Re: Terrors from Afar [Arakmat Orc Reinforcements]

[Darkmavrck]

OOC: Positing reinforcements from Arakmat for the Orc force under the direction and blessing of GM Adder and Leader Anne. Kept it short as this will be handed over to Adder to do with as he pleases.

Brightening 6, Cycle 2,
Month of Kalendryas, T
he Season of Winter,
Era I of the Celestine Mandate,
Era XV Post Fractum

When word spread to the western province that their cousins had declared war on the weak empire, it didn’t take long for the nomadic clans and mobs of orcs of Arakmat to appoint a Warlord and start the march east. The Orcs were adept at traveling without being noticed as they began their trek north through Arium; turning south when they reached one of the hidden roadways that would lead them to Orkon.

One thousand warriors strong, the war party drug their tents and weapons only stopping to eat or pillage the occasional encampment. They traveled swift and under the eyes of the empire in hopes of meeting up with their brethren on a battle field and surprising the imperials. Traveling mostly at night, thanks to their eyes and acute sense of smell they avoided unnecessary attention, arriving at their destination at dawn, leaving them with one final task. Kill everyone who got in their way.

[Erenthril Mael'tharias]

OOC: I could not find the original thread in which these guys left for Sheria, so I decided to post this here. Please direct me to the other thread if there is one. Umm…Adder preferably to moderate, please. Better make use of that neutrality, huh?

Beginning of the Second Cycle/IE: whenever the Orcs are just entering Sherian Province.
Candlemark 1100 – High Noon

He stood there, considering.

“Well well, that’s not something you see every day,” he paused, contemplating just why, just how an entire legion of Orcs had somehow made it through the bottom tier of the Arakmat Province, through Arium, along the cusp of Enamoria, and were now camped just beyond the Sherian Border. He spat. Erenthril had half a mind to draft a Herald article on the spot and call half the Empire traitorous murdering fiends for letting this walking enigma waltz its way through two-thirds the Empire’s provinces. Feth, they should have been cut off from the start rather than letting this problem grow.

The war in Sheria was slowly rotting; slowly festering into an oozing, bleeding sore in the Empire’s side. Eren felt for poor Milo back in Prime, all the paperwork and litigation coming through, plus the short asides to his Imperial Officials and Ministers on the situation off southeast near Orckon and the Sherian plains. Hell, Eren wouldn’t be caught dead in a situation like that.

Somewhere, the bit of saliva that had been spat several hundred feet in the air hit a leaf like a bullet and snatched it off a tree and buried it to the ground.

Still, here he was. Floating serenely in the air. Watching a huge fething conglomeration of Orcs camp out in the middle of the day like they owned the damn place and the surrounding territory adjacent. What the feth was this, a beer tent convention? Erenthril rolled his eyes disdainfully as he considered his responsibilities. Obligations. That sort of thing. Travelling to Port Alyxandrya via air had its benefits, it would seem, for he spotted the trouble in Narim nearly an era ago in the same manner. And now? And now he had a thousand, a thousand!, Orcs camped out none too far beneath him, perhaps a half mile away and certainly a long ways down. He idly considered what they perceived him as, a little speck in the sky, maybe a bird – who knew what the addle-brained beasties thought.

And so, he considered. Contemplated, more like. Was letting a thousand Orcs waltz their way into Sheira like murdering a thousand Imperials? He certainly hoped not. Feth, if that was the case, all the cities the Orcs had basically just marched/camped pass were going to get one hell of a lecture. Yes, he should probably do something…but what.

And that, good sir, was what begged the question of asking.

He briefly checked through his repertoire of spells. There were a numerous of ways he could dispose of his problem. Luckily for him, they were Orcs, travelling with the intent to kill, and thus ranked lower than the merciless slaughter of pigs in his hierarchy of civil rights. Therefore, aforementioned spell list expanded rapidly, given there wasn’t much to consider in the realm of ethics before countering this new thread to the Empire’s stability.

After all, hadn’t they expected some obstacles?

