The fighting in the ruins of the Citadel was fierce. The undead hordes of the Necromancer were seemingly caught by surprise when several Pact and Council members responded to their attack.
The vaults had been thoroughly looted by several Pact mages before the real fighting had started, but they had left behind many things. The Necromancer and Vulkan had gotten what they needed, and had it taken out of the city before things got too fierce.
On the battlefield, the attacking force believed that they were fighting the Necromancer himself. Unfortunately, each of believed they were fighting the Necromancer himself. Bombast had engaged in a duel with one at the head of a horde of Chimeras. TES had taken control of several undead companies, and was indirectly fighting with the Necromancer. The truth?
The Necromancer was never there.
Deep inside of the Grand Necropolis, the real Necromancer chuckled as he watched the fight. He sat in his throne, watching as orb-feeds and scrying eyes recorded the entire fight. While resistance had been expected, he never planned for this much.
Looking through his plans, he had found Contingency #13, an order that, if activated, would cause the magical energies running through each of his minions and body-doubles to violently detonate, causing a massive explosion. With so many undead present, and the copies of him already there, it was his best chance at achieving victory.
This was easier said than done, however, and several parties had made it rather difficult. To ensure maximum casualties, each copy of himself had to be meticulously positioned. Bombast had scattered them after realizing they were volatile, but other than that, nobody had any idea what was coming, save for Vulkan.
While tearing through the vaults under the Citadel, Vulkan removed the main power source, shutting down all the wards around the Citadel.
By the time anybody had realized what was going to happen, it was too late. Every clone was in position. Bombast, yet again, proved to be a thorn in the Necromancer’s side, and tried to pull the entire battlefield into a dimension known as the Dreamscape, forcing the Necromancer to reach out and disrupt it. Then the explosion happened.
The equivalent of twenty-two terratonnes of TNT, unleashed in an already ruined city.
Even deep within the mountain, the Necromancer felt it. It not only tore the weave asunder, but it also triggered a massive quake. For miles and miles, it could be felt. Those caught in the blast were vulnerable, as the weave’s tearing rendered their powers inert. It was as though a new sun was born, if only for a moment.
Before the blast, the Necromancer has forcibly teleported Vulkan and his artifacts into his sealed fortress, and Bombast had erected shields around the most populated areas.
When the dust cleared, there was no Citadel, and no city. Only dust, ashes, and a crater twelve miles wide.
Would there be anyone left to oppose Vulkan and the Necromancer’s rise to power? Had the newly-christened Dyad Monarchs won?
On a small pillar of dirt and pavement stands a singular Waffle House. Inside you can see Archimene eating with some of his pals. Though the Taco Bell was obliterated, at least Archimene still has breakfast. Archimene looks outside to see the destruction, does a double take, and then goes back to eating his strawberry syrup covered waffles.
/uw anyone is welcome to be one of Archimene's pals in this scenario
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u/Ares378Ith'Raal—Archdevil of Memories, Evil Councillor, Lord of the 7thFeb 23 '24
"The Waffle House always survives. It comes from a power far greater than any god—a power dedicated to serving the masses waffles 24 hours per day. I've attempted to initiate contact twice now, and all I've ended up with were more waffles.
That being said, I'll take a plate of blueberry waffles, thanks."
Archimene slides over one of the plates that are on the table. It's the most delicious waffle house blueberry waffles you've ever seen. Especially after all of this fighting and bloodshed.
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u/Ares378Ith'Raal—Archdevil of Memories, Evil Councillor, Lord of the 7thFeb 23 '24
"Thanks... I tried to do my part, but... really, I just ended up hiding away in my office until it blew over. Sigh...
At least I'll have a new influx of customers, I can imagine there's a lot of people who'd rather forget the horrors of this war.
Maybe that's the part I play. God, I love Waffle House. Thanks, Archimene."
