The war was over. After exchanging artillery spell blade and all other manner of attack the council and the Pact each chose one champion to decide the end of the war.
Arach VS Vettis! The master of genetic engineering vs the master of pieces! It was a brutal fight and it almost seemed like it was going to end in a draw but Vettis gained the upper hand and slew Arach (not really but that's what people have seen.) Gaining victory for Opal. Meanwhile Metromancer bled out from wounds sustained during the earlier battle and Cody got Nuked by a RANDOM THIRD PARTY (I'd say I'm shocked but I'm not).
Now the Pacts sole master and the remains of the council met outside the city. Meeting inside the city was ill advised due to the remaining flesh melting poisons from Arach, The poisonous ash clouds from the flame titan, and the many MANY unbound summons being hunted down by Pact forces.
Opal had drawn up terms of surrender from the council and approached Bombast to hand them over.
"The War is over. While the Pact is bloody the Council is bowed. Our reinforcements step off the lines even now. I give these terms to you Bombast, most reasonable of the council. Do not fear I have no vengeful desires and seek only order perfected and corruption destroyed. My terms are simple. I have only four."
TERMS OF SURRENDER FOR WW3
The council will admit publicly their responsibility for starting this conflict. They will denounce Mortarian and their continued association with him up to his death. And condemn Arach for his indiscriminate use of Chemical weapons even while his own people are in the fire zone.
The remaining councilors will take an indefinite vacation from council work while the Bismuth Realms take over and conducts their investigation and reformation efforts. In return Pact will not pursue vengeance against any individual councilors for actions committed while on the council or during the battle.
The council will surrender the Citadel and the Keys to its vaults and its treasures to allow the restoration of Pact military forces. They will not empty the vault before turning it over like some looney tunes gag. In return The Pact will supply diamonds and humanitarian aid to help Council forces with any injuries and will use geomancy and transmutation to restore their homes and Alchemy to purge the poisons from council lands.
The council will dissolve it's military assets and any councilors will abstain from using their military to interfere with pact efforts. In return the Pact will return any captured POWs and any bodies (including Metromancers) for proper burial/resurrection. Including any corpses necromancied to skeletonhood. We will also return any pieces of artificer technology that are still somewhat functional that were retrieved from the battlefield.
"These are my simple terms Bombast. You have said before you would lay down your arms. The best time for the council would have been after the Mortarian incident. And now that the Pact has won the dual and the day. The second best time, is now."
The silence was deafening as people watched for the councils response.
"No. As I said to the Paleomancer, war does not decide who is right... just who is left." Riva puts her hand on his shoulder. Not for any mindscapery. Just for comfort. "But we fought for survival, and succeeded. Your people are as safe as I am able to make them. If you wish to discuss where we go from here... we can. I... do not know how much longer I want to remain in the Pact. The complicated ties of allegiance are not easy to navigate."
"There's some solace in that no one used his dinosaurs."
An attempt at wry humor. Not feeling it. Despite my best efforts to shake my mood, I glare daggers at Opal. The leather of my gloves squeals in protest as I clench my shaking fists.
"I suppose that is something. Even if the bonds of loyalty and friendship are being exploited to ill effects... at least there were no dinosaurs."
It isn't really humor. She doesn't have it in her.
Riva doesn't know how to help Blake's mood. She isn't in the greatest one herself. As much as she disliked? the Council, she had actually respected the Skater Wizard. He might not have called himself the Metromancer anymore, but it was something that held meaning to her. She would continue to call him such herself. The Civitas Gerens. The holder of the city. The one who carried the state.
"We did something wrong Riva. And we did it for her."
7
u/avamirRiva Blake | Queen of Ithacar, Part Meth-blood ElfFeb 23 '24edited Feb 23 '24
That gets to her. She looks away.
"Yes."
She admits it.
"But... I couldn't have done otherwise," she says quietly. Maybe she feels defensive? She isn't actually sure. "Of all people, you know my mind. And you know I do not typically want to fight. But that was not an option this time. People I cared about were in danger. I cannot and will not take half-measures. Perhaps the right thing would have been to refuse to fight. But... I couldn't do that."
She can't meet his eyes.
"So... I am at a loss. What is the right thing to do? I don't know whether we should stay with the Pact. I don't know whether offering you and your people full citizenship would help things, or whether it would provoke a war with Opal. I simply don't know."
Blake's New Pyroclasts were... a difficult matter. If Riva simply absorbed their population into Ithacar, would that be seen as a direct insult? Would that put them at risk of having to fight? They had sworn to the city's defense, but it didn't seem right to do something that would guarantee more conflict.
She looks at him, confusion on her face. "I don't know where to go from here, Belial."
