VoidHerald
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Board & Conquest 5: The First Test
🕑 Added 2024-12-10 09:24:04 +0000 UTC------
The first day ended without any further attacks, and so did the second.
As Wepwawet suspected, he received three mana points each day at dawn: one from the mana leyline itself and two from his worshipers’ faith. A paltry amount, but not one that he would be able to increase for the foreseeable future. He spent them summoning more spirit-wolves to bolster Narc’s defenses and hunting parties, then three more on his copies of the Protect Champion Prophecy Miracle.
Prophecies differed from other Miracles in that they required specific conditions after being cast to activate; they were traps and insurance, to put it simply. Protect Champion would allow him to reduce the damage one of his chosen would take when attacked. His current mana recovery rate would let him compensate for the investment in a day’s time.
Moreover, while a god could only cast most Miracles within his realm of Influence, those targeting their Champions ignored distance. His Prophecy cards would protect his worshipers when required and remain inactive until then.
At least nobody seems like they’ll be needing it anytime soon, Wepwawet thought. His spirit-wolf scouts hadn’t noticed any magmorians lurking around, the village’s repairs advanced at a good pace, and Mistouffe looked like she was doing well on her own.
A god could perceive everything in their Champions’ surroundings, including seeing through their eyes and listening through their ears. Wepwawet only had to focus a moment to locate Mistouffe. Of course, he only spied on her to ensure her safety. He wasn’t worried about her misrepresenting him to his future worshipers at all!
He found her busy singing his praises in a nearby village’s tavern. “--and then Grand-Loup created a mountain of food for us!” she said to a mesmerized audience. “There was a big lightning bolt that could startle the blind, and then, I kid you not, a whole mountain’s worth of fresh food stood right in front of us! Then he said with a voice like thunder: ‘Take, eat; this is my body!’”
Okay… Wepwawet didn’t remember the pile of lettuce being that high, nor saying that last part, but the werelings in attendance seemed torn between disbelief and curiosity. He even noticed a young human woman and a werewolf in the crowd listening with gleams of interest in their eyes. Mistouffe’s words should entice at least a few of them to visit Narc.
Wepwawet made a note of taking ‘inspiration’ from some of her lines. They were too good to pass up!
Come to think of it, almost every mortal he had seen so far seemed to belong to a race of anthropomorphic animals called werelings. Narc included bears, rabbits, goats, cats, and even a penguin. Humans seemed extremely rare around these parts.
Maybe it’s time I learn more about this land. Wepwawet used his Opener of the Ways providence to guide him towards someone who could enlighten him: an old, grey-feathered wereowl called Thibeau living in an isolated house perched on one of Narc’s cliffs. To his surprise, he found him and Victoire talking around a table with what appeared to be a map of the region between them.
“So you can’t tell me anything about the magmorians’ battle tactics?” Victoire asked with a frown.
“The truth is that they never needed to wage a proper war to begin with,” the wereowl replied. “Lavaland is an inhospitable wasteland of ashes and fire unsuitable for farming. The few creatures that can survive there besides the magmorians themselves are wyrms, dragons, kobolds, and the occasional goat. Magmorians are also immune to demonic conversion, so not even the Zoramesh Empire has any incentive to attack them. Who would fight for a place they can’t exploit?”
“So they’re attacking us to grab more resources?”
“Unlikely,” Thibeau replied. “Their volcanoes’ mineral bounties enrich the magmorians through the southern trade and they only require magma to feed themselves. Verglane has nothing which they don’t already have, besides snow.”
“Which makes their northern raids all the more baffling.” Victoire stroked her chin. “What are their weaknesses then? Do they have any vulnerabilities of note? Their bodies look tougher than stone.”
“A magmorian’s life ends when their inner flame is extinguished,” Thibeau replied. “Dousing one with water could work, and extreme cold would certainly weaken them. I do not believe it is a coincidence that they’ve started raiding us during spring. Our winters would be too hard on them.”
Frost and water? Wepwawet could think of a few Miracles that would provide plenty of those.
He was very tempted to manifest himself in the room and question these two, but his father always said that a god asking questions about basic world facts would only diminish himself in the eyes of his followers.
‘It’s better to stay silent and look knowledgeable than to admit ignorance and remove all doubts!’ his dad always said. ‘Never admit weakness to the mortals, or they’ll lose all respect for you!’
Unwilling to ruin his godly image on his third day of work, Wepwawet settled on reading the map. Since he could perceive anything within his realm of Influence and instantly understood all languages, he had an easy time analyzing it.
The map was obviously incomplete, since these mortals had yet to explore their entire world, but comparing it to Wepwawet’s memory of the planet’s landmass when he first arrived let him roughly figure out his location: a frontier land to the north called Verglane, bordered by nations called Lavaland and Stalheim to the south.
