An aMAZEing story

Bjorn · Post by **Bjorn** » Thu Dec 11, 2003 1:41 am

Chapter 22 - Part 2 - "The End Game"

Bjorn left most of the administrative staff in the fortress of Eyr to set up the new government. He would take with him only the Knights of Nyr and the Sej archers along with the few Pikemen and levies from the citadel. Mongo had sent him the reports of a large number of enemy armies in the forest to the South. While the information was old, he did have some preliminary reports on the enemy forces from an earlier season.

Code: Select all

#ID  Name           POP   ARM  LEVEL  PIK  ARC  KNI  CAT  CREA MAG
===================================================================
 36  StarrErg2       90    44   1.527  20   0    5    0    -    0 
 31  WebbNij3        115   5    1.000  0    0    0    0    -    0 
===================================================================

While new recruits may have been made since then, Bjorn was confident that his army would carry the day against any force that Skankerad could mount in the defense of his remaining territory.

The army made their way down the mountains from the citadel of Eyr and through the rift into a great forest. The Sej archers were sent out as scouts and soon located the bulk of the enemy army. As expected, they were raw recruits who had just started their training. They did not detect the approach of Bjorn's army until it was too late.

++ You are attacking Province#31 from Skankerad
You use these 65 troops: °° 2 Armies,°° 2 Pikemen, °° 30 Archers, °° 30 Knights, °° 1 Creature : Green Golem [+0.5]
Your Fight Level is = 3.710

The enemy has these 60 troops: °° 49 Armies, °° 11 Pikemen
The Fight Level of the enemy is = 1.376

The archers quickly overcame the slight defense works in the forest. With a hail of arrows the archers drove the defending armies into the clearings, where the knights sat in wait, ready to ride down any armies who ventured there. Faced with the arrows of the Sej or the lances and swords of the Nyr, the defenders largely threw down their arms and surrendered.

++ You have won the battle !! 50 Units invade the Province.

Leaving a few armies behind to secure the province, Bjorn pressed on with the bulk of his armies to the final province of Skankerad. There was no significant resistance, as all of his forces had been sent to make a stand in the forest. Skankerad was discovered in the desert, along with the great wealth of his empire.

++ You are attacking Province#51 from Skankerad
++ The enemy has no Troops for Defense !

++ You get all 910 Money from his stock !
++ You get all 2960 Money from his account !
++ You get all 4 Corn from his stock !
++ You get all 47 Wood from his stock !
++ You get all his 3 Red Diamonds !
++ You get all his 8 Green Diamonds !
++ You get all his 2 Grey Diamonds !

The trophies of war would be shipped to the citadel of Eyr. Skankerad and his retinue would be offered safe passage back to Elsanix, where he was to take ship and leave the island. He was, after all, a Kaomarian and deserved nothing less for his valiant defense.

The army would be distributed around the empire to keep the peace and continue training. More woodsmen would be required to equip an army equal to that of Allister's. Most importantly, a large army would be assembled at the rift that led to the land of the Disciple Massielita. Sometime, in either the near or distant future, another army may emerge from the rift and Bjorn hoped to be ready for them.

Until then, the land would rest and the mages magic would turn to NOURISH and RAIN spells.

Bjorn · Post by **Bjorn** » Thu Dec 11, 2003 2:52 am

Epilogue - "The Gateway"

Allister's army did, indeed, overcome the Disciple Massie in a series of massive battles in the West. There was another Kaomarian in the West, Underdog. Both he and Massielita acknowledged Allister as king of the West and Bjorn as king of the East. There were some in Bjorn's council, more than a few in fact, who urged a final confrontation with Allister to determine who was the greater.

Having seen the destructive power that Allister's army was capable of, Bjorn knew better. He also knew that the people and the land were war weary. Both needed time to rest and rebuild.