In a perpetual state of Clara, the Archmage Elementalist quietly improvised something that he’d only describe later as an earth tsunami; for he intended to be the only one to walk away from the situation as it were. Camped like this, such a distance off, made for a rather interesting means of emptying the bucket on them, and he fully intended to do it right on par without having to make a second attempt.

Now, a tsunami in the strict sense usually involved water and mass destruction. Eren was only borrowing one of those components and carefully crafting it with an opposite essence – earth. Anyone ever seen hills in an earthquake? How the ground trembles, titters a bit like the quivering heart of a young maiden before the big plunge? Multiply that by three, and you get something of what the Orcs might be experiencing, should everything go well (for Erenthril, not so much for the Orcs). After all, this was going to be a Master-tiered spell, combined with the four techniques of Alteration, Evocation, Alteration once more and then the none-so-subtle Abjuration that would make for a smashing finale. Quite literally. Of course, it was all a bit more technical than that. He had it down to a science though; right? Granted, the Arcalysis reaction between the surrounding Ara and his own Vis that made for the Mana of which he’d already channeled the essence of Earth for, molded at the will of the four shaping techniques aforementioned, and there was already a carefully tacked together spell placed in the making.

Aside from the mumbo jumbo on the Astral Plane, the results…should they go off correctly, which he naturally hoped they would, could unfold to do the following:

• Event Number One: The ground begins to sink. Rapidly. Because not only is the ground sinking, but that ground is mirroring an ocean’s tidal wave in the event that the earth underneath the Orcs is actually being hurled in a humongous mass underneath the surface to building up the actual tsunami itself.
  
  
• Event Number Two: Not only are the Orcs asking what the feth’s up, but the trees are too. And the rocks. And the boulders. And the smooth grass plains of hills, too, if that’s really where they’re at. The effects on the immediate environment are impossible to miss now; trees are being uprooted because the ground underneath them are shaking, the literary cliché of ‘rolling hills’ has suddenly taken a whole new meaning, and every landlubber in the area will have suddenly developed a horrendous pair of ‘sea legs’ per say, as the ground beneath them loses traction.
  
  
• Event Number Three: Not too far in the distance, the horizon isn’t very much looking like a horizon anymore.
  
  
  
• Event Number Four: Aforementioned horizon has now become the ‘unfurling wave of massive death and destruction’ appropriately named by the none too fussed Elf floating several hundred feet in the air watching the catastrophe happen. Said wave rises a good hundred feet in the air, like a gigantic sand monster from the abyss, before crashing down upon a thousand orcs whom stepped out of their tents because they heard Bloodfist and Ghar’gunk screaming like a pair of girls.
  
  
• Event Number Five: Cease of motion – should everything have gone well, aforementioned Orcs could be as deep far as a hundred feet deep in the earth, suffocating if not killed on impact, with the ground evening out on top of them like a mixing bowl of delightful oatmeal raisin cookies in what had effectively transpired in a matter of seconds.

And Erenthril did like his cookies.

[Adder]

Neutrality huh? And let Crimsons rollercoaster begin!. Well now, you did want some fun now didn't you? Being an archmage can be quite boring otherwise

Modplan

The war had been long in coming, it's origins were buried so far in the past that few could recall how they had started. Those who had studied history though had some glimmer, and those, buried away in their academic university rooms where what was written on paper was far more real and far more interesting than anything that might actually happen now, could perhaps have given those who fought for the Empire some glimmer of advice about what was about to happen.

There had been a certain Emperor who was a favourite of those tales, who had carved out an Empire casting down all who opposed him. There had been an orcish empire in the Khardans which had been cast down in ruins. But there had been one fortress from that war which had not been cast down, nor defeated. That Emperor and that fortress had met, and yet it had been the Emperor with his battle hardened troops who had backed off. Those who had written the histories from the Empires point of view had been puzzled, but puzzlement did not last long in the face of an Emperors displeasure and soon the books were full of the orcs craven defeat. But the Emperor had never been known to allow a fortress full of his enemies to remain that close to the heart of his Empire.

