Sword and Sorcery Superdraft: July 2022

[Lucius]

On 7/8/2022 at 3:35 PM, Lucius said:

 

Protagonist: Sinorsky the Bloodlock.

 

Setting: The Turakian Age

 

 

 

On 7/8/2022 at 3:35 PM, Lucius said:

Lucius Alexander

 

and a palindromedary

 

[assault]

Damn. I forgot to swipe the palindromedary.

[Pariah]

Primary Antagonist: King Dineev, of the land formerly known as the Grand March of Snave

 

A generation ago, the Magician known as Dineev launched an unexpected offensive against Snave, using a small army (no more than 5000 men) and a handful of lesser magicians. The assault was so swift that Lord Alon, acknowledged ruler of the realm, could not organize an effective resistance. Dineev captured Alon personally and held him for ransom. When the subordinate Lords assembled to deliver the demanded tribute, Dineev executed Alon and every other Lord who would not swear fealty to him.  The conquest of Snave required less than a month.

 

Since then, King Dineev has rebuilt the kingdom to his own liking--and renamed it in his own honor. He wields absolute power, both mystically and politically. He has a large standing army that is completely loyal to him (perhaps by compulsion, it is rumored). He concerns himself little with the day to day lives of the common people, but any of their leaders who does not submit to his will inevitably conforms, disappears, or is publicly executed.

 

Dineev has taken no queen and sired no offspring, but he has shown no signs of aging either. Some have speculated that he is immortal and intends to reign personally for a thousand years, hoping to expand his kingdom to encompass all the known world. Some of his actions as king make sense only if considered in this context.

 

It is well known, mainly from the King's own proclamations and demonstrations, that Dineev wields the Air Stone. It is rumored that one of his subordinate magicians holds another Stone, perhaps the Water Stone.

[csyphrett]

Still in but I have access at the moment. I'm three picks behind so I'm going to start with my protagonist, Mr. Straw who is a masked smuggler. Mr. Straw sometimes allies with Charonus, a swordsman and monster hunter/adventurer belonging to a persecuted sect. Mr. Straw's primary operations are based in the Corn River country.

CES 

[Cancer]

for my third pick ....

 

Location 1: Hamlet of Lmuma Creek

 

In the bottom of a canyon amid arid rocky unnamed hills, a convenient level patch makes a negotiable bank on Lmuma Creek. It is the site of a little orc-village, home to some six hundred souls, ranging in ages from mere days to over a century.  There is a modest shrine at the hamlet's center, but nothing like a dedicated church is present there.  The residents have built some stone-and-wood houses, a cistern and a fish-catcher pool, and even a communal bath house, though usually that last is only heated to hold steam a day or two a week.  The orcs there herd their sheep and goats on the slopes of the canyon carved by the creek, and nurture some berry brambles, crabapple trees, and some scrubby pine-nut shrubs that grow along the creekbank and at several seeps where water comes to the surface nearby but above the hamlet in the canyon walls.  They also pick precious-looking stones and occasional flakes of black or (rarely) shiny metal out of some nearby rock faces for trade, make baskets out of the sword-lilies growing on the high arid plains around their canyon, and keep themselves inconspicuous.  Their folklore tells of times when other speaking-peoples drove the orcs out of more fertile lands, and Lmuma Creek is a more habitable place than many in their travelers' tales.  They consider it a good omen when vultures soar over a nearby bluff on sunny days, riding the thermals upward to hunt for their meat.

 

Herders and gatherers, they keep spears, slings, and bows in their homes and practice with them once or twice a week, but in truth they are not really warriors in any sense.  The nearest man-town with church, wall, and sheriff is four days' march away, on the broader bank of the real river into which Lmuma Creek is a scrawny and inconspicuous tributary.  The orcs send a deputation to the town every year to pay for the renewal of their holding, and purchase a few small goods (steel tools, medicines) they cannot make for themselves.  The orcs have been around for nearly a century, and while it is an exaggeration to say the humans consider them good neighbors, at least they do not view the orc-village as a threat.

 

[assault]

Doom draws nearer. The fourth seal is broken.

 

Time to post again, in other words.