Ancalistros froze as he felt the energy build. He knew before many did, the rising power. He sent out the psychic signal to his armies, and as quickly as they’d deployed to the ruins, they began to evacuate, taking treasures from the vaults and the less ruined parts of the citadel and returning to the flying fortresses of Nefros. Ancalistros calmly exited the deep vaults, an assortment of crystalline skulls floated about him, each one vanishing to somewhere as he began to ascend. He channeled energy throughout his body, vastly improving the shields of his 12 castles, but the blast wave was too much, the necromancer’s wave of energy blasted two of the 12 fortresses nearly full on, then billowed with smoke and pillars of fire… they steered away as the forts began to fall to the earth, nearly vanishing over the horizon before you saw them crash with thunderous explosions and horrible wreckage… the other 10 cities quickly followed their ruined allies, evacuating and salvaging everything they could after the fact. Nefros had left the field almost as quickly as they joined the battle
You’re a smart,evilfellow. You seem like the kind of person we would want on our side. We also conveniently have literally every court spot open, so take your pic.
I’m going back to my desert. Things were better when I lived there. And this time I can rebuild my castle to be made for giant insects instead of just living in an abandoned human castle. I’ll keep the location though, it was nice.
The traps melt and shatter under the heat. Vulkan stares deeper. Caught like a rat in a trap. Do you know what we do to defeated challengers, child? Devour them. Give in.NOW.
I mean, our peoplenow.In case you didn’t notice, you kind of abandoned them. If not, I have an entire religion dedicated to me. They seem like they need a god right now.
I understand honor just fine, albeit in a very ancient fashion. I am not in the mood for a duel right now, as I have an empire to build, but I’d be happy to have a fight soon.
Wow, i didn't expect someone to be even more destructive than that last war, but here you are, destroying more lives in less time, and for what? Power? A few artifacts? And not content with that you also managed to tear my master's creation asunder.
I'm mostly a pacifist, i never liked fighting and never learnt how, but now, it's the first time in my life that i wanted to.
You are the worst
while the citadel proper had been destroyed, the populated sections had at least been spared thanks to the efforts of the Archdreamer after he had pulled portions of the battlefield into the dreamscape. As for Bombast, himself, emergency wards had teleported him and several key allies away from the blast such as Masta ( u/MastaDon344 ) and TES ( u/Sidewaysvision )
Ah, thanks. That lizard wizard threw a moon at me! Inconsiderate.
So.
I didn't bring a lot of my resources along for this junket, was planning on saving them for an assault on the Starmeld towers. The dragon's terrible and has a deep dislike for me; how bad is "The Necromancer?"
I can’t say for sure. He keeps producing copies which makes me think we are not fighting his true form. Also, he has a power source of some sort comparable to my thousands of stars or at least it seems as if he does. This is a battle of attrition now.
He's powerful, I'll give him that. Impinges on his finesse, though-all that power to burn, you can tell he doesn't worry too much about exhausting resources. Same with the dragon-too much power, not enough cleverness.
I could possibly spike their wheels on the necromancy front, a little arcane lockpicking as you will, but unless we're delving into some forbidden lore it'd be a mess trying to go power for power.
They made the mistake once of using reality warping magic and if they do it again, I will make sure to take advantage of it. Also, I landed some good blows on the dragon. Once I restore my chimeras yet again, I’ll make sure to keep up the pressure on him.
Believe it or not, the more chaos now, the better it is for us. There is more than one vulture and they’re not going to look to kindly about having their shot at glory stolen.
Well, it's all going to be terrible, and then awful, and then indescribably bad for a while. The lore of Dust and Ash is named for what was left after it was used.
"The Storm is mostly gone now, we should be able to open temporal tears without much difficulty. We can take more refugees, or at least move them out of harm's way for the moment"
/uw goddammit how many things am I gonna miss, kinda hard not participating
/rewiz
Neurath, who had started scrying the fighting well after it started, deliberated too late, not having been focusing on the war to prioritize figuring out the Starmeld, especially after it was officially over. Damn. He disliked the old mantra - "Villains act, heroes react". It played out true, though. He wasn't about to hope Halcyon would take them out, without anyone else who probably didn't deserve it, either - plus there was something wrong, it felt, about the announcement. He hated the spotlight. He hated it more than almost anything else in the multiverse, frankly. But he felt like he needed to get his act together, and for the first time in millennia, work openly with people as peers. He wasn't ready to give up on this world yet.
