Strange music-beneath music, a thrumming, thumping feeling, suffused Theadeacus, one with the realm as he was.

Eros flexed and knitted together, striations of rock shifting, canyons aligning, rivers conforming to ideal shapes.

Pressure built in Eros; the Ettins slept, the Aso too, soothed to sleep by the thrumming, thumping.

Then Eros was still. Heartbeats of every living being slowed, slowed, stilled, stopped.

Moments passed. A full day passed, and every living being was dead - but there was no decay.

Then - slowly - slowly - thrumming, thumping, shaking, pounding -

The hearts of Eros beat as one, then again, coming back to life, and grew discordant again.

The realm shifted back into place. Rivers returned to the courses; canyons, striations of rock, relaxed, drifted apart.

But the Aso were changed. They whispered of a ferryman, of a long coast, of what they had seen, of what they couldn't remember. There was a stillness in them that couldn't be shaken, an unnerving certainty and peace, an unhurried manner. They had been freed of the attachment to life, and found themselves in tune with the hidden rhythms of their bodies, and the secret connections between them.

Major Boon: Death Cultivation. The Aso gain the knack for manipulating their own internal life-force and mental state, allowing them to enter a flow state, ignore debilitating pain, and dedicate themselves to constant training, depending on their extent of cultivation.

Minor Bane: Raumlaathlah's Affection: Attracted the favor of the Triumph Unheard.

The Ettin were affected differently. Stripped of their instinctual desires, their limited intellect made functioning difficult. They wandered aimlessly, fell from canyons, and accidentally immolated themselves. Over the next decade, their numbers fell precipitously - but those that remained organized themselves into cloisters, methodically building their bodies and moving to a rhythm they still remembered.

Something . .  touched the Ettin. Something the In Between, carried there but a dark figure that walked out of the Old Road. They ceased to speak, yet still communicated, and their bodies darkened to a midnight blue. They grew horns - and staring into the suns, they made themselves blind.

The dark figure had four arms - that much Theadeacus was able to determine, but supernatural power hid the identity of the being from his awareness.

Something moved among the Aso, taking children from their roosts while their parents slept. Theadeacus was able to determine that the mutated Ettin were responsible - he saw the children spirited by magic from one place, and into the Dagger Peaks, where his awareness ended.

 At first it was a few per year, then it was dozens, and as the twenty years came to clase, nine hundred went missing in a single day. The unity of the Aso was unshakable, but in droves they prayed for the intercession of their deity and the return of their young.

Vastos, with the aid of Castos and Ekeres, set about rectifying the situation. With the blood of the parents, a necromantic ritual was conducted, tracing the mortal thread of the children, measuring how much 'time' they had left.

That time was rapidly lengthening. They were being transformed into something immortal - and with difficulty, it was determined that Dagger Peaks was where it was occurring.

The myriad tribes of the Aso came together as one, and a holy warpath was determined. Their children would be reclaimed, and whatever had done this, destroyed.

And then - twenty years were up.

Essence was welling again in the Realm.

Round 1 complete.

Theadeacus watched as his world changed, both for the better and for the worse. With the boon that Eros had given his people they had grown closer to death and through their closeness with death they had grown closer to the truth of their own existence and himself. For that he was pleased. However his heart was pained by the transformation, death, and subsequent enthralling of the Ettins. They were his most troubled children but his children never the less; none deserved quite a fate as this.

He felt as though he could continue to dream, to linger in the ephemeral dream-state that he found himself in. It would be the easier option but he knew that he could not bare to do nothing while his people suffered at the hands of foreign powers. Slowly gathering himself he sent a message to Vastos, Garamea, Holy Quilos, and Castos that he was returning and that those who would make the voyage should meet him at the Pool of Creation.

With his intent delivered he coalesced within the Pool of Creation, calling forth his body from a formless abyss, collecting and shaping his divine essence once more. He exhaled a breath he never held and his heart went still once more.

He had returned. The Lord of Death had risen.

Holy Quilos with his brazier-staff and robes; Garamea, Vastos, and Castos in millitary garb. This may be the grandest expedition the three had been part of, but it was certainly not the first. Perhaps that was the greatest strength of the God of Death; he had a way of making mortals hardy and self-reliant.

Essence welled up from the earth, pouring from the Pool of Creation. In a gray flood, it washed over the gathered four, overwhelming them and casting them to the ground.

