A Jaded Life Interlude- Forum: Kolyug under Siege

Official Road to Purgatory-Beta Forum

-Tarrin, confird Beta-Account

Hey Guys

In my last thread, I asked about the events around the northern city of Kolyug and, oh boy, have there been developnts. When I made the last thread, things were weird. They still are, but with an added dose of “wtf” and “holy hell, get out of here”. For those not nearby, aning pretty much everyone, I don’t think I’ve seen another Traveller in the city over the last few days, let fill you in.

I told you that there was paranoia in the air and a few others explained that there might be so powerful wizard/sorcerer, or whatever you want to call a spellcaster, lurking in the area, aiming to take over the city, or maybe just burn it down. Apparently, said spellcaster had been playing with fire, literally, and has tried to incorporate fire into the animals of the north. Why any remotely sane being thought that bears the size of a small bus with the ability to spit fire would be a good idea, I cannot fathom but apparently, that guy thought it was just what the world of Mundus desperately needed. And because just fire-spitting bears would be boring, he added wolves, elk and pretty much anything he could get his fingers on, giving them all the ability to spit fire and had them attack Kolyug.

Luckily, the city seed to be rather fireproof, especially once the stupid critters and spring lted the river, giving the city an additional supply-route. Why that wizard thought sieging a city located at a large river, with a harbour mind you, would be a good idea if his forces are all using fire as their main-attack and seem to be quite allergic to water, that will be a question for soone else.

Leonidas, confird Beta-Account

Well, that sounds rather f*cked up. I’m currently guarding a caravan, just a day or two out, we had so trouble with normal wildlife and one of the villages the caravan normally traded a little was a complete ghost-town, but otherwise, things were reasonably calm. Can you give so more information, maybe even post a video? It sounds bad but I really don’t want to abandon my current quest.

Ghostblade, confird Beta-Account

So, Kolyug is going down? Can’t say I’m sad about that, stupid trolls…

Goliry, confird Beta-Account

Maybe they want to test so siege-chanics or sothing, sowhere where people won’t be too pissed if things bug out.

Tarrin, confird Beta-Account

Wouldn’t that be easier in so sort of controlled sandbox, specifically set up for it, Goliry?

And, Lenoidas, just for you:

burningfields.avi.

From atop seamless, dark-grey battlents, the cara looks down, over what can only be described as a hellish wasteland. The whole area, starting at the walls and for hundreds of ters, the land has been scoured clean, nothing remaining but ashes, so with a few glimring embers remaining.

There seem to be strange, fiery creatures still in the area, all of them keeping quite a bit of distance to the wall, prowling the burned area, looking for anything that might be flammable. A thin, slightly different coloured line stretches through the wasteland, a road made from stone, apparently undamaged despite the damage to the surrounding area. Past the wasteland are still forests but even there, so damage is obvious, burned out areas stretching into them, mostly going in one direction.

The cara follows the battlents for a bit, providing a view over the town, made from a similar grey rock as the walls, with people scurrying from their hos, spending as little ti in the open as possible. Finally, the view pans over a wide river, a few boats are out, maybe fishing, and on the other shore is more burned-down land, albeit a lot less than on the other side. But there, too, are fiery monsters on the prowl.

burningfields.avi.- end

So, yeah, I think the video speaks for itself. This is f*cked up.

Goliry, confird Beta-Account

Depends, with the sandbox. If they want to see if their algorithms for a spreading effect work, as in, how would information and actions resulting from an event spread, that would require the whole world. Especially if Travellers and communications such as these influence the spread and thus the events.

It’s hard to compute how the flapping of a butterfly’s wings might cause a tornado on the other side of the world and all that jazz. I could see them testing what happens if a city is destroyed in a fully simulated world, simply to make sure that they know what happens. Because, let’s be honest here, at so point, so Travellers will destroy cities, castles, and countries, I can almost guarantee it.

Tobiuno, confird Beta-Account

Oh, my… Looks toasty.

And yeah, Goliry, I have to agree with you, they certainly want to test how the world reacts to change, whether their systems work or not. I think that maybe they even reduced the difficulty of so achievents, like governing a castle and region, just so there’s a chance to test those systems.

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

No, I don’t know that one, but if I think about it realistically, the Duke Highever seed very eager, maybe that’s because they reduced the difficulty, maybe it’s just that way to make players feel welco, I don’t know. We’ll have to see how it will look in the life-version, so ti next year.

Leonidas, confird Beta-Account

Holy hell, I’m not all that religious but if they wanted to depict hell on earth, I think they got close.

I’ll have to talk with the leader of the caravan, maybe we’ll just wait for a few days for the situation to finish developing. Cause, if I’m honest, I have absolutely no desire to run into that.