Then too, if it had merely been the case that a bored archmage could come along and wish the problem away then the orcs and the thorn in the Empires side would have ceased to exist long before.

It posed an interesting conundrum to certain academics and one which was a favourite topic of debate over long and cosy winter evenings when the spirits had loosened thier inhibitions.

Though the Empire had forgotten the lessons that it had learnt, forgotten that meeting, the orcs had not. Nor had they forgotten the lessons that the loss of their Empire had taught them. The Empire might have got complacent but the orcs had not, and what had been a hard nut to crack all that time before now had grown a number of thorns.

A spell from an archmage was quite something to see, not that many had the opportunity to see such a thing. They could be delicate, but this one was about as far from delicate as it was possible to get.

The first spell impacted, and it was quite an impact, spectacular in fact would be putting it quite mildly. But an archmage spell is rarely without consequence and in this case one of the casulties of the spell was a certain wooden device whose carvings were hideous to say the least. As the spell impacted on it too, being in the centre of the orcs camp, the shockwave of impact carried an afterecho through to a cave that was not nearby, but distances meant little in the astral world. A mind snapped with the reflection of the power, a link broken, then another and two bodies slumped to the floor of the cave. But they were not alone in the darkness, and even if they had been, it would have made no difference for the bargain had been made long before.

A guide, it's physical body, had it ever had one, was now a long past memory reacted, it's actions as swift as only thought can be.

The sky above Eren darkened for a moment, stars appeared and for a short time a large ebony moon hung in the sky. Then the sky changed again, the moon was gone and so was a certain speck in the sky that might have been a bird but wasn't.

Certain things changed for Eren in that moment, things that might perhaps jolt him out of that state of bemusement. He might notice for example that now darkening held rule over the land. He might notice that suddenly he was standing on the ground with only the dim light of a rather overly large ebony moon to light the grass around him. He would surely notice that clara was gone. The rules were different here it seemed, and vis had a different taste to it.

[Erenthril Mael'tharias]

You’ve ruined Eren’s alleged impartiality!Rollercoaster? What rollercoaster? ;) This is all Eren baby! Anyways, as per the arcanomechanic realism noted in the PMs…

Wha-bam.

It was almost as if the blow struck to him stressed each syllable of that ringing sound lingering in his ears. One second he was a speck in the sky. The next he was grappling with all things possible as he scrambled to slow his descent into the earth. He fell like a dropped bird, speeding down towards the freshly mowed soil fertilized with orc protein. He only barely registered the aftershock that travelled the breadth of the Astral Plane as much the Physical, the sudden change of scenery in the sky. It was almost amusing, really, to think that his first instinctive thought concerned how much he’d suddenly screwed over the Vers Arcana festival. The second that followed, of course, was more concern about his immediate surroundings.

Somewhere between the rush of oxygen and the uncomfortable semi-burial into the dirt, Erenthril regained consciousness. And it was more to the latter, to be honest.

Beyond the fact he was grappling in freshly churned dirt to climb out of the self-imbedded hole he’d managed to crash himself into, was the notion that Clara, for a second, had been gone. How and why, he wasn’t sure, but the brief link to the Elemental Plane had hiccupped inexplicably. The fact he had tethered his very soul there, so to speak, meant that there was something to be said about this. After all, he was the living, breathing embodiment of the Elemental Plane…on Telath. The notion that something, somewhere, had managed to stall this if only for a few paltry stitches in time both irritated and enthralled him. A lost opportunity and sudden change of scenery rapidly became not a problem, but an opportunity.

He glanced up at the sky, dusting himself off, noticing that the brightening had gone. Had time passed? Or…had this thing controlled time? Or perhaps the sun itself? A small, confident smirk appeared on his lips. How convenient. Destroy a passing legion of Orcs from Arakmat, do the Empire a favor, and what had happened? The chance of a lifetime.