Each now bore a faint spark of divinity; not merely god-touched, but saints - demigods in your service.

St. Vastos, the Second Death, Demigod of Order;

St. Castos, the Third Death, Demigod of Entropy;

Holy St. Quillos, the Fourth Death, Demigod of Rituals;

and St. Garamea, the Fifth Death, Demigoddess of Grief.

Distantly, another being unknown to you, among the Jagged Peaks, also gained power . .

They recovered - Vastos recovering first. "Your blessings are never given to the undeserving, and never without need. You return to us, Lord Theadeacus, in this grevious time. What are we facing? What are your commands?"

All of them knelt, loyal unto the last.
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:38, Mon 14 Jan 2019.

Theadeacus rose from the pool and bore witness to his divine essence become sacrament, elevating those gathered before him well beyond anything his previous powers could have hoped to produce. Silently as he watched he wondered what these new changes would bring to his Realm and his people.

All the same when Vastos gathered himself enough speak Theadeacus began moving out of the pool. As he did he called his Artifacts to himself, each item appearing as shafts and rings of black-gray smoke before coalescing into their proper form.

"It is as you say Vastos and of those within my Realm I find you all to be most worthy. I have returned once more to lead our people in holy war. A foreign power has sought to corrupt the minds and bodies of the Ettin. Now as their unwitting agents they seek to repeat the past and claim the lives of Asoian children."

He allowed his words to hang in the air for a moment.

"I will not allow it. Rise my champions, my hallowed saints of death. There is much to be done and so little time to prepare for it."

He then moved past them and began to speak as he moved down the Arcaeon.

"Vastos I would like an update on how civil matters have progressed in my absence."

"The Age of Steam pushed us in a strange direction, but we've adapted to it. Preservation of our way of life comes before 'progress', and effort has been expended in recording the history of Eros, and the many tribes that populate it.

"Cultivating a pan-Erosian culture is my goal. Being united is a matter of will and common concern, not uniformity. As Castos has told me of the Academy, we Aso thrive best when flock together under hierarchy determined solely by merit. Tradition must be thoroughly leavened with ambition.

"We need the Ettin. They are part of Eros, as much as the Aso. I do not believe they are complicit in what is occurring the Dagger Peaks. This has become framed as a holy war, but. I believe we must do our best to mitigate losses on all sides.

Castos nudged Vastos. "Right. Necromancy has been considerably advanced ever since Revelation. Our attachment to life, our doubts, was keeping us from greatness. The game of 'catch' you taught the student of academy is trivial now. It's become something of a sport, as our Academies has sprung up. Many Aso now find they have the apititude. Every six months there is a demonstration of power - Darklight Relay, Speedstiching, and Rot Race, I believe are the names of the main events. Every student must copy by hand their own Ekeres Tome during the time under the Elder's tutelage. They then must add something of use to the Tomb before they graduate the academy. The Elder were very happy when allowed to teach the young necromancers proper handwriting. The Tome is on its sixteenth revision."

"Otherwise, all is quite well."
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:12, Tue 15 Jan 2019.

As they descended the stairwell of the Arcaeon he listened to Vastos' report. It seemed that he was right in assuming that all would prosper under his seconds guidance.

"Pan-Erosian"

He allowed the word to play over his tongue. As he did his heart swelled with pride but in typical fashion his expressions remained subdued.

"I quite like that."

When he switched to Necromancy, Theadeacus became even more deeply intrigued. It seemed that time and the boon that his people had received accelerated the advancement of Necromancy. Fifteen properly recorded editions of the once humble Ekeres Tome. Even Anathema would be jealous of what his people had accomplished.

"Excellent. I would like a copy of the latest tome to be brought to me."

He turned his attention to Garamea and Holy Quilos.

"What of the followers of the Deathbringers and the True Path? How have they grown?"

They were nearing the bottom and would soon take flight to the Spire. From there Theadeacus could better organize his military efforts.

"They retain their differences, but a third cult has formed that bridges the gap between them - the True Dead, they are called. They believe that the event of temporary death was a call for union from you, and came together to seek common ground. They are zealots, but balance their zeal with contemplation of their own death. There have been no violent conflicts between  Deathbringers and True Path since, though they frequently debate and maintain a strong rivalry. There are temples of all three sects within the capital."

