Sounds great, ive just got my wfb mojo back myself. Looking at getting some quick games in to post up and get the YT channel working again.Originally Posted by Kayosiv
I would love to be the ref in that matchIve watched nearly all of OB's output, its quality stuff cant wait to see it posted up
Oh lamentations why oh why have you fallen to the darkness of poetry and zen thoughtsI want dirty MOMUS back
Despite the long inactivity in this thread, I have been playing more Warhammer than ever. My job keeps my very busy and I have little spare time, meaning then when I do have a few hours to spare, I play games instead of writing reports. I take detailed notes and my job is ending in less than a month, so there will be more content in this thread very soon, but in the meantime I have a special treat for the dedicated that still check this thread from time to time.
I have recently played a game against one of my long time internet heroes, Oncebitten360. He was nice enough to spend 6 hours of his Sunday playing a game of Warhammer with me over a distance of 3000 miles. We played the game over Skype using his models and he has just finished putting up the battle report on it. Please do check it out, as I am excited as heck to have given him a good game and for him to do a report based on a Warhammer Fantasy Battle against yours truly. I was forced out of my comfort zone for the game, having to play an army I've never played before, but battled many times, Beastmen. The results are interesting and well worth the watch. Please leave a comment and a like if you enjoy the report; such things help Oncebitten continue to offer great entertainment free of charge on his Youtube channel.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUxII...eature=g-all-u
Last edited by Kayosiv; 17-08-2012 at 03:25.
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Will surely check this out when I get home from work!
Great fluff as always, top-notch! It's great to see some fluff reports here since they are, always have been and probably always will be my favorite kind of reports!
Current Campaigns: A World in Flames
Old Campaigns: The Rise and Fall of Rhatep
Current Projects: Lizardmen 1500 Points
Old Projects: Orcs & Goblins 5500 Points
Fluff on Post 68 finished.
Still need to do some in-report fluff on battle 7.
Battle 8's report should be started soon.
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I think you really need to look at having a better variation of lores within the army, personally I only take a single model with lore of vampire (maybe 2 if the points permit) and a couple of shadow mages (then this gives me the fun of shadow hoping with my blender lord). I think dragon lords for VC are a massive risk, you need your general near your army so it can advance at a decent pace, you want you dragon away from the lines setting up flank charges, the games with cannons then its very much a frantic rush for cover, you might be better off seeing if you can turn your dragon into a terrorgheist and having your lord supporting your army. I think the other problem with the dragon lord is the lack of magic within the list, a couple of lvl2's won't be doing a whole lot unless you can kill off the enemy wizards.
Grave guard are a fine unit, I don't think its worth hording them unless you have a unit of 40, anything less and you may as well go for ranks, honestly not a massive fan of horde units, they can be annoying to position unless you and opponet just run head first at each other. Skeletons are fine, they do however need a vampire in the unit to do the grinding, they are a perfect place for a blender lord to hide, zombies are cool as well but I think the main thing is access to a magical banner, even a flaming banner can be useful on them, screaming banner really requires a vampire with all the anti-leadership powers.
Really cool battle reports and it looks like you have a very tough WoC army to beat, with so many hammer units VC will always be at a disadvantage.
Yeah my WoC opponent has been getting better and better, mostly because we play each other so much and keep exploiting each others' weaknesses with increasing efficiency. I lost to him tonight, in fact, although he played a much better game than me. It was a harsh reminder and lesson about taking needless risks. I casted a spell on 2 dice for virtually no benefit on turn 1, got double sixes, and rolled a 3 on the miscast chart. I nearly lost the game before he got a chance to take a turn and it costs me 5 black knights which crippled me the entire game.
All I can say about all of your advice is well... yes. Yes to everything. The list you quoted is quite old and I have not been using a dragon for quite some time and have been running a terrorgheist instead. I have also dropped the unit of grave guard because a unit of 40 costs over 500 points and just didn't want to spend that on a single unit. I replaced it with 8 crypt horrors and have not regretted it at all. More magic dominance in my list is something I've been trying to work in and have been thinking about how best to do it.
Last edited by Kayosiv; 10-09-2012 at 08:36.
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Well if you want any suggestions on improving your list let me know, I'm sure I can come up with something that doesn't require a massive chance, shame about dropping the grave guard, I still use mine, just a unit of 27+ character, I tried the unit of 30 myself in a horde, it was rather pointless. Not tried horrors yet but I have nothing in my list I would want to drop, I would rather have a unit of Wraiths anyway
I used a tiny unit of 2 wraiths with a banshee for all of 7th edition and they never steered me wrong. The fact that the scream needs line of sight now though got me a bit worried. I have been contemplating replacing the terrorgheist with the point equivalent amount of 3 wraiths + banshee, just because the terrorgheist is SOOOO useless is any combat that it can't thunderstomp and it would be nice to have a support unit that could scream instead of a unit I have to baby because it crumbles so easily, even if it can scream slightly better. The biggest problem is in my meta of friends, wraiths are very fragile. The things I need the armor ignoring attacks to target are mostly doombulls, chaos knights, and skaven monsters like hellpits and doomwheels. All of which have high strength magical attacks.
I really don't miss the skeletons I've dropped from my list at all. They just don't work and I am impressed with any army that can get them to do anything. The grave guard however, I miss. My list lacks high strength attacks outside of the black knights who only get it on the charge and who are already with my lord anyway and he rarely needs any help. Having another unit with strength 5+ would be nice. There's plenty in the armybook that can do that too, I just need to figure out what to swap around. After I finish up my last report backlog I'll look into tweaking my new list some more, but in the meantime here is the most current list I've been using.
Lords:
Vampire Lord, Army General: Kayosiv: Level 2, Heavy Armor
Vampiric Powers: Quickblood, Red Fury
Magic Items: 4+ ward, Enchanted Shield, Sword of Might
Mount: Barded Nightmare
Necromancer, Level 3.
Dispel scroll:
Core:
5 Dire Wolves:
5 Dire Wolves:
5 Dire Wolves:
20 zombies: with musician and standard bearer
43 Ghouls with haunter:
Special:
14 Black Knights: with Lances, Barding, and full command and Warbanner
8 Crypt Horrors with Haunter
4 Vargheists
1 Spirit Hosts
1 Spirit Hosts
Rare:
Terrogheist
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Well its a good start, I don't use necromancers at all, if I was to use one then I would be taking a lvl4, just have your lord to cast IoN on your knights and keep them in one piece.
I've honestly had no real problem with my skeletons but they have a combat character in the unit, I simply have them for the parry save, let the vampire grind down the enemy unit (which is usually my blender lord).
The terrorghiest is very nice, I don't use it because its a pig to transport, I have a unit of 6 wraiths as a hammer unit which I have found to be very effective, some Wraiths could be useful for drawing direct damage spells away from your knight bus (not that I'm a massive fan of it), I just find having my general with the army more useful. Have you considered even swapping the Vampire lord for two vampires? I find having my points spread more evenly helps a lot, with this list as soon as your lose your knights its your army pretty much screwed.
I have actually thought of 2 heroes instead of 1 lord, especially with a master necromancer to keep the army going. I'm just paranoid about my vampires dying, which my hero level vampires when I took them always seemed to do. If my lord was a necromancer though... maybe that would be OK.
Why aren't you a fan of the knight bus?
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I've played with with normal vampires over a lord before, I guess it depends how you arm them, of course when I did it I didn't have a master necromancer so my list really suffered in the magic phase.