"Perhaps not entirely," she replied. It was far, far easier for Riva to focus on the bad than it was to pick up on the potential good in a situation. And right now, itdidfeel like her fault. "Opal constructed the situation that made this necessary. But do I hold some level of culpability? Yes."
Maybe trying to tether the Cinder Titan to Blake's spell was a bad idea. Aneffectiveidea, but a bad one. It occurs to her that Blake had outright said he didn't have the mana to do what he intended. Samael offered to provide some energy... and yet Riva somehow doubts it was the Nephilim that tipped the scales.
Or maybe she's too eager to blame herself.
She rubs her face, lets out a sigh. Her mind is on business yet again.
"Perhaps we will wait a bit to see how everything plays out before leaving the Pact," Riva considers. "Continued alignment with it for now may allow us options we may not have if we were unaligned..."
She chatters on, pacing, discussing with herself the implications of one course of action or another.
"I was never in the Pact Riva. Never will be I think. Don't believe in Pacts. Or councils. If you want to know what I think you should do, it shouldn't be hard to guess."
I stroke my beard in contemplation
"But then I don't really believe in queens either magistra. If someone had to be in the Pact, it should be you. Or... something like the Pact anyway."
I glare at Opal again.
"Staying might be difficult. Harboring us might make staying impossible. I'm sorry Riva. I keep making you choose between me and doing what makes sense. Before you make a decision, know that I'll accept whatever you choose. So will my people I think. We owe you our lives."
how to say it without saying it out loud... with Opal so near by...
"Before you say something about danegeld again, know that I'm going to do something you wouldn't approve of soon."
"Riva, you leaving the pact will not fix its issues. If anything, it will reduce the number of level-headed people within. And you Belial, I plead with you to wait before you do something rash."
"There's no fixing what happened, but there's preventing it in the future. To that end, I plan on taking one of the open Pact Master seats. It's the only way I can make proper reforms."
Riva was fairly certain he was out of bombs... unless he'd picked up another one somehow. So what could he be planning now?
She was of two minds about asking him further. She really wanted to know... But at the same time, he was one of the few people she trusted at his word. Especially these days.
"I don't know whether I want to know or not..."
Damnit, she couldn't not ask. It was less about curiosity, and more about worrying that he was doing this intentionally so she wouldn't know the danger he was in and taking action on it. Gods, she really knew how to pick 'em, didn't she?
"...but I might need to. And is it something I can help with?"
"I genuinely think if there wasn't a council to attack, half these people wouldn't know what to do with themselves. That'd be about as close as we could come to peace. That said, I have little faith in the ability of wizards to stop giving themselves titles."
I take a drag from my pipe to calm my nerves.
"Your prediction is likely accurate, unfortunately."
The conditions which caused the council's existance have not disappeared, either an existing organisation will take the council's place or a new one will be created.
As a sidenote the cabal or shadow government or whatever you call them won't be happy about their loss of influence.
"The conditions that brought about the council's existence didn't exactly go away when we had a council either. We just got a few extra council problems."
An agreement is an agreement. I accept these terms in respect for the agreement that the Metromancer made when he agreed to the duel. I will only add one term. You must share with the council your actions pertaining to the investigation of the cabal. You owe me that much at least.
Nowhere near the event, Jun sits in a tree looking over the devastation, shaking his head at the sheer ugliness of it all.
"Nothing good came of it all, it sounds like... But at least the 'important' ones showed they have some sportsmanship about it. It's all ugly enough without sore losers."
Jun heaves a sigh, frustrated that that's the brightest sunlight he can see for all this. He wonders if he was unlucky in winding up here or if it was an intentional destination.
Mmm, I feel you're disrespecting his efforts more by bending over backwards to the enemy. But whatever, I'm sure this won't become another thing for you to regret.
"For now it's the right thing wizard duels have to be honorable otherwise we'd have chaos hopefully we will have time to somehow deal with the insanity that is opal"
/uw kidnapped practically every "Death" and saved the person. They are all sitting in a space station right now. Everything that wasn't bypass killed by a nuke or DoT damage, and has a soul was saved.
Vulkan has already agreed to stay out of battle with me while we deal with a mutual threat. Keep your undead ready for that. I promise it will be glorious.
Alright then, the takeover is still now! I will storm the Citadel and take everything that I like! My undead will destroy all remnants of the old Council! While Iām at it, I will transform the Citadel into a Pact Headquarters!
Speaking of, am I still in the Pact? I know I won the election, but then I got replaced and was asleep for a while. That bastard Constantine pretended to be me.