As you were reaching the Spire, a copy of the Ekeres Tome XV was brought to you from a local branch of the Academy - small research libraries now dotted Eros.

The Tome finally deserved its name. It was several pounds, and a quick flip through revealed several new branches of Necromancy that had been researched and discovered, as well detailed, precise illustrations, meditations on the process of death from the perspective of the dying and the extinction of consciousness, and references to unique experimental logs, as well as commentary and cross-referencing with relevant material - including handbooks for species autonomy and compilations of general magical practices and principles.

Aside from corpse-stitching and death magic, there was also apototomancy (voluntary directed death of cells - curing cancer within the body, as well as other diseases), true necromancy (divination by contacting the spirits of the dead), thanatoengineering (harnessing the heat energy released by the decay of materials to power devices, such as breaking down lead for fuel) and mortuary science (halting and rapidly encouraging the decay of corpses, as well as the study of anatomy) and the corpse-stiching sub-discipline of creating prosthetics that leech life from their users at the same rate as living tissue, including researching into the concept of a necromecha - molding a flesh servitor around a suit of armor that an Aso could 'pilot'.
This message was last edited by the GM at 08:36, Wed 16 Jan 2019.

Theadeacus landed outside of the Titalus' old castle and began to move into the structure, leafing through the pages as he went. He was quite intelligent, especially comparative of a mortal, but he could not learn the whole of the tome's contents without dedicated study. All the same he familiarized himself with the broad topics which were being discussed.

Medicinal disciplines to treat malignant growth, divination of departed souls, engineering through decay, and mortuary sciences. There were also expansions and corpse-stiching to create replacement limbs and a fledgling school of thought dedicated to suits of interactive corpsestiched armor. How truly fascinating.

Bringing his interest under control he deposited the tome into Ebon's Gate and continued with his orders.

"I need an update on our military forces. How many troops do we have and what is there status? In addition to that where are my Necrofortresses and have they been improved upon in my absence."

He turned to Vastos.

"I'll also need a report on what we know of the situation within the Dagger Peaks. Have we made any scouting attempts?"

Vastos signaled for Garamea to answer you.

"The Deathbringers have contributed 500 of their 'paladins' - elite light skirmishers, equally capable on ground or in air.
The Truth Path has contributed 150 Imalgati shamans, capable of calling other Aso into trance, boosting their effectiveness and immunizing them to fear. They are also useful for coordinating command.
The True Death Cultists have contributed a company of 60 academy dropouts turned zealots - they have the basics of necromancy down, and are a moderately armored ground infantry, highly resilent.
We have 125 volunteer warlocks, graduates of the Academy that are . . eager to test their theories in the field. 120 are of the first degree, and 5 are of the second degree. The second degree warlocks have been trained to command the Necrofortresses, which have been outfitted with suitable arcane foci for long-range engagement by specially trained Iglesi firecallers.
Of standard flying infantry, we have 2000 that are fully trained and active duty, and 5000 reservists, recruits, and city guardsmen that we could bring to bear in a few month's time.
Of standard corpse-stiched troops, we have 6000 standard ground infantry and 750 heavy infantry. While there are more exotic designs in testing, I wouldn't want to waste valuable prototypes on this engagement. Less chaos, the better.

If need be, we could surely reach out to some of the tribes that have yet to contribute troops to the expedition, but I feel we are well-prepared." Garamea reported.

"Scouts have reported at least a thousand corrupted Ettin, and one survivor of a scouting party reported a dark figure that was commanding them - and a particularly massive ettin with great horns, in heavy armor of unknown make. They have a modest number of well-defended caves, and innumerable small ambush camps."
This message was last edited by the GM at 09:09, Thu 17 Jan 2019.

Theadeacus reached his chambers by the time Castos began running through the numbers of active and reserve forces across the various groups that comprised his military might. He had to suppress his surprise at the numbers but it was to be expected. Twenty years ago he saw to the unification of his territory and a great deal of the effort was based in militarism.

Some elements saddened him, such as the zealot dropouts, but he would simply have to adjust. The gift of necromancy was jus that. His people had to choose when and how they would use it. All the same he had to consider the situation and his forces.

The Dagger Peaks region presented a unique hinderance to an all out invasion. Its densely packed mountains, frigid temperatures, and extreme weather all serve as deterrents. This coupled with the Ettin's use of guerilla tactics and their home field advantage will make them excessively difficult to drive out.

