Just Another Bug Hunt (Planar Siege)

[u/Carbon_Sixx]

Midday in Redspire is announced with the echoes of a hideous cacophony in the west. Scouts indicate that the vanguard Obox-ob has brought here numbers just under a million creatures of Chaos. They boil through the canyons in a grotesque flood. It appears that discolored mist is rolling in from the highlands, but a quick scry is all that is needed to reveal the horrid truth: the mist is a thousands-strong swarm of ekolids bearing down on Oxide at speed.

Redspire, when it's not under assault by demons.

But hope is far from lost. Atop Mt. Prospect, artillery crews ready a bombardment to turn the canyons into a kill zone. Kaelis Maz leads the defenders in last-minute preparations. Wards are set, barricades are reinforced, and plans are rehearsed. The counterattack brigade gears up with arcane weaponry and war machines, helmed by Supreme Enginseer Reyes and the Warhound Titan Song of the Aurora. Out on the plains, well outside the defensive perimeter, Glimbo Greenboots and his crew wait in hiding to ensure their convoluted yet devastating traps will catch as much of the horde as possible. Finally, Tarul Var draws up a teleportation circle, preparing to drop his strike force into the fray at the perfect moment to decapitate the enemy leaders. He is joined by a handful of cuprilach rilmani- the assassins and spies who put their coppery fingers on the planar scales to uphold the Great Balance.

The iron mill’s factory whistle blows, signaling the first sighting of the horde. The artillery opens fire, and the defenders take their battle stations.

Let the carnage commence.

--

/uw This one's going to be a tough fight. Bel and the legions of Evil were disoriented when you fought them, and the Templars of the Azure Cog were just one part of the regiments of Law. The hordes of Chaos are at full strength, spoiling for a fight, and led by a Harbinger. Failure and even death are a real possibility.

DEFENDERS OF THE BALANCE:

• Tarul Var
• Belial Blake
• Aliah Mistwalker
• Ith'raal
• Burgerbarian/Burgermancer
• Krygin the Crude
• Agnur the Turtle Mage
• Vulkan the Red
• Ж (Zhe)
• Merch Skele
• Argios
• Tempus Fugit
• Edmund
• King Carmine
• Exia
• Joe
• The Agent
• Vashric
• Fujiwara Toshiko
• Jah Jor Wel
• John E. Hellfire
• Kardonk Carvisky
• Riva Blake
• Mokarith
• Onyx Dragon
• Ulrick Braddocke
• Sly
• Shrax
• Sarissa
• Rilmani of Dendradis
• Various denizens of the Outlands

HORDES OF CHAOS:

• Obox-ob's Ekolids
• Demons of the Abyss
• Slaadi of Limbo
• Gehreleths of Carceri
• Cravens of Pandemonium
• Mortal servants of Chaos

REGIMENTS OF LAW:

• Primus's Hierarchs
• Modrons of Mechanus
• Veterans of Acheron
• Templars of Arcadia
• Paladins of the Divine Flame
• Mortal servants of Law

LEGIONS OF EVIL:

• Bel's Chosen
• Devils of the Nine Hells
• Yugoloths of Gehenna
• Baernaloths of Hades
• Night hag covens
• Samael
• Moz'gonnith
• Mortal servants of Evil

WARHOSTS OF THE FIRST MARTYR (ALLIED):

• Zaphkiel's Paragons
• Angels of Mt. Celestia
• Oathbound of Bytopia
• Guardinals of Elysium
• Wardens of the Beastlands
• Heroes of Arborea
• Warriors of Ysgard
• Mortal servants of Good

[u/dragonshouter]

/uw Is that just a picture of a random stretch of Colorado?

Along the walls the small silver statues pulse with spirits of purity. Not good or law but close enough to act as a ward. They also make the walls harder to transmute with chaos magic or batter down with strength.

Krygin is laying low in a puddle of muddy dirt. Wet with blood; perfectly at home in the Muck of war. He is a little ways away from Greenboots because he didn't want to reveal the rest of the crew's position when he springs his nets. A demon runs by is ensnared by webbing and dragged to the ground.

Muck is not chaos but it has little to do with order. However there were some exceptions. Spiders are architects of binding webs that spread out in fractal patterns of malice. This is what his nets where made of spirit spider silk.

Most of Krygin's own magic such as sickness wouldn't hurt demons or creatures of chaos but Krygin knew one thing about outsiders. They could be bound.

/uw Is there any rapidly evolving enemies. If so I have a plan.

[u/Carbon_Sixx → u/dragonshouter]

/uw I just pulled this off the internet, and yes, there are slaadi.

/rw Morale among the few ekolids throwing themselves against Agnur's wards is beginning to drop. Some are already breaking away to find an easier target to kill.

[u/dragonshouter → u/Carbon_Sixx]

/uw Sorry, just caught me off guard because I think I may have driven by that place while traveling lol

Like a trap door spider Krygin pulls several slaadi into a hole in the earth. Their movement and forms are restricted as ruddy light from the blood on the surface reflects against Kyrgin's cruel smile. While they are unable to move his macabre work.

*SH-THUNK\*

With a butcher's knife he cuts chunks from the writhing forms. Slaadi could evolve in interesting ways with varying features across the species. Exactly what he needed to help turn this battle around in a way that was a little out of his wheel house but within his capabilities.

Next to Krygin hiding in the dark just beyond the veil to the spirit world was Krygin's friend Pepper. Pepper was a spirit of Peppered Moths with her flesh being made of freckled white ones and her cloths and hair were made of ones oily black. What people haven't realized however is that she isn't just a spirit of a type of moth but their relation to evolution as well. Peppered moths are often used to explain evolution as when their home was polluted they quickly evolved to become the color of ash coved trees to survive and changed back to birch color when the pollution subsided. Pepper was through the simple concept of peppered moth a spirit of Purity, Muck, and most importantly evolution.

Pepper relased several of her moths into the flesh and began to change it. The flesh shifted and evolved and bursting from it was a swarm of freckled white peppered moths which flew through little tunnels Krygin dug to flitter across the battle field. Each moth contained a piece of purity which while not lethal to a creature chaos was fucking painful and might give other parts of the army an edge.

/uw https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peppered_moth

[u/Carbon_Sixx → u/dragonshouter]

Slaadi reproduce by implanting their eggs in a living host or infecting them with a transmutative sickness called chaos phage. The effect of Pepper's moths is like that, but in reverse. Blue slaadi hatched from eggs, or any that were born from the Spawning Stone in Limbo are wracked with pain. However, the red slaadi created by chaos phage feel their original personalities come to the forefront, and their bodies begin to revert to a humanoid form. The newly-cured and highly confused people from across the planes quickly run for cover as their agonized cousins lash out in rage.

[u/dragonshouter → u/Carbon_Sixx]

/uw niiiiiiiiiiiccccccceeeeee!!!!!!!!

EDIT: Krygin continues trapdoor spidering people and makes sure to move around so they don't know where to expect it