This is my favorite vampire build
Vampire
lvl 2 sorcerer
- Lore of Shadow
- Great Weapon
- heavy Armour
- Nightshroud
- Beguile
- Dread Knight
- Aura of Dark Majesty
Total 242pts
So far he hasn't let me down! I haven't tried the necromancer lord yet, I only take vampires as my characters, of course my play style is to spread the points across the table more evenily to reduce the impact of losing units to the overall game plan.
My main problem with the knight bus is the amount of points you end up pointing into a single point of the board, especially if you have you vampire lord in the unit, then basically your game is won or lost based on how well this unit does, its not like black knights have super stats either and I think they force you down the lore of vampire route because of the investment, you have to keep it alive. I would much rather have grave guard (well I am very bias towards using grave guard, but I use teutogen guard as mine), so many more models, more ranks and if you choose a smaller frontage. It just makes breaking units easier! The other thing is if you take a black knight bus you kinda have to put your vampire lord in it, so when it comes to deployment you opponent has a far easier time of predicting how your characters will deploy.
Realizing that once again I have let this thread sit idle for nearly a month, here is a lot of updates on what I've been up to.
I have found a Games Workshop within reasonable driving distance and have been going to their fantasy events. The turnout is low but I'm getting to fight armies like Orcs & Goblins and Dark elves which I haven't faced in years.
I have finished assembling my 2nd set of 5 black knights, my 4th Vargheist, and my 8 Crypt Ghouls. The last vargheist and cyprt ghoul conversions I am especially proud of. I will post pictures soon.
I have been busy attempting to find work and so haven't had the time to write reports/fluff things in here. I will do my best to get some solid updates within the next week or 2.
I recently picked up a brush for the first time in almost a year. I had a stegadon run down a horde of ogre bulls in a recent game. The BSB was in the ogre unit and they failed 2 steadfast leadership 9 break tests and were then also unable to outdistance the stegadon who perused then and ran them down. That was a 235 point unit that in one round of combat, netting me over 800 victory points. Because of this, I proclaimed that I would finished painting the model, which had been left unfinished some 3 years ago so I could work on other projects. The progress is shaky and slow as I try to work around my rustiness with the brush, but overall is going well.
EDIT: As promised, here are some pictures of my WIP crypt horrors, my FINISHED Vargheists (it feels both odd and amazing to finish something) and a hex wraith test conversion that I think turned out well enough that I'm going to make a few more.
I am tremendously proud of these and how well they came out. The brown color scheme was not one I had seen done before, but wanted a more "realistic bat color" for them. I spent a good hour picking out the teeth and doing that red glow on their eyes, starting over many times. The effort was well worth at as you can just see the "Oh look, lunch came to me" expression on their faces. Super happy with these, I only hope that my next projects will come out half as well... and hopefully take half the time.
Pretty excited with these conversions, especially the dual wielding unit champion and the "taking a bite out" conversion. Byrothegryo of this board helped me with some of the conversions which were some of my first Green Stuff work. His help is much appreciated.
Aside from the mold lines being pretty bad and the dang oldschool horse models not fitting together properly, I really like the look of how this guy came out. With all my extra bits from the blackknight spruce I figure I should be able to make a unit of 5-7 Hexwraiths for around $10 spent on the old horses. Perhaps a bit more work is required, but it seems worth it.
I have made considerable progress on my stegadon, but he is not finished. I will post it when it is complete.
Last edited by Kayosiv; 08-10-2012 at 22:48.
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both vargheists and horrors looks good, and getting something finished always gives that warm fuzzy feeling inside
green stuffing some ragged barding on that hexwraith might be a good idea, rider looks good, horse still the goofy ol' thing
Hoping for some more batreps from you in the future
Happiness is having an alibi and a big backyard to bury the bodies
I kind of like the horses to be naked, although I agree the old models aren't the best, but they are also cheap. I never really considered using Hex Wraiths until I had 10 extra bodies sitting around with no horses to go on. I assembled them on a whim and am just seeing if I can do something with them.
I'll be working on one today I think, we'll see what I can get done.
Story section on post #76 is now completed.
Game 8 is now completed on posts #77-78.
I am now no longer backlogged in games to report. I will be seeking a new game to report soon, hopefully Lizardmen vs High elves to be played on November 1st. I am also trying to coordinate a rematch with Oncebitten360 involving Vampire Counts vs Lizardmen, who he says he will probably be able to play sometime in mid to late November. Apparently, my Skype battle with him was popular enough that there is now a line to play him over Skype and there's a few people ahead of me.
In the meantime, I am painting my stegadons and am looking to start on my slann soon.
Last edited by Kayosiv; 16-11-2012 at 06:40.
Check out my Battle Reports: http://www.warseer.com/forums/showth...Battle-Reports
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Comments are greatly appreciated.
Story section on post #76 is now completed.
Game 8 is now completed on posts #77-78.
I am now no longer backlogged in games to report. I will be seeking a new game to report soon, hopefully Lizardmen vs High elves to be played on November 1st. I am also trying to coordinate a rematch with Oncebitten360 involving Vampire Counts vs Lizardmen, who he says he will probably be able to play sometime in mid to late November. Apparently, my Skype battle with him was popular enough that there is now a line to play him over Skype and there's a few people ahead of me.
In the meantime, I am painting my stegadons and am looking to start on my slann soon.
Check out my Battle Reports: http://www.warseer.com/forums/showth...Battle-Reports
And my Project Log: http://www.warseer.com/forums/showth...25#post6754925
Comments are greatly appreciated.
Game 10: Last Battle for the Temple
Scenario: Meeting Engagement, 2500 points.
The Tzeentch sorcerer parried a mighty thrust from Kai'Qu as he surveyed the decimation around him. Everything was in ruins. His army was in shambles, only the chosen of his patron god still left fighting. His undead quarry had escaped. All his painstaking planning had come undone. And it was all that Slann's fault. The slann had outsmarted him, beaten him at his own game and it made his blood boil.
Kai'Qu's warblade missed decapitating the sorcerer by mere inches after another mighty swing, and he began to slowly levitate out of the scar-veteran's reach, much to Kai'Qu's frustration. The chaos sorcerer knew he had to escape, but that would be difficult. He needed a diversion, and he quickly scanned the portents of probability and reality to find one. He smiled, as High Elf ship sails came into view through the fog that had enveloped the day.
...
Hallar the Scholar stared through the gloom in hopes of seeing the situation on the island, but the fog was so thick that the fleet's crews nearly rammed the ships into the pier. As the ships were tied down and the passengers began to disembark, his heart sank. He could see black smoke rising into the grey skies. They were too late. Shocked and disappointed murmurs began to circulate through his relief force. They had made the trip for nothing, their High Elfin brothers were already dead.
Just as despair threatened to overtake the elves, the din of battle was heard. Their attitude changed immediately and the host began to rank up and disembark in an ordered panic. Hallar made a wave of his ornate staff and gusts of wind began to blow away the fog that blocked the elfish encampment from their view. There was a collective gasp.
Demons. Demons were everywhere. They were ransacking the encampment, defiling it and its inhabitants in unspeakable ways.
"TO ARMS!" Hallar screamed, filled with righteous fury. The elves surged forward at their foes, despite only half of them being disembarked from their boats. The lizardmen turned in unison towards the elfish charge, confusion in the eyes of Saurus and skink alike, until Sotarkesh's commanding voice boomed in their heads.
"They know not what they see, defend yourselves."
The chosen of Tzeentch did not continue to fight, but marched off silently with a purpose known only to them.