"What we need is a team of elite infiltrators. Scouts who can be dropped within the Dagger Peaks and report back on the location of Ettin units. From there we will drive them out as we claim strategic territories. The first of which should be the Font of Brutality. Without it the possessing force cannot replenish their ranks."

If such a team of infiltrators exists then Theadeacus would hear of their status and capabilities. If not he would have such as team assembled and given the nature of the situation have them become god-touched and outfitted appropriately.

A team of ten operatives were drawn from the ranks, half of them Aso that had been given a second chance at normal life by dedicating themselves to the military in order to avoid imprisonment for crimes related to thievery and and such and whom had experience hiding in the Dagger Peaks, along with one of the Enlightened Imalgati shamans for covert communication, and a dedicated firecaller for support. The rest of the team was filled out by two warlocks - one dedicated to offense use of darklight, the other a medic.

-500 Souls for God-Touched Counterinsurgency Team (Oo-Rah)
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:29, Fri 18 Jan 2019.

And so his infiltrators came to be.

"You shall be known as Reapers and you shall become my hand and scythe. None shall escape your reach. Rise now my Reapers for your task begins now. Gather what equipment you will under my authority and report to our forward operating base outside of Dagger's Peak. Our main force will rendezvous there within a week. I want you behind enemy lines by then. I shall instruct my djinn to seek you out and you shall speak through them."

Theadeacus turned to Vastos and Garamea.

"Rally a force of 1000 infantry servitors, 500 Asoian warrior, 50 Paladins, and 25 Shamans. Have them marshal and ready the Harbinger."

He turned to Castos.

"Gather those 2nd degree warlocks who you believe suitable for an extended engagement. They will accompany you directly and yes I intend for you to join me in this campaign."

He turned to Garama.

"You shall lead the Paladins. Of their number elect four others so serve as my guard."

Finally he turned to Quilos.

"Rally the shamans. Spread word that I have returned. Prepare all to hear my proclamation. I shall speak to the people in three days time."

Now passing his gaze over those assembled he spoke once more.

"Now go forth."

Thy will be done.

It was as you commanded. Three days passed, and your forces were on the march. The Shamans spread the word to all - Death had returned to Eros, to return the stolen generation, to end the threat from the Dagger Peaks, and would speak today.

The assembled forces had passed beyond your sight a day ago, making doubletime to the destination. A bone-bird came to you, a message at its leg. "Font found."

The crowds below, before, and above were massive. The Aso had grown in your absence; there were at least 20,000 Aso packed into the capital, and a hush fell over them as you came into view from a balcony of the Spire.

Thedeacus had spent the day in meditation. He needed to align the forces of Eros so that they would be primed for his speech. Slowly throughout the day he called water into the sky and gathered the resulting clouds, centering them on the Spire. He moved them steadily, growing out more and more. Soon a blanket of absolute darkness was cast over the Province. Finally, as he moved to take center stage atop the castle balcony he pulled apart the center of the clouds mass and pure sunlight shined down on him and his assembled demigods.

He spoke and the wind carried his voice.

"My children. I, Theadeacus, God of Death, dwell among you once more. I have returned to Eros to fulfill a sacred duty. I have come to lay low those would trifle against us."

His voice raised and lightning began to streak through the clouds, a testament to his anger.

"To lay waste to those would seek to claim the souls of my creations!"

More lightning appeared and thunder boomed to punctuate his sentences.

"TO REND FLESH FROM THE BONES OF ANY WHO WOULD DARE ENTER MY REALM!"

The sky became a corona of fury as lightning, yellow and red, streaked across the sky.

"Heed my children for I have come to deliver judgment. I have come to reclaim that which was taken. I have come. Death has come."

He punctuated his last words be dispersing the clouds in an exertion of divine will.

"Today we begin our crusade."

The Dagger Peaks Campaign

A day after your speech whipped the Aso into a holy fury, you arrived at the base camp of the army, lead by your tyrants, Garamea and Castos.

They greeted you as you entered the tent. "Lord Death."

They moved around the war table, so you could easily approach it.

"We've already experienced casualities since last night, a sortie of ettin in attempted sneak attack. They were repelled, but a few servitors were destroyed and a guardswoman was killed."

Castos spoke next. "Whatever happened to the Ettin, it's made their hide highly resistant to mundane weapons, but heavy crossbows still do the trick, and darklight is highly effective. The bigger issue is how they Ettin got smart enough to start with a small, stealthy sortie."