[Cancer]

fourth installment:  Protagonist's companion/sponsor: Farstar the Wizard

 

Farstar is a relatively young artificer-wizard, human, only recently having gained enough power and arrived in an unclaimed land that he finds suitable for setting up his own domain.

 

Akhar calls Farstar his master, but Farstar does not (at this story's outset) claim to command the Orc's service.  Several years before this story, the two blundered into each other some few hundred km away, on the fringe of a magical node, a place where the raw power of Chaos bubbled up through a volcanic vent from the ur-Earth far below.  Akhar had been all but overcome by hellhounds that manifested suddenly from the fumes, even though he had slain more than half of them before falling; Farstar blasted most of the rest with his mage's bolts, but had to break the last with his hands and staff before he too sagged to the ground from burns and exhaustion.  Somehow he got the Orc onto the mule's back, and picked up the cache at the heart of the node, before moving them all upwind where clear air came off the sea.  There he administered wizardly healing to the Orc, and to himself, and rested until Akhar awoke a day and a half later, gave him food and water and further healing, and the two recovered for the next few days.  Meanwhile, wailing from inland indicated that others had intruded into the node -- to what end they did not know.

 

In the tall, firey urn that Farstar had carried away were two things, both valuable beyond any conventional treasure.  The first was the magic axe that Akhar has carried since that day.  The second was a Book of Brass, a tome steeped in Chaotic energies and carrying secrets of the magic of Chaos, keys to power and lore that would permit Farstar to take a long step toward becoming a Lord Wizard himself.

 

"I think you should have this," Farstar said, once Akhar was recovered and awake enough to take in the full meaning of the wizard's words, presenting him with the axe.  "As an artificer-wizard I can tell you this is an astonishingly powerful artifact: the edge is as keen as the Art can make it, and flames of Chaos manifest on its edges when battle erupts.  Given a workshop, and time, and the resources needed for the making, I could produce this; nay, even surpass it.  But it will be quite some time before I have those things.  For having saved my life -- for the hounds would have consumed me rapidly if you had not destroyed more than half of them before I arrived -- I think it is clear that the One intends you to have this weapon."

 

"But ... but ... they overcame me."

 

"Ahh, but they did not overcome *us*.  Barely.  I was able to defeat what you left behind, and then get us all out of there before the node respawned its guardians and consumed us in its Primordial Fire.  As I see it, jointly we defeated the node, and jointly we won its treasure.  Make no mistake: I claim for myself the Book, which to my mind is infinitely more precious than the axe.  I perceive that you find nothing of personal value to you in the Book, while holding the axe to be transcendantly precious.  Given each of our proclivities, I can only imagine that we were *meant* to fall in with each other, *meant* to become allies, and *meant* to win the rewards thereof and share them."

 

After a long pause, Akhar said, "You will become a Lord Wizard someday, will you not?"

 

Farstar paused a similar length.  "I hope to.  But that goal is years and many miles off, if I live long enough to achieve it at all."

 

"Let me be the first of your soldiers," said the Orc.  "You saved my life from the dogs of Hell; I can only hope to have the chance to repay you.  When you are ready to declare yourself, summon me.  I will take the axe as a token and a pledge."

 

"And I will pledge that, if I do declare myself as a Lord Wizard of my own domain, I will summon you as first of my officers, and first of my Life Guard, for you have already saved my life."

[csyphrett]

Mr Straw spends a lot of his time helping the Mistress Macklemore while smuggling against the crown. If higher taxes are levied against her lands, he gets the money back. If an arranged marriage is in play, he sends the suitor home sometimes in the most embarrassing way possible. His presence chills other bandits and smugglers in the Corn River country, and that helps the young lady of the manor keep the peace.

CES   

[assault]

Fourth choice:

Sister Ianthe is one of the Great God's priestesses, dedicated to keeping the Sacred Flame alight.

She is also of noble birth, and in line to become the Queen/High Priestess of Ytic. As such, it matters if, or who, she marries. Naturally, she has suitors, seeking the advantages of such an advantageous match. (The Queen is only married to the King/High Priest in a ritual sense.) Equally naturally, she has her own opinions of the matter.