My List: Lizardmen
Lords: 593
GENERAL: Slann (Sotarkesh): 1 Disciplines of the Ancients. Lore of Heavens.
Magic Items: Divine Plaque of Protection, dispel scroll
Disciplines of the Ancients: Focused Rumination (+1 free power dice per cast).
4+ Ward save. 2+ Ward save against all ranged attacks.
Spells: 0 Iceshard Blizzard, 3 Curse of the Midnight Wind, 5 Comet of Cassadora, 6 Chain Lightning.
Lord: Saurus Old Blood (Kro’Qua): halberd
Mount: Cold One
Magic Items: Glittering Scale Armor, Talisman of Preservation. Venom of the firefly frog
+1 Strength, 1+ armor save. 4+ ward save. -1 to be hit in close combat. Poisoned Attacks. Stupid.
Heroes: 176
BATTLE STANDARD BEARER: Scar-Veteran (Kai’Que): BSB, great weapon.
Mount: Cold One
Magic Items: Armor of Fortune, Stone of Good Luck
1+ armor save, 5+ ward save, may reroll first failed armor save. +2 strength, strikes last.
Core: 972
30 Saurus Warriors with full command.
30 Saurus Warriors with full command.
10 Skink javelin and shields with musician.
10 Skink javelin and shields with musician.
10 Skink skirmishers with blowpipes.
10 Skink skirmishers with blowpipes.
Special: 596
Stegadon
Stegadon
10 Chameleon skinks with stalker.
Rare: 160
1 Salamander with 4 skink crew
1 salamander with 4 skink crew
His List: High Elves
Lords: 320
Archmage: Level 4 High Magic. Jewel of Dusk, Folariath's Robe(unable to make attacks but immune to mundane weapons).
Spells: Shield of Saphery, Curse of arrow attraction, Fury of Khaine, Vaul's Unmaking.
Heroes: 343
Mage: Level 2 Beast Magic. Annulian Crystal (remove 1 power dice from opponent, use as extra dispel dice)
Spells: Wyssan's Wildform and Amber Spear.
Noble: BSB. Great Weapon. Armor of Caledor. Dawnstone. 2+ re-rollable armor save. +2 strength.
Core: 635
10 Archers with musician and banner of Eternal Flame
25 Spearmen with full command
25 Spearmen with full command
Special: 1102
5 Dragon Princes with musician
5 Ellyrian Reavers with bows and musicain
20 swordmasters with full command
28 White lions with full command and banner of Sorcery (+d3 powerdice each magic phase)
Rare: 100
Great Eagle
Great Eagle
Deployment:
Deployment is a bit weird because half of the high elf units end up being in reserve, most notably, his horde of white lions. The High Elf player wins the roll to deploy first ends up garrisoning the fences between the houses, while I deploy fairly far back. His army only has 1 small unit of archers and some fast cavalry with bows, meaning that I have far more firepower at my disposal. Since he didn't have enough units on the board to really cover his flanks, all the skinks go down on either side of the map, the chameleon skinks deploy behind his lines, and the 2 saurus blocks, 2 stegadons, and all my characters go in my center about 17 inches away from his foot troops. Only my battle standard bearer Kai'Qu doesn't deploy with the rest of the army. I fail to roll a 6 and so the first turn goes to the High Elves.
Elves: Turn 1
Movement: The elves don't do much moving. Most of them shuffle around at their garrisoned fences. The two eagles each fly behind a house for cover. The white lions, dragon princes, and spearmen come on the board with the spearmen and dragon princes going over on the right side of the board and white white lions moving just behind the right house. His reavers move at full speed towards my chameleon skinks.
Magic: The beast mage manages to get an amber spear off on my red stegadon with irresistible force, causing 2 wounds to it. The ensuing backlash kills 3 spear elves and loses him a bunch of power dice, preventing him from casting anything else that phase as I easily dispel the rest.
Shooting: His elfin reavers take aim at my chameleon skinks, but fail to hit them. The archers swift reform in an attempt to also shoot, but fail their test and cannot shoot at the chameleons at all.
Lizardmen: Turn 1
Movement: My 2 saurus blocks don't move much, only shifting a few inches forward, with my slann going 2 inches to the left. My blue stegadon turns to face the dragon princes (safely behind a scree slope) and spear-elves, while all my skinks move forward at maximum speed for the best shooting positions. My right salamander moves up to the flank of the white lions while Kro'Qua and the left salamander move up in preparation to fight the other set of spear elves. Kai'Qu comes on the board behind the action in hopes that he'll do things in later turns.
Magic: I cast comet in the center of the board and my opponent lets it go, using his dispel dice to stop the rest of my magic phase. I can only hope the comet comes soon and hits him in the center of his lines before he has time to move out of the way.
Shooting: The chameleon skinks manages to totally decimate the reavers, killing 4 of the 5 models. Skink shooting elsewhere manages to kill the leftmost great eagle, 2 spearmen on the right flank, and 2 dragon princes. The rightmost salamander overshoots the white lions almost entirely and only hits a few models, wounding 2, and he makes BOTH of his 6+ armor saves. The surviving great eagle on the right flank is not so lucky and suffers a wound. The salamander on the left fares much better, landing his flame template in the middle of the unit of spear elves and killing 6.
End of Turn 1:
Elves: Turn 2
Movement: He declares his only charge, the rightmost spear-elves into my ranked skinks. I elect to flee and go an impressive 11 inches, while they spear-elves fail their charge and go a piddly 2". He garrisons his white lions in the rightmost house, and moves the sword-masters and spearmen forward. His dragon princes move so they can get to the stegadon without having to cross the scree slope. His reaver makes a run for it and his eagle positions to get a charge on my rightmost salamander.
Magic: The Lord mage casts fury of Khaine at my red stegadon. I'm thinking that 2d6 strength 4 hits are of no real danger to the toughness 6 monster so I let it go. Then he goes ahead and rolls 10 hits, with enough allocated on the stegadon with enough 6's rolled to kill it, and then I don't make any scaly skin saves. 1 stegadon down... from strength 4 attacks no less. That sucks. Just when I was starting to feel real bitter about the magic phase, he fails to cast some easy spells and his phase is over with me holding a big pile of dispel dice and feeling really stupid, and the comet lands right in the center of his lines. About a rank is taken out of his left spear-elves as well as his sword-masters, and his great eagle dies outright. Not bad. Sadly, the white lions are 1/2" away from the comet and take no damage.
Shooting: The archers try to shoot at the chameleon skinks but just can't roll any 6's.
Lizardmen: Turn 2
Movement: The leftmost saurus warriors as well as Kro'Qua charge into the spear elves. I am very confident with this combat. With Kro'Qua's help victory is assured. Next, in an amazingly lucky chain of events, my Stegadon charges the dragon princes, who fail their terror test and flee through the spear-elves, who fail their panic test and also run, and are then charged by my rightmost skink skirmishers and forced off the board. I would have liked to have killed the dragon princes, but they were just out of the skink's charge arc. Still, an amazing stroke of luck having his right flank collapse like that without a single model being lost. With the right flank secured, the right saurus unit moves up into a position where they can flank the swordmasters if the spear-elves dont' break and the left saurus unit is flanked. My skinks on the left move up to kill the archers and the ones on the right move to shoot at the dragon princes. The javalin skinks who fled the spear-men rally and flip around to face the way they came. My rightmost salamander positions to belch fire at the sword-masters.