He reminded them all that in the overall scheme of time, the rifts in the Great Wall were a recent phenomena. The people of the island had been separated for so long that some time had to be spent learning each other's ways. Perhaps there will come a time in the future when a final confrontation is necessary. Perhaps each of the provinces will go their own way, leading to a future war of reunification. There was no reason to believe that the Magic of the Great Wall would not continue to weaken and more rifts would appear in the future. Perhaps some of the current rifts may recover their magic and close again.

While these debates went on, Bjorn was called to the mines to inspect a rare find. Some miners high in the mountains of Eyr had uncovered a hidden chamber deep in an abandoned mine. Inside this chamber there was a large archway with symbols etched into it that made no sense to those who had found it. On one of the walls in the chamber there was a panel with a similar set of symbols, but they were part of a tapestry that included symbols not found on the archway.

The curious part of this was that the symbols were on blocks that could slide around in the panels to create various patterns. Some of the mages had been playing with this panel and every so often there was a murmer that seemed to come from the archway. One of the miners swore he had seen one of the symbols on the archway shift, or move, after one of the blocks on the panel was shifted.

It could simply be a puzzle placed here by the Ancients, those who built the Great Wall. Bjorn decided to summon what mages he could to consider this. The younger and healthier of the members of the mage guild from Erstwind had made the long trip to Eyr, including the Queen of Diamonds. The older mages still did not travel well and could not quite bring themselves to make the trip. They preferred to wait until their knowledge of TELEPORT would allow them to be telported directly to Eyr.

Those that were there, including Bjorn, looked through their runes as well as those of the Kaomarian Guard, Scholars, Vayunans and Disciples from the six cities for some mention of what this might be. After much reading and discussion, they concluded, although not unanamously, that it was a 'gateway' to TELEPORT over a vast distance. How far was anyone's guess. It could be to some other land far over the Great Sea. Perhaps even farther. A possible link to other Worlds of Kaomaris? If nothing else, it may well explain why the Ancients just seem to have disappeared from the island.

Even if this were true, there was certainly no "users manual" anywhere to be found on how to use it. Kabobs were miners and engineers, but this particular puzzle was a bit beyond their ability to descipher. A team would be assembled from the brightest in the lands to solve this puzzle, but it would certainly take time.

Until then, Bjorn would continue to administer the empire. As so often happens, now that the common enemy had been defeated, the people of the various provinces began to note the things that made them different rather than the things they held in common. It was very possible that instead of a final confrontation with Allister the people in the various provinces would just repair their section of the Great Wall and retire behind it. In his remaining time on the island Bjorn would try to see to it that this did not happen for he knew it would only lead to a new war somewhere in the future.

But he was not sure how long he would be here. For the gateway and its powerful magic beckoned.

Post by **gm_al** » Thu Dec 11, 2003 8:11 am

Very nice story.

Bjorn, if you happen to have it in one piece somewhere on your harddisk Id like to get an edited version of it. I think it will make a nice addition to the WOK inventory.

Saladin · Post by **Saladin** » Thu Dec 11, 2003 8:59 am

All hail the great Kaomarian! All hail Bjorn! (and Allister

).

This has been incredibly enjoyable to read Bjorn and made the game truly come to life!

I'm looking forward to what happens when you pass through the gate!

You should put the whole story up on the VO website!

Post by **korexus** » Thu Dec 11, 2003 1:25 pm

Al, could you move this post to the "WoK Histories" board? I think it belongs there now. It's been neglected far too long and this should be a good way to get people writing again...

korexus.

Bjorn · Post by **Bjorn** » Thu Dec 11, 2003 1:52 pm

Al;

The story does not exist anywhere but here. I would get a couple of ideas when either writing my orders or reading my turn report and just sit down and type it in. It is very much a turn to turn thing where it made no sense to think about much more than the next turn.

I'm glad some people enjoyed reading it. A bit tricky at times, trying to give the outsiders a look at my position without giving away too much to the opposition. I probably won't do it again for awhile, as it took more than a little effort. It was really only possible to do it because of how the Great Wall 'Channeled' attacks. Most provinces only had one or two openings.