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Thunder Down Under - Gaz 05

Posted: Thu May 20, 2004 4:11 am
by Bjorn
Prologue - Part 1 - "From the Halls of Valn Ohtar"

Bjorn Toulouse spent most of his days in the chapel, seeking the counsel of the All One. The recent schism that saw most of the younger knights leave these halls had caused him to step back from the cares of the worlds and reflect on his reasons for being here. He had arrived with the wish to help train a new class of warriors. To recruit the best and the brightest with the hope of bringing glory to the Great Hall of Valn Ohtar. Indeed the most recent class did bring more than their share of glory, but now they have left before the training was complete. Only time will tell if they have learned enough to prosper on their own. Valn Ohtar has always appealed to the strong willed Kaomarian which in no small way accounts for the large number of them who have founded their own clans.

But Bjorn will remain. There will be another new batch of recruits to train someday. Best to rest and review the progress made with the first group of graduates to better train the next group.

But now, Dameon brings news. Two veterans of Kaomaris have been recruited to assist in training the next class. Duke and Aussie Gaz have come to the Great Hall to share their knowledge with the rest of the clan. We will have to make the time to show them around the place and work them into the clan, and what better way to do that than join them on the field of battle.

A battle is brewing in one of the worlds and Duke is on his way there. Of all the knights of Valn Ohtar, Bjorn is nominated to join him and offer what assistance he can. While not 100% recovered from his previous battles, Bjorn sends out messengers to find his retinue and order them to rejoin him for a new campaign.

Ships and supplies are assembled at the docks. We sail for Australia on the next tide. The adventure begins anew.

Posted: Thu May 20, 2004 4:53 am
by Bjorn
Prologue - Part 2 - "To the shores of Auckland"

The calm seas of the South Pacific belie the storm brewing on the continent. Each province has assembled a small garrison for defense, but the 10 largest and most populous areas have been recruiting mercenaries for the coming conflict. Auckland, while not on the mainland, cannot escape becoming involved. In an attempt to deter aggressors, they approach Bjorn and offer him command of their small army. Without hesitation he accepts. His scout ships have already sent spies onto the mainland and have discovered that Duke is in Brisbane. Auckland will offer a perfect location to work with Duke and the plentiful forests will provide much needed war material. Bjorn's small fleet drops anchor in the port, unloads supplies and his retinue goes to work recruiting and training the locals for the coming battles.

For Bjorn, the discovery that Duke is just across the Tasman Sea is not what brings the wry smile to his face. No, of even more interest is the Kaomarian south of Duke, setting up shop in Sydney. If the information his spies are reporting is accurate, the clan head for the Scholars, Raw, is advising the forces there. A rising star when he first arrived in Kaomaris, Bjorn and Raw were both members of the "Circle of Nine" in those days. He took the skills learned from CoN and honed them in the "Brotherhood of Vayuna". Now he leads the "Scholars" and has inflicted more than his fair share of scars on Bjorn in previous campaigns. More than once the record books have referred to Raw as "Bjorn's Bane". It is a sobriquet that is difficult to dispute.

Now, Raw stands between Bjorn and the plains provinces he will require to supply his troops in the coming battles. The corn stockpiles will not last long. Unless Raw can be driven out quickly, Bjorn's armies will quickly desert to forage. There can be only one.

Posted: Thu May 20, 2004 5:41 am
by Donut
Rejuvination

Atop his prized steed, Donut rode up the long and desolate road that lead to the gate to the lands of Vayuna. The scene did not improve upon his entrance to the Vayuna. The fields were bare and the villages near extinction.

"How did it get this bad?" he thought to himself remembering the Brotherhood's proud defeat of the Scholars not so long ago.

He finally arrived at the door to the home of the warriors that protected the lands of Vayuna. The building still looked beautiful, but it was apparent that little maintenance had been done in quite sometime. Dismounting his steed, Donut continued to look for signs of life. Not finding any, he continued into the palace. The scene was much the same and the despair on the warriors face was now apparent. Continueing through the building searching for something... anything. A rustle stemming from the basement caught his attention and he excitedly hurried down the staircase, dodging cob-webs and loose steps. A small glimmer of candle light in the corner made him perk up. Wondering who he would meet down in this dark and bleak place, he slowly walked down the hall.

"Welcome home," the voice said just as Donut walked past the last bookcase to find an aged Lord Fredo.

"The Brotherhood lives."

"Barely," Lord Fredo said with a look of hopelessness.

"What can we do?"

"The only thing we can," Lord Fredo said with the last hint of determination in his voice, "Fight."

"You will fight with me?" Donut exhaled, finally letting go the tension that had been building since he entered the lands of Vayuna.

With only a look, the two made their way out of the Annals. They talked for hours, discussing what was to be done. It was apparent that their new battleground would have to be Australia. Donut was sure that he would be an early target with his lack of battlefield experience, but he knew what had to be done.