Magic: Iceshard Blizzard on the spear-elves on two dice but unfortunately get the spell off with irresistible force. The ensuing miscast robs Sotarkesh of 3 magic levels and all of his spells with the exception of chain lightning. The phase ends and things are not looking good for the lizardmen in terms of magic superiority.
Shooting: The combined efforts of skink skirmishers, chameleon skinks, and a salamander reduce the archers to a single model, who passes his panic and holds. I am less lucky on the right flank, as the rightmost salamander scores 8 hits but instead of burning swordmasters horribly, only scores a single wound. The skink skirmishers charged the spear elves off the board this turn and cannot shoot.
Combat: The high elf player directs as many attacks as he can at Kro'Qua, but the oldblood shrugs off the strength 3 attacks with ease and the unit takes minimal casualties because of ice-shard blizzard. The mage and several spear-elves are killed and I win the combat decisively and break the unit. Fearing a flank charge from swordmasters, I opt to restrain with the saurus warriors and reform to face them. Kro'Qua chases after the spear-elves but despite swiftstride, fails to run them down. On the plus side, the BSB is killed because his unit fled from combat.
End of Turn 2:
Elves: Turn 3
Movement: In his only charge, the high elf player charges the sword-masters into the left saurus warrior block. Because of the -1 leadership penalty on iceshard blizzard, the spear elves fail to rally and continue to flee. The dragon princes however do rally and spin around towards to battlefield. The white lions exit the house and angle towards my right saurus warriors.
Magic: Being reduced to level 1 really hurt me this magic phase as I am unable to stop a single spell. The high mage gets off shield of saphery on the sword-masters and uses unmaking to destroy my BSB's magic ward save. Luckily, his other 2 spells are useless.
Shooting: With only 1 archer left, he takes aim at the salamander and misses.
Combat: The swordmasters and Saurus chop into each other, with the ward save on the elves being the tie-breaking difference. I also find out that the mage is immune to mundane attacks which leaves my entire left row unable to attack anything they are able to damage. The elves win combat by a few points but I am steadfast and hold.
Lizardmen: Turn 3
Movement: skinks on the left flank set up to shoot the fleeing spear elves. Kro'Qua flips around and angles towards the right side of the board. I set up my right saurus and ranked skinks to effectively die while holding the white lions in place if he decides to over-run. I move my blue stegadon to the flank of the white lions with hope that I can get a flank shot with the great bow down his horde line. Kai'Qu sets up to give his 12" re-roll bubble to all my units in combat or soon to be in combat and Sotarkesh does the same.
Magic: With only 1 spell and my opponent having a heaping helping of dispel dice, I just pick up 6 dice, aim chain lightning at the white lions and let it fly. I get another irresistible force, another miscast, and another result of losing wizard levels... so my Slann is now level 0 (technically he's level -2). The spell manages to kill 1 white lion, bounces, and we have a minor rules dispute. We're not sure if the spell can "bounce" into a unit currently in combat, ie the swordmasters. We're both not sure how to play that one so we just roll a dice and it goes in my favor and the lightning bolt kills a few swordmasters. If anyone has a clear ruling on that though please let me know.
Shooting: My right salamander launches a gob of fire at maximum range of 10" at the white lions... shooting a bit too far and also hiting 2 of my saurus on the right. I didn't mean to set him up this way (I thought I measured for them to be out of range, but whatever) but it happened. Unfortunately, I only wounded 2 white lions, which BOTH passed their saving throws of 6+... AGAIN! Of the 2 hit saurus warriors, 1 is wounded and killed... doh. The skinks on the right shot more blowpipes at the dragon princes but were still unable to kill any. The other skinks on the left flank were busy shooting the spear elves on the left down to less than 25% of the unit, preventing them from rallying on anything but double 1's. Sadly, the great bow doesn't hit down the flank of the white lions, but the skinks throwing javelins manage to kill 1.
Combat: The swordmasters totally biff their attacks and only managed to kill 3 saurus. The saurus in return roll extremely well and take out almost 2 full ranks of the unit. This reduces them to the perfect number of 1+mage left, meaning they can only rally on a roll of a double 1's, effectively taking them out of the game. This is important, because when I try to run them down when they flee I roll a 3 and the elves roll a 10.
End of turn 3:
Sotarkesh struggled, for the first time in memory, to cast his spells. He could feel his magical power being drained away by an unknown and very powerful source. All his attempts to locate his assailant only served to weaken him further. What he could discern was that his magical opponent was extremely powerful, evil, and ancient, perhaps even more ancient than himself. He was also able to perceive that they elves they fought were under some form of illusion or hypnosis, presumably from the same entity that now drained him of mystical power. Sotarkesh continued to struggle against the mechanisms of his unseen adversary, knowing all the while that he was running out of time to overcome their effects.
Last edited by Kayosiv; 10-12-2012 at 15:36.
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Elves Turn 4:
Movement: His white lions charge the right saurus unit and his dragon princes charge my blue stegadon; both charges connect. Everything fleeing continues to do so as he is unable to roll any double 1's with his depleted units.
Magic: With his only living wizard fleeing, he has no phase.
Shooting: Once again the lone archer tries to hurt the salamander, and this time even hits, but fails to wound.
Combat: In the stegadon combat, the dragon princes manage to do an unsaved wound to the steg. I end up rolling extremely well and get a bunch of wounds, even with the skinks, but he then proceeds to make all of his armor saves. I was hoping that my stubborn cold blooded 6 would save me from breaking, but I rolled high leadership followed by a low flee roll and was run down. The White lions and Saurus proceeded to have an even bloodier combat than the one against the sword masters. The saurus held their own, losing 14 but taking 7 white lions with them. I lose combat handily and am not steadfast and break. However, the saurus manage to escape pursuit with a roll of 10 against 9 and the white lions overrun into the unit of skink cohorts.
Lizardmen Turn 4:
Movement: The rightmost saurus unit rallies and spins around to stare death in the face. Resigning the skinks and rightmost Saurus to their fate, I place both Kro'Qua and Kai'Qu into the left saurus unit and move them towards the combat as much as I can. I move my skinks around to shoot at various targets at the board edges. My salamander on the right moves to breath fire on the white lions after they inevitably kill the skinks. Sotarkesh moves as far away from the action as possible while still offering his leadership, worried that the dragon princes might be able to get a charge off on him on turn 6.
Shooting: I shoot up the elf spear unit on the left side of the board some as well as finish off his lone archer.
Combat: The white lions have a bout of ineptitude and only manage to kill 7 of the 10 skinks in combat, and actually lose a white lion to the 3 skink return attacks, much to my amusement. They still win, overrun, and once again hit the right saurus unit.
Elves Turn 5:
Movement: He charges the dragon princes into the saurus on the right. his Level 4 flees off the board but his deleted archer unit on the left actually rallies with a roll of doubles 1's only a few inches from the board edge!
Shooting: Another shot and a miss at the salamander by the 1 remaining archer.
Combat: The added attacks from the dragon princes don't help the situation and the saurus warriors are severely beaten down again, reduced to only the champion, musician, and a single saurus, WHO DECIDE THEY'VE HAD ENOUGH. Out of my 7 attacks from the 3 models, they managed to kill no less than 3 white lions and their champion, more than double their statistical average in kills. I can't help but feel like that unit really pulled it's weight this game, taking the brunt of forces that far outmatch it and still doling out severe damage. Sadly, They still lose combat, break, and while they escape the white lions who opt to reform 5 wide and facing the remaining saurus warrior block, the dragon princes roll two 6's and run the unit down.