Verglane. So that’s this country’s name, if I can even call it a country. The map only showed the western half of the vast icy expanse Wepwawet remembered before incarnating. My civilization.
The map roughly put Narc at the northwesternmost point of the land, with a large city called Roynimalia to the southeast. He also noted a few places that could serve as focal points for mana leylines. He would need to secure one of those after completing Narc’s fortifications. Another Altar would let him expand his Influence further besides increasing his daily mana yield.
Moreover, his classmates had probably been assigned to guide Lavaland and Stalheim too. Wepwawet hoped that Artemis or Ganesha would lead one of those, but he had the gut feeling he wouldn’t be so lucky…
A sudden flow of prayers and exclamations in the town center drew him out of his thoughts.
“Water!” he heard his worshipers shout loud enough to wake the dead. “Warm water!”
Wepwawet turned his attention there to find his weregoat diggers retreating from a pit of their own creation near Alpine’s inn. True to their words, hot mineral water sprung from below the earth, much to the amazement of nearby villagers.
“Behold!” Wepwawet announced to everyone upon materializing his face over the rising steam. He better claim responsibility quickly to strengthen his worshipers’ faith. “My gift of water!”
It didn’t take long for all of Narc’s population to gather around the spot. A small spring’s worth of hot mineral water soon filled up in front of them, with the heat strong enough to melt snow around its borders. A few werelings dared to touch its surface, only to back away in surprise at the heat.
“Water that boils by itself?” Lourson wondered after putting a paw into it. Unlike most of his fellow werelings, he did not back away. “Now that’s a surprise.”
“Oh my, this is wonderful!” Alpine rejoiced. “Right next to my inn too!”
“This is like the Source…” Victoire muttered under her breath. She looked almost transfixed by the sight for some reason. “But that’s… that should be impossible…”
“Nothing is impossible for a god!” Wepwawet boasted, mostly for the sake of his worshipers’ morale. His stepmother did encourage him to shower them with love. “These waters will keep you warm, improve your health, feed your crops, and protect you from danger!”
“Danger?” The word woke Victoire from her trance, her tactical mind kicking in. “I see… this could prove a most fearsome defense against the magmorians.”
“Indeed, and that’s why you must keep digging!” Wepwawet encouraged his followers. “I have a surprise in mind for any foolish invader.”
They wouldn’t know what hit them.
—--
Later that night…
Jasper was pleasantly surprised.
It had been weeks since he left Lavaland with his troops, and every piece of scenery in this dreary northern land boiled down to one word: snow, snow, snow! How could these barbarians find that cold moisty stuff pleasant?
But finally, finally, he had found a worthy landmark! He watched the statue of exquisitely sculpted ice glimmer in the moonlight from atop a hill alongside his troops. None of them properly appreciated its beauty, but Jasper? Jasper’s soul-flame burned with passion!
“That’s the place, chief!” one of his scouts said. The poor soldier had watched three of his fellow magmorians soldiers heinously perish in this place. “We just asked them if we could coexist in peaceful oppression, and they dared to fight back!”
“We can’t let them get away with this, chief!” another soldier added.
“Don’t worry boys, we’re storming the place,” Jasper reassured them before turning his fiery attention to their local guide. “Can that ice-wolf see us from here?”
The witch shook her head. “His attention covers a radius close to three of your miles. We are outside his range.”
Three miles? Oddly accurate. Jasper observed the woman more closely. He hadn’t spent enough time with humans to tell whether long purple hair and emerald eyes were common features among that tribe, but her golden robes and diadem looked more precious than what the richest of their merchants could afford. Her staff bore a golden disc on its top which radiated more magic than Jasper had ever felt back home. Who is this witch?
She had simply shown up out of thin air at Jasper’s camp to offer her help with conquering the region. He had of course been suspicious, but she had provided extensive and accurate information about the land, alongside detailed intel on the so-called ‘Wepwawet’ magician.
Oh, and she also gave Jasper a magical sword. That definitively warmed her up to him.
“The statue is the source of his power, and he has few soldiers at his command,” she told Jasper. “If you fight your way to the mountain, all you will have to do is melt down the glacier. The spawn of that bastard Set is still weak and deprived of proper support, so he won’t be able to strike all of you down at once if you spread out your troops. You can pull through with light casualties.”
“Light casualties?!” one soldier choked.
“Set?” Jasper asked, his flame burning with suspicion. “Who’s that?”
“Nobody that matters,” the witch replied before hitting the ground with her staff. “All you have to do is destroy that statue and that wolf won’t bite you again.”
