The BrikWars Forums

"Phineus, you've made your LAST mistake!"

(I've rarely been this excited to make a dice roll. Imagine if he misses, or fails his feat, and Phineus strikes him down? Then you're all doooooomed! )



Xalen makes a flying charge, the tip of his blade piercing Phineus' shoulder.



Phineus' laughter turns into a stifled groan as Xalen pushes the blade in all the way up to the hilt.

"Finally..." the necromancer wheezes as Xalen pulls the sword from him and Phineus collapses. "But this mortal shell is meaningless... you must release... my soul. The undead are bound to it!"



"With pleasure," Xalen says, stabbing his staff weapon into the soul prison.



The prison shatters with a screech, and the ominous green light surrounding the Black Citadel suddenly gathers and shoots upwards into the sky as the ghostly lanterns explode with force.



"The staff is the key..." Xalen mutters after picking himself up, gripping it tightly.



He sees a vision of a time long past, of Phineus as a mighty northern warlord, returning victoriously from a raid against the elven hamlets bordering his domain...



He witnesses Phineus' final moments as a human, ambushed in the forest and killed by vengeful dark elves. It was a death for which even Phineus himself felt no remorse: he died victoriously at the peak of his glory. His enemies had had every right to kill him. His thousand year punishment, however, and the punishment they subsequently put upon humanity, was something no one deserved...



... then without a second thought, Xalen shatters the staff, turning it into a cloud of black smoke that quickly disappears.



"Garth! On your feet! We still have work to do! Garth! GARTH!"



Nimoë: "Phineus?! NO! IMPOSSIBLE!"



"Your victory here is meaningless, knight! Our agents already control the Kingdom, and Kerrat! Humanity is doomed!"

"Bad timing."

In the meantime, the expedition's desperate battle continued...



The jungle stalker slew a grave wraith and two desert golems with a mighty swing.



The Trogdor attacked the count with everything it had, but once again the count proved too tough.



The Great Mighty Poo smashed the greater desert golem.



Jorum and the final men-at-arms kill another skitterling.



The last woad elf charges Count Lightstalker... he gets a re-roll because I forgot about him last turn, and...



The count is down!



The minotaur smashes the desert golems out of the way with a mighty strike.



The valkyrie gets to work on healing Zahru, but...



He is actually Voytek?!



And Voytek was Zahru! (This would explain the failed feats )

The golems and vermin attack the jungle stalker together, killing him.



The last royal soldier resists all three attempts from the lost souls to possess him!



Combined attacks overkill the Trogdor.



... but as the creature falls, the undead suddenly start to fall as well.





Even the vermin fall onto their backs and die.



"Finally!" Jorum says as the last skitterling falls.



"Garth did it! We did it! Victory!"



The valkyrie gets a '7' and puts Voytek back on his feet.

"I was ready to go to Bullhalla, but if the Bull God still has need of me here, then so be it."



"HEALER! I need a healer! Quick!"



The survivors gather around Garth.

Voytek: "We have won, but we've paid a high price. We are all that's left. The valkyrie has managed to stabilize Garth (roll of '5'), but she can do no more."

Woad elf survivor: "He's been touched by Phineus' foul magic. His every moment will be agony, and I doubt he will recover. It would be more merciful to simply let him go."

Xalen: "Nonsense! He is a knight of Kerrat... and his task is not yet done. He will suffer any hardship to do his duty!"

Jorum: "We can return home as heroes now!"

Xalen: "No! You'll all be executed upon your return. Cales has staged a bloody coup and trapped Queen Lara's forces in Estius by sealing the portal behind her... what's worse, he's in league with the elves. He is our next target."



Voytek: "It never ends... If he has taken control, he's no doubt exacting a bloody vengeance on my people. I have to go back."



Nimoë: "It is futile, Xalen. You have no army. You won't wrestle control of Kerrat, or the Kingdom."

Xalen: "We'll see about that. You will help me, little elf."

Nimoë: "Me...? Never!"

Woad elf survivor: "We can tend to your wounded, but our people have suffered much. After centuries of living under the undead yoke, they won't want another war now that the nightmare has finally ended. Not that we would have a lot of forces to spare even if we did."



Jorum: "I'd better return to the kingdom too! Without leadership, who knows what those of us who remained behind are getting up to! What's more, I can use my earth magic to get you safely across the pass, and avoid imperial troops!"



Xalen: "Very well. You lot do what has to be done. I'm going to Kerrat to pay Junatan a visit, with this lone survivor as my witness. You'd better hope you'll see me arrive at the kingdom with a legion of knights at my back."

-

So, that was Depths of Darkness, hope you enjoyed. Feedback welcome as always. Thanks for sending orders so swiftly and congratz on everyone surviving 'till the end (you all had at least one fig left) - I had time and thanks to the weather being too hot to do much else I was able to resolve this pretty quickly, which was good 'cos I was always eager to see how it would turn out... at first I thought it was too easy, then the desert golem reinforcements came in and it got really close. I won't deny this was the outcome I had in mind, but I rolled for everything... Garth and Xalen are definitely a duo of badasses, even in that last attack Xalen got a critical success.

The tension was real. GG everyone! It was a blast to play.

Woooo!

I had fun, thanks for hosting Brag!

I've never felt more invested in a battle, thanks for running it Bragallot!

Thanks to Brag for hosting and everyone for playing! That was an intense game, and poor Garth's fate is still uncertain.

RIP TROGDAR

This was cool, thanks for hosting!