librarian, I must say that he made several unfortunate mistakes in his translation. The word "winged birds" is better to translate as "winged monsters", and "terror shall fall from the sky" in fact means "terrifying shadows will fall on earth". To see the truth of my words, one need only look outside one's window - at the many flying Dremers."

(From second edition of "The Commentary to Everything" by Master Alfus Bumblegate)



"Initial research into the Dremer race and the means of their destruction has found that the best results can be achieved by combat magic, as the Dremers are poorly protected against it, and cannot use it themselves. Unfortunately, it appears that Dremers are able to quickly adapt their protections, and recently Dremer mages have been sighted. It could be a coincidence, but soon after we discovered this, the number of our own young mages who were demanding "the annihilation of the Dremer in Ardania" dropped off significantly."

(From "The Overall Description of Everything" by Master Alfus Bumblegate)

…oh how they needed help.