Gloinar, confird Beta-Account

Thanks for proving right, ga. I’m so glad that my group and I are weeks away from that city. But it’ll be interesting how the north reacts and how that develops further. Hopefully soone can keep an eye on it, soone other than , that is, I’ll keep my distance, thankyouverymuch.

Tarrin, confird Beta-Account

Got a new developnt and I’m sowhat stunned. During the afternoon, a guy appeared in the wasteland, looking rather flamboyant, well, not really but the pun was necessary, and started addressing the city. I only got the tail-end of his speech, needed so ti to get my behind onto the battlent, but what happened next was jaw-dropping. Look for yourself.

waitwhat.avi

In the middle of the burned wasteland, hovering just a little above the charred land, with a plethora of fiery creatures gathered around, is a man. He is dressed in black, flowing soft clothes and in his hand is an ornate staff of obsidian capped with a large, blood-red gemstone, shining with orange, flickering light. The fiery creatures seem to be displaying fealty to him, as he speaks in a booming voice. He is speaking normally, relaxed even, but nonetheless, his voice is thundering across the burned land.

“You have heard my demands, Kolyug. Your leader, the so-called Kol, can accept them, or the city will burn. You have until tomorrow to decide.” he finishes, turning around, his black cloak with a red-fla symbol billowing from the movent.

Suddenly, a soft sound shatters the silence, the slow clapping of a single pair of hands, mocking in cadence, especially with the laughter carried by the wind. The recording focuses on another figure, this one looking quite plain in comparison to the first one, a woman, waring only simple, hospun clothes, slowly walking across the charred land. On the recording, you can see her lips moving but no voice is audible.

“What are you going to do about it?” the hovering figure asks, his tone mocking.

Again, the woman answers but not in an audible way. But just from the mocking smile on her lips, it is clear that her answer was not with the reverence the hovering wizard seems to demand.

“So be it. You can serve as an example for the city, what happens if they defy !” the floating figure shouts, the roar bellowing across the land. He rises higher, just a few ters, and the staff in his hand flares up, the gem shining brightly. From the fiery creatures around him co pained howls, as streams of power, visible despite the distance, are drained away from them, into the staff. With incredibly swift, secure motions, the floating wizards moves his staff, flaming runes appearing in the air in front of him, burning brightly, with dimr lines forming to connect them.

“Now, you DIE!” the figure shouts, as fifteen runes flare together, a flare mirrored by the gem in his staff. From the middle of the formation, a white-hot lance shoots out, hot enough to cause visible disturbance in the air, looking like a small sun. Surprised screams are heard from the wall, the heat powerful enough to reach them, despite the distance.

Just before the lance can reach the woman, she throws sothing small towards it and, in a mind-boggling display, the glowing lance simply flows into whatever she has thrown, vanishing without a trace. Focusing back on the woman, with so difficulty due to the overheated air between them, shows that she is laughing rrily, catching the thing she had thrown. A simple, small nut, no larger than an acorn. That was all she needed to stop the massive lance of fire.

Again, her lips move and she makes a simple gesture, throwing sothing else towards the man, who tries to escape, only to realise that thin vines stretched from the ground, capturing his legs and holding him firm. The small object, another nut, hits him in the chest and again, the result boggles the mind. For a mont, there is a flash of green light and when it fades, the man and the fiery creatures are gone, replaced by a young oak-tree.

Not a single sound is heard, as the woman starts walking towards Kolyug, grass replacing the ash around her, in a slowly growing circle.

waitwhat.avi

After that display, the woman walked up to the gates, telling the trolls that the Grandmother has co to visit the Kol, and when she did, they couldn’t open the gate fast enough. The whole friggin’ city went nuts at that point, it seems that whoever that lady is, she is so sort of local legend, who has been in the area forever, teaching so people, helping others, like so fairy grandmother. Only that she also had so darker stories about her and, judging by that display above, I can see her kick serious ass.

Apparently, she ca by cause that fire-guy tried to kill her disciple and the Grandmother felt she had to teach him so manners.

Leonidas, confird Beta-Account

“The Grandmother”? Are you sure with that title? Cause when I talked to my boss and ntioned it, he got as pale as I’d ever seen him. The guy is a life-long rcenary, the type that would happily charge a superior force, shouting sothing about dining in hell, but that got him spooked.

So, I pushed a little and guess what? Turns out we had t the Grandmother’s disciple and who else would it be, if not our very own Morgana? Apparently, she showed him so sort of book, given to her by that Grandmother, clearly demonstrating her affiliation.

@ Morgana, care to comnt?

Jeanyra, confird Beta-Account

Oh… my… fucking… GOD!

I thought I was quite impressive, casually using five-rune formations for spells or seven if I want sothing bigger. But FIFTEEN?! And the other simply brushes it aside like so minor cantrip?

If Morgana was taught by that, I’m calling shenanigans. But I’m also not surprised by whatever rabbit she pulls out of her behind next.