Garamea pointed to the rough map, outlining three routes to a location marked with a crown. All of them were marked with red pieces, representing ambush points.

"The Font of Brutality is the key to all this. Our elite infiltration team has been providing regular reports. The entity is some kind of mad horror, and the transformation of the Ettin is a secondary pursuit - the horror spends all of it time studying and manipulating the Font of Brutality.

"The children are being hidden in a large cavern nearby, guarded by a particularly massive and nasty Ettin and a dozen of the regular sort. Our highest priority is their safety, but in order to ensure that, we're going to need to hit both key locations close to same time but slightly staggered. If we hit the font first, the children might get slaughtered. If we get the children, the horror might notice the commotion and join the fray, putting the children in the crossfire."

"The issue is if we can manage that, while going through ravines and switchbacks riddled with tunnels where Ettin are just waiting to ambush us. We don't know how long we have before the horror finishes with the font and decides in time to use the kids however it's planning, so we can't just slowly take ground over a period of weeks."

Garamea tapped against the table. "It's a mess. Conducting a war and trying to resolve a hostage situation with a horror in the mix."

Theadeacus listened attentively as Castos and Garamea updated him on the situation. He was surprised that Castos spoke as much as he had, apparently having overcome whatever trauma had made him so emotionally mute and apathetic when he first meet him. That, however, was a minor detail. Instead he focused on the map before him. The region was largely as it had been previously; a boon if there ever was one.

The situation was complex. An operation intended to be carried out on two fronts: a hostage retrieval behind enemy lines and a search and destroy of a high priority target. They would need to be precise.

"Have the swordswoman and any other Aso that fall entombed in the Tower of Mourning."

He looked at the map, studying the terrain between the Font's location and the area where they are holding the children.

"How are the Ettin's communicating with one another? If we can destroy their communication lines we can ensure that each operation is carried out in isolation."

"They don't appear to be communicating. Our infiltration team had to take care of one group of ettin that were guarding a through-tunnel. It was a full day before the missing ambush group was discovered by other Ettin, and they've haven't replaced that ambush team. We believe the Horror is issuing them directives, which they carry out, but they don't plan or organize independently. Might a crude form of mind control." said Garamea.

She glanced at Castos. "What was our suggestion?"

"Oh, yes. Lord Death, I believe that the best course of action is three-pronged. First, we have the counter-insurgency team in position to tackle the cavern with the children. After taking on the ettin, their warlock will engineer a rockfall to block the cavern's entrance using decay. That will keep the children safe until we can dig them out.

Before that, we launch a full offensive against the Dagger Peaks with our ground troops as a feint. Hopefully, that will draw the horror's attention.

Meanwhile, you will be aboard the Harbinger with a team of Paladins. You'll get as close as possible to the Font of Brutality, then attack the Horror with Paladins supporting you in the melee and a few firecallers and Tier 2 warlocks providing air support. When they see you descend, that's when the C.I. team will move to secure the children."

Castos coughed. "That's what we think would go best, given what we have to work with, and the time constraints we're under."

Castos was different. He now had the stillness you'd noted in the Aso that had extensively cultivated their alignment with their death, and the faint spark of divinity could be felt within him. Both potent sources of healing and development.

Theadeacus considered the words of Garamea and Castos as he continued to scrutinize the map. This alien being had a very typical mentality. It likely believed its individual strength and power could see to the end of any rebellion mounted by the Aso.

It was terribly mistaken.

"We will move forward with that plan Garamea. Have the Reapers moved into position and the main forces organize for a frontal assault. We will use The Harbinger to clear a path to the Font. Garamea I will have you lead the Paladins, you will be my blade. Cut down anything that stands in our way. Castos, form a triad with the warlocks and operate the ritual drives aboard the Harbinger. Do not allow any interference. I will kill the horror."

With his plan set he need only wait for the orders to be passed down and his will to be enacted. While he waited he retrieved Ekeres Tome and reviewed the material formally. He wouldn't have time for a dedicated study but he wished to review the ongoing research into servitors. The necromecha were fascinating and he could see the synergy between that line of development and thanatoengineering. Perhaps he would see to perfecting that technology when the time came. Some hybridization with the ritual drives?