Currently, she uses the excuse of her duties to keep them at bay, but eventually that will wear thin. Other priestesses who could take over her duties are coming up.

She has a secret: out of the kindness of her heart, she let a cat enter the Temple. She didn't imagine that it would choose the holiest place in the entire world as its favourite napping place. She dreads the possibility that will be discovered, as well as the potential spiritual ramifications of what she still regards as blasphemy.

 

Still young, she hasn't yet realized her potential as one of the inner circle of priestesses of the Great God.

 

 

Person(s) in need of help pick: Sister Ianthe, Keeper of the Flame.

[Bazza]

On 7/9/2022 at 10:08 PM, Bazza said:

Protagonist: Stephanos Strange…he’s kinda like Luke Skywalker, but has black hair and a goatee. He can also do that telekinesis stuff too. 

oh, I need to catch up. How many draft picks have we made so far? 

[assault]

This isn't a pick, but extra details on Ytic. It also provides context for my last pick and the one I am going to make tomorrow.

---

Ytic can be viewed as a monarchy,a theocracy or an oligarchic republic.

 

Essentially it is a compromise. In order to maintain the favour of the Gods, the roles of the High Priesthoods and the divinely anointed monarchy were merged, but restricted to religious authority.

 

Secular power, on the other hand, was vested in the Tribunal Council, consisting of representatives of the three tribes that founded the city. Members of this group (individually known as Tribunes) jointly wield executive power, subject to a council of elders, and, nominally, an assembly of all adult members of the three tribes.

 

Naturally, the Tribunal is dominated by the aristocracy, as is the council of elders.

[Old Man]

2 hours ago, Bazza said:

oh, I need to catch up. How many draft picks have we made so far? 

Wednesday was four I think. 

[assault]

13 minutes ago, Old Man said:

Wednesday was four I think. 

 

Correct. I've started announcing the new days at some time after I wake up. However, for you, Bazza, assume 5:30 in the morning.

 

You were the one that asked for Strayan time.

 

Yes, this morning was pick four.

 

And don't be lame. You can tell a decent story if you try.

 

[assault]

5 hours ago, Bazza said:

oh, I need to catch up. How many draft picks have we made so far? 

 

Just for fun, what is the difference between a crocodile and a dragon, dude from Darwin?

Sorry, I shouldn't snark there. I'm from Toowoomba (Queensland). Originally known by white people as "the swamp". Don't worry though - I can pull monsters out of my ear just based on that.

---
I've been wondering about the compatibility of my protagonist choice and the rest of them. But my protagonist pulling monsters out of his ear is another sport indeed.

[Bazza]

5 hours ago, Old Man said:

Wednesday was four I think. 

Cheers. So if I catch up tomorrow for a total of 5 picks — that is the aim. 
 

ps: Assault, I would tell a non-lame story, but real-life is providing stiff competition. Plus I don’t have the time at the moment to engage in fan-fiction…unless I cheat and borrow lyrics from The Angels. 

[death tribble]

Primary Antagonist

With legs like that she could only be Evil ! Hair as black as a raven's wing, or Death Tribble's heart, she is beautiful and the delight of dressmakers as her clothing accentuates her figure showing her pins and decolletage to great effect. She is not the most powerful evil or servant of such but has survived whilst others have not. The Lich Lord and the War Priest of Uaema were more powerful personally and had more resources like underlings but a certain priest of the Sacred Order and knights of the Order of the Rose seemed to stumble upon them and remove them from the field. (this is due to Pelas being a trouble magnet, the Sacred Orde and the Order of the Rose making intellectual leaps and internecine rivalry on the evil side downplaying her importance becuase she is a woman). Only the virtuous can harm her due to a charm from Those She Serves. Her charms can reduce most men to simpletons or jelly but Macrus is immune to them. His colleague not so much. Velath is her muscle and she does not abuse him which makes her better than some he has served.

She is Jaleeka of the Night Fortress

[assault]

Then it was the Fifth Day.

---

First amongst the suitors pressing for Ianthe's hand is the Tribune Flaccus.