Lizardmen Turn 5:
Movement: Too far away to charge the white lions with my remaining saurus, I opt to march 8" towards him. I position my salamander to shoot at them, and move the rest of my skinks to finish off the rallied spearmen/man on the very left board edge.
Shooting: After 40 shots of chameleon and skink blowpipe fire, the spear elf unit on the left is killed outright. The salamander breathes some fire on the white lions, killing a few and inciting a panic check which they FAIL!
End of turn 5:
Elves Turn 6:
Movement: The white lions rally and spin towards the saurus warriors. The dragon princes just go towards the edge of the board to help preserve their points.
Lizardmen Turn 6:
Movement: I charge the saurus warriors with characters inside at the white lions, but sadly roll a meager 4 which is not high enough for the charge to connect.
Shooting: My salamanders try to hit the white lions again in an attempt to panic them off the board, but both roll short and the templates miss.
Point Breakdown: 2140 scored by the lizardmen VS 911 scored by the elves.
Victory to the Lizardmen!
Post Game Thoughts: Thus concludes my first game against High Elves. I felt like I played a pretty good game with one exception. The blue stegadon should have been played much more conservatively. I gave my opponent a free charge with his dragon princes against me for no real tactical benefit. That was just psychological I think. I was so used to the dragon princes doing nothing and being cowards, I just figured they couldn't do anything. Boy was I wrong. I'll learn to respect flank charges from knight units in the future. I ended up getting 0 impact hits from my 2 stegadons this game and it was because I didn't think 2 turns ahead like I should have. Hopefully this game will teach me to stop tunnel visioning or expecting the great bow to do something besides miss.
Everything else, was mostly just bad luck. Losing all my wizard levels, losing the stegadon to strength 4 attacks, and having my opponent make all his armor saves with his knights all really sucked, but it was nothing I couldn't recover from. I was able to eliminate his magic levels almost as quick as I lost mine. The dragon princes were really my only real oversight this game. When they fled, I considered them out of the game, a mistake that cost me many victory points.
Last edited by Kayosiv; 07-04-2013 at 08:37.
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Fighting Fate:
With the High Elf forces routed or dead, the lizardmen host began to collect their wounded and form up around Sotarkesh. Their Slann master however, did not look well. His eyes closed and his brow furrowed, he appeared to be unconscious or at least in extremely deep concentration. As more of the lizardmen gathered around him, the glowing stones under his palanquin began to flicker and the chair itself started to sink. A score of saurus warriors managed to catch it before it fell to the ground, and hefted the heavy stone throne upon their shoulders. The entire host watched, waiting for their master to finish whatever silent divine ritual he enacted that taxed him so.
After a few minutes, magic energy crackled throughout the area, and Sotarkesh's breathing became pained and labored. Ignorant of the extreme powers at work that they could barely perceive, the assembled lizardmen looked around confused and somewhat scared. Then, as quickly as the magical storm had escalated, it promptly ceased. Some distance away a solitary man-shaped figure popped into existence. He wasn't touching the ground when he arrived but was rather high up in the air, and fell several dozen feet before smacking into the dirt below. Seemingly unhurt from falling such a distance, the figure quickly rose, chuckling to himself in an impossibly loud voice that sent shivers through the spines of the lizardmen.
Once on his feet, the man's horned helmet and armored form betrayed him as an agent of chaos, a sorcerer who was likely a worshiper of Tzeentch based on his odd posture and brightly colored armor. The host looked to Sotarkesh for guidance, but he was only just opening his eyes, completely spent from the effort of transporting the chaos sorcerer to this place. The laughter grew louder and louder until it became deafening. Several of the skinks covered their ears and shrunk away from the noise while the saurus clenched their teeth and steadied themselves underneath their heavy burden. Suddenly the laughter simply stopped, all echos of the sound seemingly erased, and the chaos sorcerer began to speak.
"It appears frog, that I have grievously overestimated you. Yes, I am here. An impressive feat no doubt for you to have willed it so, but what now? Your pathetic mortal shell is drained from the effort. What challenge could you hope to provide me now? I had hoped to outsmart you at a later time, so that I could collect from you what is rightfully mine, but your powers had proved worthy of caution. Now though; now? You've weakened yourself only to serve my whims. You've done all my work for me, offered yourself to me on a silver platter. I had higher hopes for you as an opponent, but I am not about to let this opportunity pass me by. Oh no. You've made far too large a blunder for that."
"Be silent," Sotarkesh's voice interrupted with a soothing resonance that demanded respect. "The only blunder I have made is not detecting and dealing with you sooner, demon."
"Deal with me? That's precious. Pray tell... how do you plan on dealing with me in your present state? No, rather I think it's high time that "I" dealt... with... YooOuUUaawwwwk!"
As the chaos sorcerer spoke his body began to spasm and convulse, bloating at points and finally rupturing out of his armor. He began to grow taller and great multi-colored wings sprouted from his back. For a brief moment he had the form of a twisted angel, until his pressured head finally exploded in a shower of blood and magical sparks. Pushing through the mess was the avian head of a bird, connected to a continuously growing and feathered lanky body that shot up towards the sky until it was taller than any of the elfish ruins that surrounded them. With its transformation complete, the Lord of Change spread it's wings to their full span. Snatching a staff from nothingness in the blink of an eye, the greater demon of Tzeentch rippled the reality around it and the lizardmen recoiled from its gigantic and abhorrent form. All except one.
Kro'Qua strode forward, interposing himself between the greater demon and Sotarkesh, much to the demon's delight. It laughed at him mirthfully.
"Do you seek to harm me, little Lizardman? I suppose you hope to do so with that pointy stick of yours?"
Kro'Qua merely stared silently up at the towering creature. He did not fear death, nor pain, but there was something else. Something about this demon gnawed at his mind. It's unnaturalness was so strong that it was unnerving to look upon, and Kro'Qua had to fight foreign urges to cower and flee. Kro'Qua focused his anger to clear the befuddlement. Ancient images of his spawn-kin being ripped asunder by demons in an age long past flooded into his mind. The Oldblood spurred his mount into a gallop towards a foe he had no hope of conquering.
This act of brave defiance completely flipped the mannerisms of the greater demon. It grew furious and spat out insults at the charging Oldblood. "Pathetic gnat, I am Xello'kepska, The Eye of Tzeentch! This entire island feeds my power, my very existence in your world! To challenge me is to challenge the might of the Ruinous Powers themselves!" Kro'Qua gave no indication that he was impressed, and reared back in his saddle before leaping upwards from his mount with a gigantic arc of his weapon swinging skyward. The result was the parrying of Xello'kepska's humongous staff to the side, causing an eruption of earth as it exploded a crater in the dirt. The Demon had not even began his swing towards the Oldblood before Kro'Qua's mighty arc had started with the purpose of deflecting it, but the demon moved with impossible speed and their weapons met just the same. Due to the massive difference in the size between the two opponents, the result was akin to a mouse batting away the striking paw of a lion.
The terror of the other Lizardmen was immediately washed away and replaced with vigor. Battle cries erupted and as if they were one, the skinks launched volleys of javelins, blow pipe darts, and salamander fire at the Greater Demon. Most of the projectiles broke on the Demon's skin or puffed into smoke before reaching him, but the skinks paid no heed. Meanwhile, Kro'Qua was parrying the crushing smash attacks from the Demon's colossal staff, all the while attempting to hack at his opponent's ankles and feet. Xello'kepska had to continuously flap his wings and lift his talons off the ground in order to avoid the Oldblood's swings. The demon's anger boiled as he hopped from foot to foot.