The "necromecha" was the design of a peculiar young female Aso named Raasiel. She was a pilgrim-hero - a mortal that had attained heroic power and the ability to travel to other Realms without the use of a Gate - and was a corpse-stitcher of the highest degree. Her experiments were grotesque, if morally acceptable - she had been born with a rare congenital condition that lead to gradual paralysis and eventually the giving out of the heart before the age of maturity. Using herself as the basis for her own experiments, she had discovered a means to engineer a complete stasis of all biological function while binding her soul to her inanimate body. The notations were exceedingly complex, and much of it seemed unique to her; even with your exceptional knowledge of Necromancy, her corpse-stitching was a tier about you, when it came to her own body.

She had entirely replaced herself with self-sculpted bone and flesh. In the text, she described herself - a being with a prosthetic body created through necromancy - as a thanaton. With herself as the basis, she was developing the necessary rituals to bind other Aso to an exoskeleton that would respond to and enhance their natural movements, rather than simply being a servitor they rode around in. She intended this as a remedy for those with similar conditions to hers, but also spent some time extrapolating to military applications, including the concept of producing exceedingly large servitors for use as exoskeletons.

She was currently living in exile in the Dagger Peaks, as of the latest edition of the Tome, which had been published last Selach.

+5% progress with Necromancy.

=

All was set and ready to go, as you had ordered. You were aboard the Harbinger with thirty Paladins, Garamea, and Castos. Your forces were arrayed below you, and a bone-bird had just arrived with the news that the Reapers were in position. The Harbinger was a half-minute from passing over the front line of the ground forces.
This message was last edited by the GM at 07:17, Sun 27 Jan 2019.

And so the time had come. Theadeacus meditated aboard The Harbinger, gathering his Essence and reaffirming his Will. He had come to liberate and cleanse, to ravage and destroy.

He was to become death incarnate.

He remained this way, wreathed in a progressively ordered aura of darklight, until Garamea arrived to notify him of the operations beginning. Slowly he opened his eyes, allowing the magic to degrade as he rode.

"And so we set upon our divine task."

First Battle of the Dagger Peaks Campaign

Erosian Forces
Commander: Theadeacus, God of Death
1000 Servitors
500 Flying Infantry
50 Paladins
25 Shamans
Castos, Death of Rituals
Garamea, Death of Grief

Raamthumalah's Forces
Commander: The Triumph Unheard
Subordinate:
650 Oni
1 Great Oni

First Hour

The Erosian main force advances in a long column seperated into 10 divisions, each with 4 squadrons. Each squadron is headed by a shaman and composed of 40 servitors and 20 Flying Infantry. Each Each Division is supported by two Paladins, who direct the flying infantry to respond swiftly to ambushes.

When an ambush occurs, the divisions crash together to squash the ambush, limiting tactical options for the Oni, who mostly are able to destroy servitors by causing rockfalls along the gorges and canyons of the valley.

The Harbinger rains down fire ahead of the front line, the flashes of darklight serving suppress known ambush points and signal their location to the ground troops.

Still, the gurrila tactics are of limited effectiveness, and the Oni are tough and stealthy.

The Harbinger makes good progress towards the Font, and will arrive within striking distance within the next hour.

End of First Hour

Erosian Forces
Commander: Theadeacus, God of Death
925 Servitors
470 Flying Infantry
49 Paladins
23 Shamans
10 Reapers (C.I. Team)
Castos, Death of Rituals
Garamea, Death of Grief

Raamthumalah's Forces
Commander: The Triumph Unheard
545 Oni
1 Great Oni

In his heart Theadeacus weeps for his fallen, pained by their deaths. Speaking general to the subordinates aboard the Harbinger Theadeacus delivers his commands.

"Stay the course. Instruct any squadron which falls beneath 40% fighting strength to regroup with the nearest squadron and proceed. The dead will be recovered after the conflict."

Moving to one of the arcane foci,Theadeacus added his own power to the assault. Using his baleful gaze to augment the targeting systems he peered into the Dagger Peaks and laid waste to ambush groups as the radiance of their life force, tainted or otherwise, could not hide from him.

Second Hour

Causalities continued to mount, as new Oni joined the fray. The closer the assault drew to the Font, the more horribly corrupted the Ettin became, and nonmagical weapons became ineffective. These Oni were cloaked in emerald mist, and moved unnaturally fast, leaping into the sky to snatch Aso and tear them asunder.