“All that we have to do?” Jasper growled and drew the very burning scimitar she gifted him. “You think you can just tell us whom to attack and then scamper off–”
She vanished in a flash of purple light.
Jasper and his men stared at the empty spot where she used to stand a minute ago, then looked around to find her completely gone.
“Magicians,” Jasper grumbled in annoyance.
“What… what was that, chief?” one of his scouts asked. “C-can Vizier Malachite do that too, chief? Should we look for her?”
“Don’t bother.” Jasper would bet that this deceitful worm was already out of reach. “This doesn’t change anything. That giant statue won’t move anywhere.”
And he thanked the Eternal Flame for it! The lava in his veins burned in anticipation at the idea of claiming it for his love!
Jasper looked down on his men below the hill, all eighty of them. Most were magmorians who had followed him since leaving Lavaland and a handful of trained magma wyrms, but he had even incorporated kobold slingers into his ranks to deal with archers. His superior, General Peridot, had called them their homeland’s ‘very, very special forces’; and they would live up to this title!
“Soldiers!” he called out to them with his thundering voice. “I have an announcement to make!”
His men all straightened up and stared at him. The weight of their expectations would have crushed any other commander, but Jasper was a bold and brave soul!
“Tomorrow… tomorrow…” He raised his sword at his future mountain of a wedding gift. “I will offer this wolf-statue to Princess Topaz and ask her to marry me!”
A chorus of cheers and supportive cries echoed his bold declaration. This kind reaction from his men only inflamed Jasper’s passion further!
“A great battle awaits us, but fear not, for the brightest of flame burns within our hearts! An inferno called love!” Jasper put a hand on his stone chest. “Love for our wonderful home of Lavaland! Love for our magnanimous sovereign, Fire Sultan Onyx! Love for his beautiful daughter, Princess Topaz, and her equally graceful sisters! And more than that, love for you, my beloved soldiers, who have marched with me from day one! Your courage shines brighter than a volcano’s heart!”
“Oh chief! Oh chief!” One of his men cried tears of lava at his kind words, and more soon followed. “You’re making me all pyroclastic inside!”
“I know,” Jasper replied, his eyes struggling to hold back magma tears of his own. How lucky he was to have been blessed with such supportive companions! “Heat up your flames! For tonight, we march onward to victo–”
A wolf howl echoed in the night. The sudden interruption briefly caused Jasper to lose his momentum, but he quickly focused back on the speech.
“For tonight, we m–” A second wolf howled in the distance, joining its horrible voice to the first. “Tonight, we march–”
A third wolf’s howl interrupted Jasper and he suddenly failed to remember his chosen words. He snarled in rage and glared at the icy wasteland separating his soldiers from their future prize. He couldn’t see the animals, but they wouldn’t stop disturbing him anyway!
“Are you going to shut up?!” Jasper shouted out to them. “I’m in the middle of the speech of a… lifetime…”
Wolves… wolves howling in the night one after another… in a land protected by a giant ice-wolf statue…
Uh oh.
“They’re sounding the alarm!” Jasper roared in panic as he bolted down the hill, his men quickly hurrying up after him. “Onward!”
No beast would deny him his glory!
—--
Wepwawet wasn’t too surprised when he saw a large group of magmorians rushing straight for Narc.
They had skillfully used a hill to mask their advance before they entered his Influence’s range. Wepwawet had of course noticed that peculiar geography detail the moment he took a good look at his surroundings and posted spirit-wolf scouts nearby. He had to give it to the magmorians, few would be bold enough to try sneaking on the god of military reconnaissance.
I hope somebody picked up that phone, because I called it. Wepwawet knew that the System sabotage would mean an imminent attack. It made sense to strike him and his classmates quickly before any of them could gather too many resources or reestablish a connection with the Nexus. I hope the others will be prepared too.
He would rather have had more time, but the die was cast. A blue screen appeared to confirm it.
Battle Quest: Cold Shower of Love.
Stop the magmorian raid by routing Jasper, Shield of Topaz, and his troops.
Reward: Ritual Miracle.
Challenge accepted.
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A/N: alright, that was the final of the sample B&C chapters available to all patrons. I'll be putting next ones behind the appropriate tiers to prepare the eventual launch on RR (next chapter might arrive later this week depending on how quickly I finish tomorrow's B&F one). I hope you've enjoyed the story otherwise so far!
Comments
Doctor Zero
Is it wrong that I like Jasper? Feels like i won't have long to enjoy him.
George R
Great chapter thanks
CentaureHeart
Yeah, makes sense !
Void Herald
Glad to read that ;) yeah I'll eventually release a map of Elphion, but likely after the other gods show up.
CentaureHeart
Thanks for the chapter ! Love that wereowl's name:) Are you going to post a map of the landmass Wepwawet is talking about ?