This corpulent brute has already reached the heights of constitutional power in Ytic, but seeks more. He believes a strategic marriage would further this quest, with his target being young and beautiful a bonus. His current wife's opinion is of no concern to him - he will set her aside in an instant.

Antagonist pick: Tribune Flaccus.

[csyphrett]

The primary antagonist is Lord Runnymede. He wants to own the land in the region, but is stymied by the Macklemores and their allies, is unable to collect the taxes and evict people because of Mister Straw, and has his own bandits run into the wandering death merchant Charonus. He has to get rid of these obstacles before he can use the region as his own stepping stone to more power and control

CES 

[death tribble]

Monster

The Beast of Grantham.

What has three heads, wings and breathes fire ? Yup, you guessed it, The Beast of Grantham. Who ate the halfling ambassador to the Five Golden Cities ? Yup, you guessed it, The Beast of Grantham. Who ruined the Sacred River Festival by driving hippos suffering gastric distress into the pilgrims ? Yup, you guessed it The Beast of Grantham. Who was missed during the Great Monster Hunt because someone did not think it evil enough or large enough ? Yup, you guessed it, The Beast of Grantham. Who killed the Thieves Guild of Menshar because they tried to give it belly rubs ? Yup, you guessed it, the Beast of Grantham.

The Beast of Grantham is a Chimera that like Jaleeka and Velath has survived previous purges of the evil beings. Certainly bigger and more vile creatures have fallen to magic, faith and force of arms but The Beast of Grantham has endured. It has grown bigger but has not bargained its soul for more power. It can talk so negotiations are possible. Jaleeka has used it as a method of escape and managed to increase its flight speed and endurance as a reward. Currently it is used as a spy, cavalry and ultimate threat by both antagonists who have suggested that it can now use magic. But can it ? 

[Cancer]

fifth installment: Antagonist: Hadesh the Motherless

 

Hadesh is ... a wraith, or ghost, a major undead?  a noncorporeal but visible demon?  That isn't clear from the appearance it has.  If it once was human, it has lost all sign of it but an overall shape and size.  It speaks in a hideous anharmonic voice, like a child's just short of screaming in pain.  It appears as a glowing but warmthless red-and-violet homonculus embedded in a light-consuming aura.  Things like wings appear behind it, and something like an oversize black sickle appears at the end of one of the arms.  Where it steps, the ground blackens and any trod-upon foliage is left behind as fetid sludge.

 

Hadesh does not ride anything, and seems not to move at a speed faster than a walk, but it does vanish (fade out over half a second or so) and can reappear at considerable distance away (fading back in over the same half second or so) without any discernible interval between the fade-out and fade-in.  It seems likely to be able to walk through stone or wood walls, but no one present has seen it do that.

 

Hadesh commands a host of minions.  More on those in a later installment.  The commands given often are vocal, but need not be (at least so living ear can hear).  In any case, clearly the minions move, albeit en masse and usually with the mindless lurching motions of their ilk, at the directions of Hadesh's will.

 

At one point late in the story Akhar and Hadesh confront each other.  Akhar's axe clearly causes Hadesh pain and makes it pause, but whether the injury persists or accumulates isn't apparent: the homonculus shows no wounds when the axe withdraws.  Hadesh's mobility seems impaired by the hits it takes from the thrown axe, as Akhar lands five square hits with the thrown weapon. Hoping to destroy the nearly-immobile foe, Akhar closes to horse-charge range intending to defeat it with rapid ride-by strikes.  But, Hadesh's sickle slays Akhar's horse with a single pass through the horse's hindquarters: the mount collapses into the same fetid sludge that the plants Hadesh walks on become, albeit with bleached bones left behind.  After a reflexive axe-throw that hits and stuns Hadesh and gives the orc opportunity to withdraw, Akhar retreats quickly back to the village, but is not pursued.  Perhaps significantly, Hadesh does not appear in combat range again in this story, but its minions do.

[Bazza]

Primary Antagonist:

Ewing Burns: A super rich tycoon, that made his money in nuclear-oil energy. Also member of the Regents Order, a collective of oligarchs acting as prime minister.  A cross between Monty Burns and J R Ewing, with JR more in appearance. Secretly a Sith who directs a government apparatus dealing with child slavery/trafficking and training the younglings into the ways of the Sith.  