Your own efforts were more effective, obliterating the Oni that dared attract your baleful gaze, mutation or no mutation. But it wasn't enough; the forward momentum of your advance was stalled as the Oni abandoned their ambush tactics for an all-out assault. It made them easier to target, but your servitors were being massacred.

Garamea sounded a horn that echoed over the Dagger Peaks and bounded between them - the call to retreat. She sounded it again, and again.

The feint had served its purpose - the Harbinger was in striking distance of the Font, and by the change in the behavior of the corrupted Ettin, you knew your troops had stolen the Horror's attention.

End of Second Hour

Erosian Forces
Commander: Theadeacus, God of Death
525 Servitors (-400)
370 Flying Infantry (-100)
42 Paladins (-8)
15 Shamans (-8)
10 Reapers (C.I. Team)
Castos, Death of Rituals
Garamea, Death of Grief

Raamthumalah's Forces
Commander: The Triumph Unheard
300 Oni (-245)
1 Great Oni
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:56, Thu 31 Jan 2019.

"Send word to the Reapers. Begin their operation."

Theadeacus then looked to Castos.

"Maintain the aerial assault, cover the retreat. I don't want to lose anymore Aso then is absolutely necessarily."

He then looked to the team that would be assailing the Font with him.

"There is no time for speeches. We've come to kill this invader. Let's scour their bones from this Realm."

With that Theadeacus used the Jewel of Shadows to cloak himself in an ebony suit of armor and enshrouded the Staff of Theadeacus with a mantle of night, augmenting its shape to be more simple to a warscythe then a simple stave. He left the Harbinger, followed by his people, and made his way to the Font's entrance.

Advancing forward under the full spectrum of his vision abilities, Theadeacus were prepared for combat.

Skirmish at the Font & First Reaper Team Operation

Erosian Forces
Commander: Theadeacus, God of Death
30 Paladins
10 Reapers
5 Warlock Alumni
Castos, Death of Rituals
Garamea, Death of Grief

Raamthumalah's Forces
Commander: The Triumph Unheard
15 Mad Oni
8 Oni
1 Great Oni

Raasiel's Forces
Commanader: Raasiel, Thanaton
4 Experimental Thanatoautomata

First Minute

With the force of Paladins in tow headed by Garamea, Theadeacus desends of the font. The Oni here are unlike anywhere else - they move with strange dimensions, snatching Paladins form the sky and forcibly moving parts of their body into higher spatial dimensions than rest, resulting in gory explosions and inverted dead. Despite this horrific threat, the Paladins are well trained - calling on the simplest and swiftest magics to imbue their weapons with a trace of magic, allowing them to slay the otherwise impervious Mad Oni, though two paladins fall for each Mad Oni before Theadeacus breaches the Font proper and is confronted with the Triumph Unheard.

The horror is a spindly thing, a dark gap in space-time with spindly branches that move through reality like pickaxes through glass - sometimes shattering, sometimes resisted.

It is - doing something to the Font, words - words carved and written in shards of time - that are not words; deafening Theadeacus as all natural ambient noise is silenced by swarms of hungry untones. Garamea screams, her sanity shaking and fraying. Theadeacus is of more resilent make, but even he would begin to succumb to Truth if this battle lingered on for too long.

Meanwhile, the Reapers move swiftly, their firecaller and warlock focusing their destructive potential on the Great Oni while two sub-teams of warriors flank the ordinary Oni. Short work is made of them, but the Great Oni survives the initial assault. The Shaman screams into the Great Oni's mind, dazing it for long enough that the sub-teams move in and spear it a dozen times - and so it falls. The shaman collapses, a broken thing, contact with the Mad mind having shattered her own. The second phase of the plan is intiated, as the children are verified to be alright and the team starts the process of producing a cave-in.

Meanwhile, the Harbinger continues to cover the retreat of the main force.

End of First Minute

Erosian Forces
Commander: Theadeacus, God of Death
10 Paladins
9 Reapers
5 Warlock Alumni
Castos, Death of Rituals
Garamea, Death of Grief (incapacitated)

Raamthumalah's Forces
Commander: The Triumph Unheard
5 Mad Oni

Raasiel's Forces
Commander: Raasiel, Thanaton
4 Experimental Thanatoautomata

This message was last edited by the GM at 17:32, Thu 07 Feb 2019.