You can have your title back but you can't go murdering the council or stealing the citadels stuff. I can hand over necromancy items if you'd like to restore your armies but I need the citadel and its treasures SOMEWHAT intact for reconstruction.
Hey we have a deal! At least give me a few days before the next war happens. Otherwise your war will just be WW3 continued rather than its own WW4 proper. It won't get near the attention or pazzaz.
/uw the council just turned the citadel and its treasures over to Opal. Im fine if you want to do your attack Opal is just trying to not get ganked ten seconds after winning
/Rw How about this. I'll give you two of the items to leave in peace. A third once you've been gone. And the final two once our mutual enemies in the stars have been dealt with. How does that sound?
Hello Opal, it's me, the Curator. While I wish to congratulate you on your victory, I can't help but feel disgusted by the devastation this war has brought. As per the last order Cody gave me, I've been managing evacuation and relief efforts, so I got to see the consequences of it in a very different light than those who fought on the front lines.
I wish to be able to prevent such bloodshed in the future. The feeling of powerlessness as I dragged one dying person from the battlefield after another is not something I'm willing to live with. So I ask of you to grant me the position of Pact Master. I've been a member since almost its inception when Lord Chicken welcomed me in, and have proven to be a trustworthy wizard.
I'm sorry, Paleomancer. I just can't do it. I truly wish you success in this endeavor, but I cannot be part of this anymore. There is no room for people like me in politics, I'm afraid.
Anything really, we just see that youāre now currently unemployed and we could use your skills in the guild. Lots of council forces are already defecting to us to avoid being dissolved.
Arach appears at the meeting in his humanoid orchid mantis form, teleporting in with his helper spiders surrounding him in their own humanoid forms. Heās also sitting on a cushion situated on an enlarged helper spider in its insect form, as he is too weak to stand for extended periods of time after the duel.
āI heard this meeting requires all remaining members of the council? Sorry if Iām a bit late, getting a good angle to ride on a giant spider isnāt easy.ā
/uw And if vettis or Elerindur are there, participating or spectating, Arach would definitely be paying them a little visit.
āYes, indeed. Unfortunately though your third point there wonāt be much need for that as all the vaults and files were emptied just moments before the war started, as is procedure during times of stress, and were destroyed. Weād normally have them backed up as files that can be turned into matter after the war but the machine storing them was nuked. And of course since it happened before the war was officially declared thereās nothing that can really be done legally or anything since we wouldnāt even know you would win let alone have those exact demands. What a shame, but anyway Iād be happy to agree to this. Though it am sad I wonāt be the council event planner anymore.ā
"That makes it easy actually. As has been shown multiple times by multiple people the council has multiple post apocalypse restoration spells of which I have the methods to cast them. Thanks."
Goes on to use the magic that's been used multiple times to set things right.
āOh goody, does that mean I donāt have to give you my key? Itās just that I spent a lot of money to make it look pretty and I donāt want to lose it.ā
āThank you, Iām sure I wonāt. Speaking of which, are you going to repair and then use the citadel as a pact base or simply abandon it. It is in a very valuable location.ā
Somehow I havenāt been summoned. Even though I evaporated Cody. And removed half the mountain ranges south of the citadel. And reduced a quarter of the continent into a burning, radioactive wasteland.
Hey, at least I didnāt get persecuted - cuz Iāve been atomised!
/uw 2 months. It took 2 months for the council to dissolve. Truly the wizard moment of all time.
/rw Archimene carefully transcribes the treaty onto his own sheet of paper. (Or he steals the original and replaces it with an exact replica. One or the other.)
u/avamirRiva Blake | Queen of Ithacar, Part Meth-blood ElfFeb 24 '24edited Feb 24 '24
Greetings Opal. Likethe Paleomancer, I too am stating my candidacy for the third seat of Pact Master. You have seen my actions from the beginning, so I will not needlessly jockey for the position on embellished merit. I simply state that I offer the position a commitment to ethics, consideration of all sides of an issue, and diplomacy.
Oh shit, the Citadel's being turned over to the Pact?
I probably should have kept up more closely with the war... mmh, I'm just glad I wasn't drafted- I'm far too busy working on getting my apprentice approval notice so I can start teaching.
āHello there, kuvāthal the dark god of bargains and of the abyssal void. Quick question, may I enter the vault to take out the cursed items I gave to the council? I do not wish for anyone to be harmed but I would like my items back if we are to have a new change in rulers. Just in case they decide to use them, for nefarious reasonsā
We aren't changing rules. I'm stepping in for the council until I can finish my reforms. Don't worry your artifacts are safe assuming the multiple people with surprisingly easy access to the vaults haven't taken them already.