"You wish to challenge that which is eternal? You cannot defeat change, cannot stop time, you are ALL doomed!"
Finally Kro'Qua's blade found it's mark, and sliced deeply into one of the demon's bird-like toes. As the Greater Demon squawked in pain and rage, all hell broke loose.
The sky immediately burst into multicolored flames, portions of which began to rain down upon the lizardmen. The javelin and blowpipe fire immediately halted as the skinks ran for their lives in a panic.
"NO!" The ethereal voice of Sotarkesh commanded, "stray not from me."
The skinks obeyed and cluttered around the slann, magic flames ricocheting off a circular magical field he had raised. The strain on Sotarkesh to forge a shield this large was immense, but he would have to endure.
Great fissures opened up in the ground as the earth split and cracked, revealing bubbling lava that spewed up from the depths of the world. Other fissures discharged spiked tentacles or swarms of small bulbous insects that began carpeting the ground. The trees uprooted themselves and began to walk, the rocks grew teeth and snapped with cavernous maws, and in the sky the clouds continued to churn forth a rain of fire. The world itself went mad.
Kro'Qua nicked a grazing scratch into the Greater Demon's Ankle, infuriating the already agitated monstrosity. Xello'kepska's great avian head tilted way back, and his chest bulged from his stomach and traveled up his neck until he finally bent forward and violently heaved out a vomit of horrors. Pink and blue, the multi-limbed freaks of nature rained upon Kro'Qua in a sickening downpour. He cut swaths through them as they fell upon him, but the oldblood was soon overwhelmed by their sheer weight and was ripped from his mount by hundreds of grasping claws. His cold one was also shortly dragged under the pile of demons in a screaming panic.
Several moments after the pile of demonic bodies completely covered Kro'Qua from head to toe, they exploded in a rich golden light with Kro'Qua at the epicenter. Kro'Qua didn't seem to notice at first, eyes wrenched shut and his blade swinging wildly in an attempt to take as many of them with him as he could. Meeting no resistance, his blade slowed and Kro'Qua opened his eyes, looking in confusion at himself and the golden light that illuminated his normally black and white form. The same golden glow radiated from Sotarkesh.
"You are empowered" the slann thought into Kro'Qua's mind. "Strike now!"
Xello'kepska just laughed his squawking laugh. Kro'Qua leaped at the greater demon and sliced two humongous crisscrossed gashes into its chest, each wound far longer than the weapon used to make them. His colossal opponent pitched backwards and landed on the ground with a rumbling crash that echoed across the uneven landscape. Kro'Qua landed on the demon's chest and lifted his blade high above his head in preparation to cut deep. Before he could swing, a mighty hand grabbed his torso in a lighting-quick motion and long talons dug into his sides. The demon's hand popped and sizzled in contact with the aura, but his grip proved unshakable.
The Changer of Ways arose with a single flap of his wings and with a wave of his staff in the direction of the slann, the protective barrier around the host cracked and shattered, disappearing into thin air. The effects of chaos immediately descended upon the lizardmen. Several of the skinks clutched and tore at their bodies as demonic horrors clawed out of their insides. The golden aura around Kro'Qua faded as Sotarkesh did all in his power to save as many of them as he could, but he could feel his magic being drained away just as when battling the high elves. Xello'kepska had the power to dampen his magical abilities, and there was nothing he could do to save some his fellows.
As the sickening and mutated things that were once skinks freed themselves from their hosts, the saurus formed up in front and under Sotarkesh's palanquin, ready to defend their lord to the end. A crevice in the earth cracked open to Sotarkesh's left and spiked tentacles whipped forth, grabbing one of the saurus and yanking it to the ground at the base of the dark hole from which it came. The sauru stopped only for a moment before his body bent in half and he was dragged to the depths. To the demons this signaled the attack, and they charged en-mass. The wall of saurus muscle held, but began to falter. Several of the gibbering beasts leaped above them with fangs bared at the vulnerable Sotarkesh. Many of the skinks had climbed the throne where Sotarkesh sat and defended him by throwing javelins and stones at any who got past or above the saurus shield-wall. Occasionally even this protection was not enough and a demonic horror would near the Slann, only to be deftly sliced in twain by Kai'Qu, who stood perched beside his lord. Under his watch, his master was never touched. However, killing the demons just spawned more as they split and twisted into new and ever more numerous forms. Their unending tide seemed relentless, and unstoppable.
Xello'kepska's squawking laughter filled the valley until Kro'Qua's jaws clamped down on his index finger and ripped off a great chunk of the demon's flesh. Screeching in pain, the Changer of Ways dropped his staff, which fizzled into nothingness in but a moment. With both hands free, the greater demon clutched the Oldblood with all his might and tried to squeeze the life out of him. Refusing to be crushed, Kro'Qua's ancient muscles strained against the superior strength of his foe. Arms and legs pushed outward with stubborn resolve to fend off his pressing destruction, and his spiked tail jabbed and tore at the hands of his attacker. Shrieking in pain as Kro'Qua took yet another bite out of his finger, Xello'kepska flapped his pinions to gain altitude. Reaching sufficient height, he dive-bombed into the ground with his arms outstretched, burying Kro'Qua head-first into the dirt at tremendous speed. Once on the ground, he lifted and smashed his captive into the earth again and again.
Finally stopping when he felt his victim go slack, he inspected the Oldblood in his hands. Kro'Qua responded by chucking a jagged chunk of rock, somehow grabbed during his previous pummeling, into the face of the Greater Demon. His monstrous eye squinted shut as the stone struck his pupil, his head shrinking back and his grip on Kro'Qua loosening. Kro'Qua wrenched his opponent's hand open, but before he could land on the ground Xello'kepska snatched his staff out of the ether. In one fluid underhand swing, he struck the oldblood, sending him flying and flipping end over end into the distance like a limbed golf ball. He was nothing but a tiny spec on the horizon before a geyser of water signaled his landing in the far off sea. With his current foe dealt with, Xello'kepska turned his attention to Sotarkesh and his failing guard, who were now completely surrounded on all sides by ever-multiplying demonic horrors.
A few purposeful strides later, the Greater Demon loomed over the desperately fighting Lizardmen. Smirking with self-satisfaction, the Demon raised his staff high before striking down at Sotarkesh. Kai'Qu leaped to intervene, but the staff never connected. It ricocheted off of a golden shield that had flickered into existence just before Sotarkesh was crushed. The demons attacking the lizardmen hissed and sizzled as they shrank from the light, retreating back out of its circumference. Xello'kepska took a few more playful swats at the field, relishing the pained look on the Slann's face with no hidden delight. Several fireballs and meteorites fell from the sky onto the shield at the Greater Demon's command, causing it to bend inward and crack in several places. The dozen remaining Saurus grunted grimly to each other and the skinks began to panic over their looming destruction. With one final swing of his demonic stave, the barrier fell and Sotarkesh cried out, tears trickling down his face from the strain.
Xello'kepska loomed over them like a vindictive child, snickering to himself.
"All my work for me." he laughed softly.
Sotarkesh weakly lifted his head to look death in the face. It was not the death he expected. The multicolored horrors of Tzeentch all began to mewl and caw in agony as their bodies weakened and withered away, splitting and multiplying even as both forms fell apart. Even the Lord of Change himself seemed to grow gaunt, his laughter replaced by heavy breathing as he leaned on his staff for support. Puzzled, he noticed that the sun was just finishing its set on the horizon of the sea. His eyes opened wide in comprehension.