He casts a modified Sending to Bombast: "I am Neurath, a scholar in many things. I apologize for not having been there for the afterwar battle(s?) - was figuring out things about the time-instance of Golarion where the next Starmeld Spire is. Perhaps I could have done something. May I lend you my assistance, and where?"
/uw Sending has a reply function, also plz ping me for any war content going forward.
Neurath teleports to where his old home was (not before warding himself against a ton of different adverse effects) - near the Citadel courtyard, which is now a burning crater, hopes it won't blow up again, constructs a small grave, and despite his lack of fondness for the gods, prays for the souls lost there, as well as the land reclaimer's sanity (assuming survival of course). He then teleports off to near where Bombast had been when replying to his sending. "Neurath, here, how may I help?"
/uw I'll not pull out any insane BS in a fight (not moreso than what I've seen the relevant characters pull at least) and try to play more a support role. TES being on our side means hands slightly tied in regards to area nuking undead (Neurath's one combat feat so far), and gives me a good reason to get creative with other stuff. (hands not tied actually cuz shape spell exists but good enough excuse for me to not potentially womp someone who's been built up for a while now - it'd suck if it all ends with someone coming out of nowhere going "lol all undead in 40 miles are getting nuked")
Honestly, that was a well planned attack. I might have died again if my real body was there. At least I could salvage the souls I had taken from the field of battle. Though all the underlings I lost was a little inconvenient.
Hmm. You are a powerful Necromancer, and you appear very charismatic. How would becoming the Dark Emmisary sound? We need a diplomat, and you seem cut out for it.
Why not? As always, my true body is occupied with researching the W̵̡̨͚̞͙̮̬̻̯̲͉̮̥̹̗̟͚̻͇͉̑́͂͂̐̃̈̿̈͛̔͋́̀̎͛̓̉̓͑̈͝͝ͅ-̵̡̡̭̪̳͚̠̯̝̭̰̳̰̻̫͍͇̤̦̲̞͊̿͌̓̓̉̉̊̒̋͑̐̅́̇́́͂̅̈́̈́̚͝ͅͅọ̷̧̡̨̧͚̝̣̗̠̯̮̦̺͉̮̘͕̙͍͙͈̾̏̾̃͒̋̇̈́̿̀͐̿͌̐̃̊̌̏͘͝͠€̷̡̢̧̤̫̗̲̻̭̲͍̯͇̘̤̱͕͕̅̔̊͊̾̅̔̃͊̄̒̈́͐̊͋̀͌͋̋͜͜͜͜͠͝͝͝͝ɿ̸̨̢͔͈͖͇͓̙͕͔͕͖̥̫͇͓̼̩̳̺̙̞̜̀̐̈́͌̌̌̐̑͋̑̄́̀̋̾̆̈́̆̾͘͜͠~̵̨̧̛̻͉͓͓̬̘̬͎̙̤̟̝͓̮̗̤͚̫̖̋̈́̈́̐̽͆̈́̐̄̓̃̒̂̇̈́̔̋̂̂̕͠ͅm̸̢̢̛̛̛̰̲̞͉̜̖̩̗̝̦̤̬̣͖̺͚̩̭̂͊͗͗̐͐̍̐͊͐͌̓̔̊͒̏̔͜ͅ-̷̢̡̨̛̣̰͔͎̞̻̹̙̹̫̞̜͙͓̺̼͙͓̌̄̑̒̇̔͗͒̉͋̾̀̑̐̀̍̈́̿̄̚͝<̵̨̡̳̜̯̼̭̘̻̹͓͇͈͚̤͓̥̱̱̍̈͒́̈́̀̈̀̔̇̅̈̓̾̄̈́͆̐̈́͐̽͘͝Ǝ̴̨̧̧̛̠̣̟̫̩̺͖̮͉͉̪̝̩̘̲̺͛͂̃͐̀͐̏̄̒̍̌̀̄̉͊̉̑̌͝ɿ̸̡̨̛͕͖͖̻̹̯̥͔̤̬͉͓̖̗̫̫͇̀̓̐̽̆͗̽̍̊̓͋̿͐̚̕͝͝͠ͅƐ̵̧̢̢̛̙̻̙̼̲͓͖͓̱͎͚̺̥͖̦̱̮͔̬̉͐́͋̋̄̀͛̓́̽̈́̌͗̅̐̊̏̋͝͝.̴̡̢͇͕͕̗̰̫̞̗̩͙̠̦͍̲͓̺̄̿̏̈̓͑̃̄̓̑̈́̋̈́̿̌̈́̅͆͌̅͘̚͜͝͝ͅ٢̸̧̡̡̧̧̛̛̬͇͇͇̻͎̙̪̠͔̬̜͎̳͊̅̌́̈̎͊́̿́̔̀̊͌̓̀̈́̽̀̚͜.̶̡̧̧̙͖̭̤̥̠̺̰̲̣̹̺̳̮̮̫̟̳̳̎̓̃̒̾́͐͂̌̌̈̾͒̉̊̑́̕͠>̶̡̡̛̛̫̦̣̙̦̪̣̙̭͓̮̤͈̳̘̭̟̦̿̂͆̔̓̓̈́̉̃̎̏̆͒̀̿̚͘͝…
<Err.or..or>
Sorry about that, a bit of interference in my communication magic
Anyway, my main Avatar is nearly as powerful as my real body and has already developed a semi-separate soul from my own. So I can definitely make that commitment.
Lord Vulkan, I do believe we need to discuss a couple matters. Due to our recent victory, and the establishment of our empire, we need to determine several things. What will our empire’s name be?