Secondary Antagonist:

The Nazzgals. A elite and favoured group by Ewing Burns of an elite training school of Sith, training (torturing?) younglings into their lifestyle. The organisation is run as a matriarchy with Lucinda The Witch Queen as the current matriarch. Other prominent Nazzgals are Gibbon, Bagdad, and Trixie.  

 

Person(s) in need of help:

Eleven-Minus-1. An orphan who escaped from an Empire intelligence program to train Sith younglings. Eleven-Minus-1 was rescued by Stephanos Strange. Eleven-Minus-1 was having visions of the Tetractys before her escape.

 

A McGuffin/Gadget:

The Tetractys. A fabled, mythical talisman of St Leibowitz. The Tetractys is a book-within-a-book (recursively, to the tenth recursion, or 10 factorial). The first book is said to be of logic, and thus reveals the best way to reason the rest of it.

[death tribble]

Again there is something tantalisingly familiar about Bazza's choices. But I can't seem to put my finger, or toe, on it. 

[Bazza]

It is just your imagination. 

[assault]

Once again, the hour of doom is upon us.

 

I actually hit the mark this time, within a minute or two!

 

Anyway, this will be the last pick until Tuesday (me and Bazza time) or Monday (barbarian time). A chance for you to catch up if needed.

[Cancer]

sixth installment: Location 2: Lonuwei Island Chain

 

This archipelago, of which Lonuwei itself is the second-largest island, is the area which Farstar found, investigated, and chose as the territory for his domain.  There are eleven islands in all, of which the largest (Wei Major) has about 60% of the total land area of about 6000 square kilometers.  The archipelago's east-west extent is about 600 km and the north-south extent about 300 km.  All the islands are volcanic, though only three have currently active volcanism.  At present Wei Major is by far the most active volcanically, and what of its land is not fresh lava field is thickly and densely forested, and there is no good natural harbor on the island.  The archipelago is in the middle of an ocean, and at all points on its islands, the nearest continental coast is more than 1500 km away.

 

The second-largest island, Lonuwei, is a long and narrow island (about 65 km east-west by 15 km north-south).  Its west end is formed by an old volcanic cone whose top has exploded and collapsed to form a wide caldera; the caldera has two large (in area, not depth) lakes, is otherwise thickly forested, and the sites of two old towns exist there, each adjacent to a lake. The rim has an average altitude of about 700 m, though the lake surfaces are about 150 m below that rim.  The east end of the island is another volcanic peak, currently dormant; its peak has an altitude of 1200 m, highest point on the island.  In the middle of the south coast of the island is a splendid harbor, and an abandoned but well-preserved town stands there, with extensive tracts of arable land to both west and east.  North and a few km east of the harbor is a third volcanic massif whose peak blew up thousands of years ago, but left behind a remarkably smooth and level "table" at about 350 m elevation, aside from a deep but modest-sized lake.  The former inhabitants built a citadel on this table, which clearly was the administrative, intellectual, and religious capital of the archipelago.

 

Four of the islands have single magical nodes near their centers; Wei Major has three nodes.  The six nodeless islands have been at least modestly inhabited in the past.  Farstar has overcome the guardians in all the nodes and has set spirits in them to harvest the flow of magical power at these sites and divert it into a reservoir of his construction; without question, this continual influx of power is the foundation of Farstar's success.  He also built his magical foundry and workshop on the highest peak on Lonuwei, making agreements with earth, air, and water elemental spirits to drive parts of his manufactory when he sets to constructing magic items.

 

The last inhabitants of the islands prior to Farstar's arrival seem to have gone extinct about three hundred years ago.  They left extensive records in their capital, which Farstar has dubbed "Lonu Center".  The last single inhabitant is dead, but its shade now inhabits a statue in the main plaza of Lonu Center, a statue crafted by Farstar to honor the old population.  

 

What the archipelago lacks is sentient living inhabitants, and Farstar has only recently been giving thought to attracting citizens and the structure of the state he wants to set up for them.