Posted: Thu May 20, 2004 8:07 am
by korexus
korexus surveyed his surroundings.
"Perth? What are we doing in Perth?!"
Needless to say, the thought of being in such a God-Forsaken and desolate corner of the world did not appeal to him very much. - And as if Australia wasn't bad enough, he'd ended up in Perth!

However, ever practical, korexus realised that there was no point wishing it was different now. So, 5 days after landing, he stopped sulking and started getting down to business.

It soon became apparent that living out in the wilderness wasn't quite so bad. There may not be much variety in terrain, but there were also fewer people and with all these plains, korexus could be fairly certain that his empire would not starve.

As for other Kaomarians in the area, the first to approach him was Lord Fredo. That was good, Fredo was a reasonable guy and hopefully they could work out some sort of deal. Far more worrying were the rumours that the Apostate had also come to this land and was even now hiding the desert and building up strength. What should be done about him? korexus repeated to himself what Egbert had told him when first he joined the Scholars all that time ago.
"There is a constant war between the good and the evil clans of Kaomaris. Almost all choose to fight for one side or the other. The Scholars, however, take no side in that war. We recognise that that war can, indeed must, never be won and so we concern ourselves with the persuit of knowledge. We will fight with anyone to further at aim."

In that conversation, Egbert had been reffering to Dark Monk and the loathesome Dark Stone clan. It couldn't apply even to one such as the Appostate. Could it?

Posted: Thu May 20, 2004 8:31 am
by Lord Fredo
Rejuvinated

Indeed The Brotherhood had been laying a bit low lately but that didn’t mean it was not still a force to be recconed with. This had been shown if nowhere else during the latest great clash with the Scholars.

The new Brother, Donut, had brought a lot of life back into the old clan and Lord Fredo like what he saw in his new comrade in arms. Donut had thus far shown both skill and guts as well as modesty during his early campains. These were all caracteristics that Fredo liked and in a lot Donut reminded him of himself in the old days.

Rejuvinated by his new friends call to arms Lord Fredo did what he had allways done and threw himself back into the center of great events. After having learned that trouble was stirring in the great Australian outback he did not take long to find himself an old garrison to set up camp in. After having called in his old friends and officers to duty and send out his scouts and diplomats to seek out the new surrounding he now sat back and contemplated what was soon to come. He felt good.

Posted: Thu May 20, 2004 12:30 pm
by ThinKing
Thin King's chief lookout, Eric, came sprinting down the slopes of Ayers Rock, waving his arms frantically and shouting nonsense between his struggling breaths. He had spent a long time in his slowly-revolving lookout post on top of the outcrop, and Thin King's men marvelled at his perfectly even tan.

Thin King himself was rather less impressed by his newly-bronzed lookout. Eric's shouting had woken him, and TK's excitement lasted for only a moment as he noticed that the clock showed he had only been asleep for 31 hours and 12 minutes. He had travelled halfway around the world to find the most peaceful place in Kaomaris at which to stage his world-record attempt, only to be woken by his own servant just 31 hours later. Perhaps this sleeping business was not for him after all. The record was currently held by Ecrivian, who had been known to disappear for months just after asking for a nap.

TK noticed that the official timekeeper had fallen asleep in his chair, and smiled. Quietly he got out of bed and shuffled over to Eric. Eric panted that he had noticed no less than 9 ships landing on shores all over the island, all within the last 24 hours! TK thought that Eric must have had too much sun up on his lookout point.

Just as TK had stopped giggling to himself, he noticed a 6ft furry scorpion running straight at him! Quickly he spun around, grabbing Eric and pushing him towards the scorpion before running away. He was a few steps away before Eric shouted "Sire!". Thin King turned, expecting to see the scorpion eating his servant, but instead they stood arm-in-arm, smiling. The scorpion seemed to have lost its head though, as it was holding it under one of its arms. A human head poked out from the neck of the beast - a head which TK recognised as one of his chief spies. Obviously their disguises had come a long way since they were first sent out to the rest of the island.

The scorpion introduced himself as Bob, and informed Thin King that he was carrying a message from Raw. Suddenly Thin King understood what was happening - the Scholars had come to assassinate him! The 9 of them had him surrounded! Obviously they were very annoyed about losing to him every time since he left their banner several months ago...

Bob gave Thin King a small scroll. Thin King could already imagine what it would say - "surrender, or die". He unrolled it, and to his surprise he found a NAP request! Raw said that he was 6 provinces away, and begged Thin King not to hunt him down again! Thin King chuckled at the apparent fear of his former clan head. He decided that Raw lived much too far away to bother writing back to - the postage cost would be huge! Perhaps if Raw was considerate enough to move a little closer, some sort of deal would be more feasible.

In preparation for the upcoming battle against the 9 Scholars, Thin King gave his orders to his men. They were to make hundreds of scorpion costumes. His idea of a "shock and awe" campaign could not fail. But for now, he had a record to break. He sneaked back inside, careful not to wake the official timekeeper, and resumed his position in bed. With a smile, he fell asleep once again.