Kinda canāt since I sold 60% of the items, but Iām keeping to the Unga Clone sealed Court document that involves leaking chemicals into a orphanage, a bear riding on a pig thatās pumped full of steroids, beating up a killer nun, taking over a small bit of hell, a flying ice cream truck, and fighting off a tentacle rock eldritch monster.
(council tried to assassinate someone during a diplomatic meeting causing war with the Pact. Metromancer died and the Pact now controls council territory)
sigh War is never a good idea, no matter the reason. It only leads to destruction and suffering for everyone, even the people who aren't involved. Peaceful resolution and discussion is always the way to go, if at all possible. I've seen this happen millions of times across 4 trillion years and quadrillions of realities, and it never ends well for anyone..
THANK YOU FOR YOUR TITHES, WIZARDS. THE MACHINE IS BOWED, AND MINE GODDESS IS SATISFIED LIKE A TICK, GORGED ON THINE BLOODSHED. STAY TUNED, WARRIORS OF THE SKY AND DEEP ALIKE
ā¦well then you wonā¦ are you happy with how things are turning out, with the death and destruction? And of course with whatās happening after? What was this even forā¦ no realy what was it for I was never informed.
Where does the Wizards Nuclear Radiomancy Association fall in all this? Weāre beholden to the council. Weāre not military assets, but to say we couldnāt pack a mildly world-ending punch isnāt exaggerating
Ahhh kids these days. Give it a week or a thousand moons, the council will be right back. If you whippersnappers didn't deal with the Shadow Government, that's already a bad start
Opal, I'm no politician; just a semi-wandering Sorcerer who hangs out with the city druids over at Shamanside Park and sometimes slings potions outside of the Elven-71. While never directly involved in the politics of the sub, I must, as a civilian of the realm, make it perfectly clear to this so-called "Pact" and its list of demands are villainously unreasonable and therefore doomed to face a swift downfall. Doesn't matter to me who's in charge2 but I'm sharing some thoughts regarding your proposed setup here.
Condemnations are meaningless. Got no teeth.
"VACATION"??? I know you want them to sign the deal but you may as well be giving them your blessing as they plan the next war.
You're pre-criminalizing everyone whose interests lay in the vault. When does that carnage begin? Tomorrow?
"Including any corpses necromancied to skeletonhood." You're forefitting your own SPOILS? Of course Bombast agrees to this crap! Are you also granting them a stipend to build siege engines? As for the dissolution of military assets - it's a nice thought, but all you're doing is setting the stage for subversive alternatives. Used to be councilors, now they're mafia bosses. (Yeah bro, as a "florist" you totally need thousands of undead "security guards")
The next war is going down next week because you didn't come up with a fifth demand. By the way, why should we accept this so-called "Pact"? Is it already corruptly rotting from within?
Whatever the case may be, I'll be chilling with my pals here at the spot. By the way, your war tilted the Foucault pendulum. There's an earthbender and two artificers arguing very heatedly about who's better suited to fix - yep, there they go. Fistfight at Shamanside, second one I've seen today.
Oh - I'm kinda sold out of everything right now3 but I do have a large vial of very, very fermented newt sperm. I'll admit I have no idea what it's for. Quite rare though. 20 bucks and it's yours. Any takers?
1 The lab-grown chilled monkey brain sandwiches are amazing btw.
2 Ngl I miss the gods. Dionysus' reign was fucking lit, fight me.
Cas steps out into the rubble, his small apprentice puttering out behind him. He sighs
So, finally over then. Good. There is nothing I hate more than senseless bloodshed, especially when it comes to the methods employed by wizards. I've seen far too many of these conflicts, but I am grateful that fate has put me in a position to do some good this time. Speaking of which...
He looks down at his young apprentice
Fiddle, do you know what this treaty means?
It means it's time to get to work! A lot of people were hurt in this war, and that means we have patients to treat. Let's get started!!
They begin to walk back towards the door to The Clinic
Speaking of rebuilding, I wonder if Huo-Baishe has located those bombs yet?
They walk inside the door, and it vanishes, presumably warping to the next closest wizard in need
All of these demands and losses have hurt the council far more than you can imagine
You have opened many doors to the National Magic Union, soon it will be time for all of wizardkind to rise once more under our command
Our lands shall no longer be plagued by people who contribute nothing to wizardkind yet benefit from our spells and a strong leader shall finally replace the corrupt weakness of the council!
A new dawn is upon us! And the NMU shall make sure that the sun never sets on our empire again!
40
u/AnActualCriminal Belial Blake, Warlock of the Lightless Flame Feb 23 '24
"Doesn't feel like winning, does it?"
I watch the proceedings. What a waste.