This wasn’t any sort of Arcana known to man. If it was, he’d have been studying it in that minute, recognizing its potential. Viewing the immediate realm around him in his expansive dual-perception of both the Astral and Physical Planes, the Archmage Elementalist muttered as he finished dusting off his knees. The luminescent rays of the moon’s light bathed him quietly, serenely, as he also became more aware of the environment around him. The ara had undoubtedly changed; such a sudden rush from brightening to darkening didn’t occur without its effects on the environment at hand, and he checked over his own Vis as well, mildly amused that whatever was at work had attempted to sever him from Clara. What would Heronythys think of this? He almost had half a thought to go fetch the dragon, bring him here, inspect the area. But the Golden One had his own agenda, and Eren thought ill of disrupting him.

Instead, a different companion whom stalked the earth would be adequate.

“Sejinn,” he spoke quietly, requesting the Elemental Lady’s appearance. A fire elemental, she took the visage of a hellhound and was bound to Erenthril’s command through a nifty master spell that had replicated the effects of an archmage one. A walking, breathing manifestation of Eren’s own ingenuity, she was large and by far quiet for the most part and conversed rarely with others. Yet she was invaluable to him as a companion, doubly so as a guide and scout. In the replenishing shell of a hellhound, she was no doubt a beautiful manifestation of her respective element, and it was only a small matter of time before she manifested alongside him at his bequest.

Time Erenthril would use to finish dusting himself off and amusing himself with his newfound predicament.

[Adder]

Now that he'd had chance to dust himself off and get a grip of his situation, some things that hadn't been clear before in the surprise of the transition now intruded rather into his conciousness.

The soil that he'd found himself rushing toward so precipitously and now which had smeared itself across it's knees wasn't the disturbed soil that would have resulted from his actions against the orcs, indeed there was no sign that orcs had ever been there, neither was there evidence of the arcanic calamity that should have been below his feet. Instead the soil was dry and peaty and it bounced just ever so slightly under his feet. Exactly what was around him was more than a little hard to see because the moon reflected very little light.

One thing that did become apparent was that he was now very close to the shore, because there was a dark reflection from the moon in a liquid that reflected like a mirror, a vast expanse that took what might well be much of the south from where he stood. Heather twisted and knotted itself underfoot, ready to catch at an unwary foot and tumble it's owner into its soft embrace.

To the north and north west were mountains and while he waited for Sejinn to appear, something that was taking rather longer to happen than he'd normally anticipate, there was a flash of light on a ridge not so far away. It was just beyond his vision but it caught at the corner of his eye, disappearing before he could turn his head.

"There are six."

The words, which weren't words sprang into his mind. He didn't hear them, and they certainly had no echo of a voice other than his own, instead it was just like something he'd always known, some intuition or a prompt from his subconcious mind.

A cold wind cut down from the north and played with him, tugging at his clothes and forcing a shiver down his spine.

A howl came from the west, a long and mournful howl, a howl that was echoed from the direction of the mountains in the north. The sounds intertwined, wrapping themselves around each other and then died out.

Into the silence that was left came his companion so that he was no longer alone, but it didn't answer the question of where he was, perhaps even when he was, nor what had happened to clara in that moment of transition. He, himself seemed relatively normal and unscathed from the incident. Someone though hadn't gone to all this trouble for nothing so perhaps that wasn't going to last very long, or perhaps not, after all what happened had happened so fast, at the very first cast of the first spell that perhaps they had caught a tiger in a trap designed for a mouse.

[Steve]

The Commander of the Orcs from Arakmat slowly rose from the ground. He was weakened but that does does prevent an Orc from getting on his feet as soon as he could and looking for the one who knocked him down. Surprisingly, the Orc did not see an enemy. The Flying Bunny was gone before any of the Orcs observed him.

The leader then looked at his troops to assess casualties. He wondered what their condition was compared to his own. First he took a swig of beer from the skin that was hanging from his belt and then with clearer eyes looked at what was around him.

[Erenthril Mael'tharias]

EDIT: Please excuse this post until I've been advised further via my ticket.