"No, not now," the Greater Demon whispered in a wheeze. "This strand of fate is wrong."
A ghostly voice rolled across the wind in response.
"You dare to try and take my eternity from me daemon? My eternity was earned, fought for, and must be diligently kept with care. Your useless eternity was gifted to you; you have no respect for it or what it means to take it from another. It is all a game to you because what more are life and death than games when you deem yourself beyond their consequences? I've been trapped in that poisonous mindset before and long ago came to an enlightened realization. There are always consequences. So, I put this in terms that you and your spoiled privilege can understand. I win, and you lose."
As the voice spoke, the Greater Demon's legs began to buckle under their own weight.
"Enough, your magic is potent but of no consequence to one such as I."
With a wave of his staff, Xello'kepska's form plumped up and stood tall, the effects of millennia of aging reversed in an instant. Kayosiv chose this moment to attack, knowing full well that the aura of magical protection around the Lord of Change would be momentarily weakened when he expended energy to dispel his curse. The Vampire's ornate blade plunged hilt-deep into the demon's long neck and he whispered mockingly at his foe.
"I found my sword."
Xello'kepska gurgled in shock, teetering on his long legs in an unbalanced stumble, he swatted at his neck in an attempt to crush the vampire but Kayosiv was too quick. Darting aside and ripping his sword out of his opponent's new wound, he jumped to the demon's shoulder, then down his back. Slicing every-which-way on his long fall down, Kayosiv made great gashes in the Lord of Change's shoulders and wings, causing the beast to arch his chest forward in a spasm and cry out in pain. Whipping around and gritting his teeth, Xello'kepska spitefully glared down at the vampire, who hand landed and was now crouched in a battle stance.
"Who is that?" Kai'Qu asked his lord, hoping his infinite wisdom would shed some light on the subject.
"Our dark savior" responded the Slann to his eternity warden.
Feeling his powers start to return to him, Sotarkesh silently went to work discreetly undoing the chaos unleashed by Xello'kepska. The Changer of Ways did not seem to notice. Great globs of demonic ichor leaked down the demon's back and landed with tinkling rings as they hit the ground. Where they struck, lush vegetation sprouted up, flowered, and died within a matter of seconds. Abruptly, the greater demon's manner shifted. His snarl turned into a snickering sneer and his pain appeared gone or forgotten. "I don't like this game" said the avian monstrosity with a twinkle in his eye.
"I think it's time that I changed the rules."
Last edited by Kayosiv; 04-05-2013 at 06:22. Reason: how many hidden anime references can YOU count?
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Fighting Fate: Continued from Post 99
With two taps of his staff's base on the ground, the air behind the Changer of Ways ripped asunder into the visage of another dimension. Brightly colored, this tear in the fabric of existence pulsed and swirled, unstable in size and shape, just like the creatures that could be seen within in. Demonic fiends of indescribable form began to pour forth from the portal, their appearance changing even as they passed through to fit the laws that governed this reality. Xello'kepska's beak split open in a triumphant and sardonic grin while the impassive Kayosiv just watched as the demonic legions spilled forth.
"Your all-consuming desire to protect your precious eternity makes you terrified of death, it makes you a coward."
Kayosiv let the insult pass. "I've always prided myself more in my machinations and wit rather than my bravery. In this game of such high consequences that we play, I'd rather be the cautious victor than the impetuous loser." This brought a frown to the Greater Demon's face, his pride having been insulted.
"You dare to believe your plots beyond the likes of me?"
"I dare to win."
At that moment, the portal snapped shut. So abrupt was it's closing that several demons were severed halfway between worlds. The gathered demons, Xello'kepska included, then burst into flames. Completely engulfed by fire, the lessor horrors twisted and died, but the Changer of Ways simply continued to frown as he scanned the field, eyes resting on an entourage of high elves. It was Hallar the Scholar with the remains of the elfish forces at his heels. Having found the demons responsible at last, he commanded the flames of the phoenix to tend to their destruction. Seeing the fiends burn, the pace of the elves quickened and they moved towards their hated enemy with increasing speed. The Greater Demon's gaze went back to a smiling Kayosiv. The demon of Tzeentch's face had twisted into a glower of fiery rage. With a wave of his staff the fires that licked his form were immediately extinguished. His hand throttled the stave with such fury that his knuckles went white and demonic ichor leaked from the wounds on his finger. Appearing to have reached some sort of decision, he contemptibly snorted out a whoosh of air through his nostrils. Xello'kepska then waved his staff and seemed to fold in on himself before completely winking out of existence.
An instant later, the Greater Demon unfolded back to reality, exactly where he had previously been standing. Panicked surprise shaped his features as he quickly looked from side to side in disbelief. His gaping stare settled on Sotarkesh, whose formerly pained visage was now dominated by a devious smile.
"YOU!" the Changer of Ways accused.
At that moment, Kayosiv resumed his attack.
Dancing, leaping, seemingly floating around the Greater Demon, Kayosiv cut swaths through his opponent's hide. Deftly avoiding spell and staff swing alike, the vampire whizzed across and underneath his larger foe's body, hacking and slicing all the while. Finally a panicked staff flail struck Kayosiv mid-air, swatting him to the ground. The vampire landed on his feet, but Xello'kepska used this momentary respite to lift himself airborne. His cut wing limped as it flapped, but it still provided sufficient altitude to avoid further punishment from his foe. Kayosiv leaped a great vertical distance to try and reach him, but the Changer of Ways hiked up his feet to avoid the sword slash and continued to gain height.
The elves let loose a volley of arrows in a panic, but they fell short of their ascending demonic target. Xello'kepska's mocking laughter spread across the valley.
"HahahahahawwwwwkkkkkbughzzzZZZZzzpppoptt..."
Sotarkesh's eyes flickered with electricity as the lightning bolt struck the Changer of Ways square in the back. The colossal demon was forced downward into a spiraling plummet as his limbs and wings twitched and convulsed uncontrollably. There was a deafening crack of thunder throughout the valley followed by an equally loud boom when the demon hit earth. Bent and mangled, Xello'kepska slowly stirred in his charred crater. Before he could fully pick himself up, he was descended upon by the High Elves. He writhed and twisted as white lion axes, soon followed by Kayosiv's bejeweled broadsword, chopped at his flesh.
"ENOUGH!" the Greater Demon screeched, unleashing a wave of force that knocked all the elves away from his person. The elves tumbled backwards from the shock-wave but Kayosiv was only momentarily halted and soon continued his onslaught. Even as the vampire lord sliced as his midsection, Xello'kepska chanted a short incantation, causing his opponent to freeze in place mid-swing. Kayosiv struggled to break the magical bonds, but found he could not move a muscle. Demonic Talons snatched up the Vampire, and the Changer of Ways stood up to his full height, looming over the dazed high elves. The demon's breath was ragged, and blood seeped out of cuts all over his body. With a shrill scream, he threw the vampire to the ground and stomped on him half a dozen times with one foot. His wrath was then turned to the High Elves, and he raked his staff across their lines, scattering and crushing them. Hallar tried to stave off the demon's attacks with fireballs, but they bounced uselessly off of his immortal skin.
"MoRtAl ScUm!" the demon squawked in a voice that seemed to break sound. Near blinded by his fury, he trampled the elves while cackling out spiteful laughs and coughing sputters alike. Suddenly, with a quick jerk of his staff he deflected a sharp beam of yellow light. The Greater Demon glared at the Slann responsible for the attack.
"YoU tHiNk I hAvE fOrGoTtEn YoU!?" His voice trembled and cracked across the wind.
