The Horde Invasion
Map #3. One and One.Sage (Castle, Valeska) vs Kamikaze (Stronghold, Gurnisson) – 0:3A map very poor in experience. A meager number of monsters and territory in general. That is, on this map, whoever has the stronger race is likely to win. There can be no talk of any kind of skill. True, there is a market and a fort on the hill, but that's just a silver lining… In short, the model is close to chess, albeit in a twisted form. And now directly about the game itself.
Our town was located east of the humanoid settlement. The fact that two states could not coexist on such a tiny territory was clear from the start. But the less disciplined and unprepared barbarians clearly did not have an advantage on their side. However, we had something else. Fury, anger, a thirst for supremacy. Hot as flame and swift as the wind, our young commanders dreamed in their sleep of the burning cities of the human-things. But how to overcome these professional killers, soldiers with a capital S?
But one day, unexpectedly, a solution to this problem was found.
- We are the HORDE, they themselves christened us with that word, - said the clan elder. – That means there should be so many of us that counting us is impossible. One of the wisest (and can you imagine the wisest among barbarians) of our shamans saw something in his orb of fate… A MONUMENT TO THE GODS OF WAR.
- What is that crap, - the half-drunk ogres and goblins howled, - what monument, we don't have a monument.
- Nobody knows where it is. But legend says that whoever erects such a monument on the central square of a city will be invincible on the battlefield, and even if he is defeated, his blood-brothers will come to replace him.
- And what good is that to us? We're not going to build anything…
- Shut up, all of you… we will dig, DIG, got it, you freaks?
In short, everyone went to dig, and they dug, so to speak, from the fence until lunch. And soon this activity began to bore our valiant soldiers. Talk started, like let's pressure the elder, let him dig himself. Then one young warrior, accidentally stumbling upon a strange monolith in the mountains, dug up a small chest from under its base, which contained a piece of a map, but very old and incomprehensible. The wisest of the wise almost unraveled the secret of this magic map, but then said that this piece was not enough to solve the puzzle (quite the scholar, eh).
Now everyone rushed to look for the same ancient structures that were on the mountain.
But there was one general in our army, lucky us, who decided that unraveling the secret of the ancient manuscript would be harder than everyone thought. He decided to muster an army and go marauding through the lands of men.
- Here is the crystal of Egress, - father Gurnisson blessed his son on the long journey. – If things get really tough, just break it and it will save you (for some reason, the northerners did not consider fleeing the battlefield shameful). But only once, a broken Egress has no magical properties.
The path to the Men lay through an underground tunnel. Various types often loitered there, searching for all sorts of oddities. To each their own. So our hero, after some difficulty, once stumbled upon the encampment of some mage from Crimea. He promised the barbarian, for a certain number of rare reagents, two creatures of the Fire Element, of heavenly beauty. Thus Gurnisson exchanged four thousand gold and some quantity of quicksilver oil for two Phoenixes. Quite a sight – tame Firebirds! Beautiful!
In short, the Son of the Horde walked and walked through the lands of the little people, when suddenly a beautiful obelisk appeared in his path. The marble column sparkled and shimmered with a million shades. It was a completely different ancient monument, not like the one in our village. And such a calm enveloped the commander that he didn't even notice the enemy army. And the loyal warriors were already carrying a chest dug up from under the aforementioned column. Seeing his valiant officers being slaughtered like lambs, Gurnisson decided to flee, but remembering the crystal, without much thought, he cracked the stone against a stone. And a mist rose, and a whirlwind spun, and the whirlwind lifted the remnants of our hero's army into the air…
- Where am I? Who is here?
- He's alive, alive…
- Father, can you imagine such a thing…
- This is the great Egress, my son!
Everyone who could come gathered at the council. Seven pieces of the map, all the columns dug up. The wise men are in shock – what to do with all this. They decided to wait for a sign from the gods.
- I have a chest here, - a confident voice rang out from the hall, - there's a piece of the map and a little bag of powder inside.
In short, they laid out the map fragments on the table (somehow, naturally), sprinkled them with powder, and the shaman was just about to cast a spell when suddenly the pieces attached themselves to each other and a golden cross lit up in the very center.
A week later, they dragged the monument into the city. They installed it on the main square and waited… for something. Nothing happened, except that the city began to grow and expand, the number of inhabitants kept increasing, and the people began to get rich. A month later, having gathered a multi-million strong army of little green fellows, Gurnisson moved towards the western lands.
- Here is your crystal, young man, - the elder came out to meet the hero, - every general receives such a stone upon coming of age.
- I came of age four years ago!
- That's what I'm saying – you came of age, so receive it.
Apparently, the winds know how to spread news, or someone else… but the men were ready for war. And although there were half as many of them, they did not let their city be captured. Some chariot in chain mail burst out like a stormy river current from behind the capital's walls and scattered the multi-thousand-strong army.
Again the little stone came in handy. Again, Gurnisson was welcomed home like a hero. Again they gave him a million warriors, and again into battle… But this time there was no crystal of Egress. The northern tribes only gave one per snout to their children. True, the men didn't know how to breed that fast, so Gurnisson this time simply broke down the city walls and burst in like the Whirlwind of Egress, and destroyed the human race on this land. And the orcs and goblins, ogres and monsters began to live in peace and harmony. True, bloody massacres sometimes happened, but they always ended in wild orgies, so the barbarian race only multiplied and flourished. THE END!
PS: The tactical and technical specifications can be viewed in Sage's report.