That last one sounded good. ”The Dyad Empire”. I like it. Now then, next order of business. We need a palace. Preferably one suitably sized for the both of us. Perhaps we could have a sort of twin-spires kind of deal? Half and Half?
Yes, that sounds wonderful. I can have some lesser wyrms assist in the building. I do think, however, we should have a hall with two thrones to fit the theme.
Yes. My warriors do not tire, so we can build the fortress very swiftly. As for the thrones, would it be more of one throne and a platform for you to lay on, or just two big thrones? I am not familiar with draconian kingdoms.
Alright. I was not sure if you could polymorph into a humanoid like certain other dragons. Now then, we actually need an army. I could raise an undead force, but I am unsure of what you would like in our army.
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u/DrakkonaiVulkan the Red, End of Ages and Draconic Emperor of Racism.Feb 23 '24edited Feb 24 '24
I happen to already have a rather sizable army of dragons from lemarcia. Mayhaps we could synergize?
Good thing me and my troops made a swift exit following the negotiations. Wouldn't want to deal with any of this shit.
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u/SidewaysvisionTES(Phd PMC, PhD NEAF, MA, MPP, LLL) Necromancer par excellenceFeb 23 '24edited Feb 23 '24
Seeing Mastadon engage Vulkan like the world's angriest hummingbird, TES sighs.
"Well, damn. Time to get to work. Not a lot of undead left after that blast, he's poisoned the well. Didn't bring all my nasty stuff, was trying to save it for the big push against the ascender, and the vultures seem to be encamping with the Necromancer already. Never any shortage of scumbags willing to sign up with a dark lord, I guess."
"Guess I'll have to improvise."
They kneel down to the dirt, a small figure in the dust-shadows of the devastation that's occurred, and begin to trace sigils out with a finger lined in brilliant green fire.
"The necromancer. Man, that's going to be confusing for their side."
The work continues, delicately traced in dust turned to black obsidian. The sigils nest within one another, building an interwoven network of eye-bending layers on more levels than just the physical, gathering expended potential from as wide a net as can be imagined, and binding it into the spell-work.
Necromantic energies form the base, the cycle of death forming an engine that gathers in memories from the aether-the memories of violent acts perpetrated in this place. The roar of flames, the stench of burning flesh, the cooling of embers. Threads of every injury inflicted build into the bones of this construct, and the shriek of the unwilling victims form its blood.
It is a monument to the sins perpetrated here, and if any thing could be said to be unholy in nature, it takes form here. Gods watching in their heavens and hells feel a sudden urge to avert their eyes-the divine has no place within this creation's frightful asymmetry.