Disregarding the elves, Xello'kepska plodded in the direction of Sotarkesh. The saurus formed up for battle, but the Changer of Ways never made it to the Lizardmen. He squawked out a yelp as he fell to his knees, hamstrung from behind. Kayosiv, his sword dripping with demonic blood and his armor shattered and in taters, breathed a few heavy breaths, then relaunched his attack against his gigantic rival.
A sudden change took place in Xello'kepska. His eyes shifted, lost their sentience, and became dark and feral. Even on his knees the Greater Demon towered over the vampire, and his long arms and snapping maw attacked with new-found ferocity. The demon was cornered, desperate, and all strategy was abandoned. All that remained was a frantically flailing beast, with the unchecked strength and speed of the gods at his disposal. Kayosiv found that dodging was now nearly impossible, but was able to use the beast's own reckless abandon against him. Deflecting and slicing at his hands and beak instead of trying to get inside the demon's defenses, Kayosiv kept his distance and slowly cut the attacking extremities to shreds. Occasionally the speed or power of the assault was too great, and the vampire would find himself swatted to the side or smashed into the ground. Such blows would have broken a mortal creature, but Kayosiv forced himself to fight, refusing to be beaten again.
The demon's impetuous soon ran out as his fingers became little more than bloody stumps. He stared at his mangled hands with returning comprehension and pain. Kayosiv could barely stand, but did not relent and staggered forward to continue his attack. Xello'kepska plucked his staff out of the air and clutched it with three working fingers. He raised it up in preparation to smash the vampire, but choked out a coughing gurgle before he could deliver the swing. Kro'Qua was bear-hugging the base of his neck from behind, squeezing with all his might and digging his claws into his opponent's throat. The Greater Demon frantically fumbled at the oldblood's arms and at the back of his neck, trying to pry the lizardman loose. His wounded hands proved no match for Kro'Qua's iron grip and the Changer of Ways shook his head violently from side to side in an attempt to shake the oldblood off and force air into his lungs.
Xello'kepska's frantic flailing abruptly stopped as Sotarkesh fired a beam of angelic light that ripped through his chest, cutting clean through the demon and leaving a gaping hole in his torso. Eyes wide in disbelief, his arms drooped limply to his side.
"This cannot be..." The greater demon said, somehow speaking without using words. "Tzeentch... is invincible..."
"But you're not" Kayosiv whispered with a hiss. Grunting as he leaped into the air with the last of his strength, the vampire cut a deep gash into the demon's throat. An arterial fountain sprayed forth and after a few sucking gasps, the demon toppled over completely. Kro'Qua had to dive off in order to not be crushed by the demon's enormity. Xello'kepska stirred weakly as he choked on his own blood. His injured hands lost their grip on his staff, which exploded into a multicolored mist rather than fade away. Kayosiv stumbled towards the Greater Demon's head and lifted his sword to finish it.
"I had planned" the vampire wearily spoke through his broken teeth, "to come here and resurrect Kanzul and Alistair, using our combined power to destroy you. I went through great pains to get this far, something I'm sure can be attributed mostly to your schemes. And after all my trials, all my victories, I was defeated mere moments from my goal. I thought all was lost, but then you presented yourself to me in your true form. So unlike a demon of Tzeentch; so exposed, so vulnerable. Thank you, for doing all of my work for me."
Giant half-lidded eyes stared blankly at Kayosiv without response, and the vampire sunk his blade deep into the forehead of his nemesis with a triumphant howl. The demon's docile writhing was replaced by a soundless scream and the spasm of limbs before Xello'kepska's eyes grew dim and his extremities slowed to a stop. His body began to flicker and spark, small segments of it exploding and dissipating along the winds, fading back to the ether from which they came. Kayosiv turned first Kro'Qua, offering him a slight nod of respect and gratitude, and then to the slann. Sotarkesh's palanquin hummed to life and lifted off the shoulders of the saurus who had been carrying it. Kayosiv forced his exhausted body into a shuffle to meet the Slann.
A giant beak snapped around Kayosiv's torso, digging deep into his flesh and crushing his chest. He yelped in agony, trying to force the demonic maw open with his failing strength.
"YoUr SoUl BeLoNgS tO TzEeNtCh!" the Greater Demon deafeningly proclaimed.
Kro'Qua sprung into action, reaching the vampire in only a few bounding strides. The beak's razor edges sliced into even his scaled hands, but he exerted his strength was able to pry the vice-like jaws open. No longer pinned, Kayosiv limply flopped to the ground in a heap, but Kro'Qua did not stop. The oldblood continued to wrench the jaw wider and wider apart until the demon's muscles began to tear. Finally, there was a sharp crackling pop and Kro'Qua separated the demon's jawbone from its head. Tossing the lower part of the demon's face aside, an exhausted Kro'Qua fell to his hands and knees and tried to catch his breath. The remaining High elves charged the demon's corpse, hacking the rest of Xello'kepska to bits even as he disintegrated.
A concerned Sotarkesh arrived, ordering Kai'Qu to check on their wounded ally. The Eternity Warden checked Kayosiv's vitals, and slowly shook his head.
"He is dead" Kai'Qu said dryly.
After a moment's pause, the slann spoke. "No... I can sense that his spirit endures. Gather him carefully, we will bring him back to Kotak-Hai and see to his aid."
A group of skinks delicately positioned the sprawled vampire on his back before beginning to dress his wounds. Kai'Qu bent down and helped Kro'Qua to his feet. The obsidian oldblood leaned heavily on his comrade's shoulder.
"You fought well today brother" Kai'Qu respectfully said to Kro'Qua, who nodded with a grunt in response. Together they slowly walked back to Sotarkesh, who was approached by Hallar the Scholar, high-mage and leader of the few remaining elfish forces. Sotarkesh spoke first.
"My apologies for the loss of your brethren. You were under the effects of a demonic illusion. I tried to counter it, but..."
Hallar put up a hand to interrupt the Slann, an action that was met with a menacing growl from Kai'Qu. The elf took a few steps back and regained his composure before he spoke.
"You have more than made up for that by destroying the monster responsible. You have avenged our people with tact and grace, and for that we thank you. We are only grateful that we could be of some help in the final battle against..." It was then that Hallar noticed the body of the vampire being tended to by the skinks. "Surely... you are going to destroy him as well?"
"No" said the slann with a tone that was not to be argued with. "If not for his intervention, we all would have been no more. I owe him my life, and so do you."
"But he is a vampire, he is just as dangerous as the Tzeentch Demon he helped defeat!"
"If you wish to harm him, you will find him under my protection" said the slann. Kai'Qu hefted his mighty halberd and glared at the elfin mage and the other elves began to hesitantly raise their weapons.
After a long and uncomfortable pause, Halar spoke again.
"...No, no we owe you much and do not wish to sour relations. We thank you again for you aid and the use of your lands. We will begin rebuilding here, hopefully better able to defend it next time."
"Do so with my blessing. We must be off to tend to our wounded, and to undo the damage that the demon has done and set into motion. Farewell."
The two groups parted, and Sotarkesh opened up a portal into the secret ways that would allow them to travel home.
"Warden" Sotarkesh said to Kai'Qu.
"Yes my lord?"
"Quarantine the vampire, full guard at all times."
"As you wish it."
With his final command issued, Sotarkesh and the other weary lizardmen walked through the gateway, grateful for the reprieve and to be heading home.
Last edited by Kayosiv; 04-05-2013 at 06:23.
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