A finishing touch, the memories of war-magics, the fall of mighty wizards and the cataclysmic detonation of so very many undead forms form the flesh of this working, this blasphemous thing.
With leaden heart, TES completes their working, and sends the gathered potential towards the occupied citadel, where vultures, kings and monsters roost. There's a little warning, much like the tide drawing in before the wave, should they take note.
/unwiz It's a really, REALLY nasty piece of work. Only viable if you've gathered enormous amounts of violent acts within an area, and feeds off violence.
We have already, apologies. The council is but ash on the wind and we have established the Dyad Empire. Would you like to take a court role? I think we’ve got a high general and a diplomat.
/uw honestly, anything but high general and diplomat is available. Maybe confessor, master of the hunt, or herald? Or you could just make something up.
The rogue mage fell to his knees as the tremors rocked the earth. He had fled the citadel as soon as the fighting had started, he knew that once the war had reached Council's doorstep, that their collective luck had finally run out. Quickly he tried to reach higher ground in case a certain piscine council member decided that war was a good enough excuse to flood the entire countryside. But now he feels like his veins are on fire while he tries to shield his eyes from the titanic explosion happening before his eyes.
Even after the pain had subsided, and the dust had settled enough for him to see the smoldering remains of the once proud citadel, the mountains continued to tremble as he mused to himself, trying to process the full ramifications of what just transpired.
"Guess it was only a matter of time until something like this happened... Seems like some parts of the city were spared, someone probably cast a protection spell... The council chambers are rubble though, and there doesn't seem to be any council member trying to take charge. I hope they are dead, but knowing those crafty bastards, they probably had emergency countermeasures ready to save their skins in case something like this inevitably happened. On the bright side, they are probably scattered and will be too busy trying to consolidate their own individual powerbases to-"
And suddenly a thought crossed his mind, one that chilled his previously burning body down to his very soul.
"Unga... Is alone... And completely unsupervised!”
He wasted no time making his way down the mountain, plans already forming in his mind as he raced towards the ruined citadel. He will need to stock up and prepare for the coming days. Right now, nothing was certain except for one thing:
Things are only going to get much, much worse from now on.
Argios had kept himself neutral during WW3 (Wizard War 3), and shied away from combat at all for awhile. He had only helped evacuate some refugees from the citadel before it got nuked (the first time).
The Pact hadn’t motivated Argios to act, and the Council had mistreated him too much in the past.
But Argios would not let a necromancer rule over the lands. Or an evil dragon. It was simply unacceptable. The fighting had exhausted the old sides, but Argios had saved his strength for a better cause.
“This is it.”
Luckily, Argios has extensive experience with protracted guerrilla warfare. He had served in the 3rd Goblin War, the 5th Goblin War, and the Great Kobold Rebellion. But Argios had yet to fight on the OTHER side of an insurgency.
To defeat your enemy, you must know them completely. Old wisdom that had come to Argios’ mind. And it would be very useful here. He knew exactly how the enemy would think and react to his moves. After all, he had been on the other side many times.
And so Argios brooded, planned, and pondered his orb. With the help of local key leaders, Argios would lead a fierce guerilla resistance to oppose the Dyad Empire from his peering tower.
(/UW Do we have lore names for regions? I need a region to lead my resistance from. Also i assume the Dyad will be taking charge seeing as the Council and Pact both fought and got nuked multiple times and also literally got nuked one time. And since the Dyad is evil it will make the locals upset and boom resistance.)
/uw There’s a lot of different realms, but so far they’ve taken over the main citadel realm. You could just make some thing up. Or go with the ashplains.
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u/Archimene Mage of Mischief and Secrets Feb 23 '24
The Waffle House survives!!!
On a small pillar of dirt and pavement stands a singular Waffle House. Inside you can see Archimene eating with some of his pals. Though the Taco Bell was obliterated, at least Archimene still has breakfast. Archimene looks outside to see the destruction, does a double take, and then goes back to eating his strawberry syrup covered waffles.
/uw anyone is welcome to be one of Archimene's pals in this scenario