Posted: Thu May 20, 2004 7:37 pm
by Duke
Duke - D
Froheke - F (Dukes advisor)

D - What is up with this freaking heat? I knew I shouldnt have disbanded The Guard! We had nicely cooled castles and we never bothered to fight in any wars, at least not me. Hand me that bottle of sherry please.

F - Here you go sire. Yes, the heat. Our factoryworkers are complaining.

D - Yes the factory. What are they producing now?

F - Scorpion costumes sire. We have a big order coming from someone in the north.

D - Ah, I guess we all have our bedroom preferences. *rolls his eyes* Who's around me?

F - You have Donut to your north, Raw to your immidiate south and Bjorn on that island to your east.

D - What is he doing out there? Nevermind. Raw will probably forget about me and drive towards the big names. Donut? A pastry in charge of an army? Oh, wait he is teamed up with Fredo right? Ah, ok. Well Fredo is usually a piece of cake so.....

F - You have take control over some sort of freaky tribe this time sire.

D - Switch then. No one will attack me. At least not until turn 6.

F - What happends in turn 6?

D - Things will go from hard to raw.

Posted: Sun May 23, 2004 2:28 am
by Bjorn
Chapter 1 - Part 1 - "When you come to a fork in the road, take it."

The training was going well. The men of the Auckland forest proved to be of good stock and were ready to move to the mainland to show the upstarts there what they had learned. The first question that needed to be answered was how to reach the mainland. Before this could be considered the spies/diplomats needed to ply their trade.

The Duke was nearby and a true student of the Clan Founder. Through diplomacy he hoped to carve out a small empire for himself and build up his forces for a long campaign. In the forest to his south and due west of Bjorn was Raw. Placed directly between Bjorn and the green fields beyond the forest, there appeared to be no alternative to a siege of Raw's citadel. The Duke concluded a truce with Raw, which left the short term task of dealing with Raw to Bjorn. To his credit Raw did seek to palaver, but no common ground could be found. There would only be room in this corner of the world for one of them.

The initial plans suggested that the army should move South to secure the remainder of the island and approach the continent from the South. This plan was discarded as presenting too narrow a front. If misfortune befell the army it could quickly be bottled up and never reach the much desired plains to the West. The natives in those parts were considered friendly and could be counted upon to guard that flank. The fleet was ordered to make preparations for an immediate landing on the mainland. An emissary was sent to The Duke warning him not to move South, as the army would be landing there. Once this was confirmed and the fleet was ready, the army took to the transports and headed for the mainland.

Posted: Sun May 23, 2004 3:02 am
by Bjorn
Chapter 1 - Part 2 - "The opening guns"

The coast of Australia on this part of the continent is heavily wooded. Many spies and scouts were sent ahead of the fleet to locate a suitable spot to land. Supplies would have to be gathered and local recruits would have to be found. The only harbors were all settled and you could be sure that Raws spies would be scouting them all. Rather than attempt a landing in a port and establishing a base there, Bjorn opted to have the army disembark in a deserted location and move into the forest. They would fight and live off the land for the time being. The navy would then return to Auckland, leaving the army with no retreat. It would be victory or death!

++ You are attacking the neutral Province#54
You use these 15 troops from your Province #62 : °° 15 Armies

The small army was divided into three "Battles". On the right, as was his priveledge as Liege Lord, was Bjorn with 5 of the armies. On the left was Eldad, his most trusted knight with another 5 armies. The last five armies were held in reserve led by Medad. Much treasure had been given to the chief spy Diogenese to bribe the locals and establish the beginnings of a base. The few messages he had received were promising but now we would find out how successful he had been. The army filtered into the forest in smaller groups, looking for any hostile forces.

There were few roads through the forest and those that existed allowed at most a trickle of men and supplies to move along them. On one of these roads Bjorn came across a small camp flying the banner of Valn Ohtar. Diogense greeted him as he approached with news that any Kaomarian would envy. In the main tent, layed out on a large table, was a map of the province known locally as Macquarie. Diogenese had marked all the small towns on that map that were friendly in Blue and all that were hostile in Red. With the detailed knowledge offered by this map, the three Knights were each assigned a group of settlements to move upon and order them to submit or be destroyed. Most readily agreed to terms, but some were too stubborn or proud to submit and were quickly dispatched. The only casualty of the opening campaign was a poor fellow who was positioned in a tree and had the branch he was sitting on break leading to a 20' fall that broke his leg.

++ You have won the battle !! 15 Units invade the Province.

Posted: Sun May 23, 2004 7:12 am
by Duke
Sitting in the Red Dragon Inn Duke and his advisor recieves the message that Bjorn's troops has taken a number of provinces on the mainland.

D - I told him that it would be a smooth ride to those plains. He needs to relax and not be all "knight in shining armour conquering the world".

F - Or you should be a bit more like that. Why are we in a bar when we should make careful preparations for coming battles?

D - Since we chickend out and made deals with the entire world then Bjorn will fight our battles. So why bother planning? Mr Sharpsword from the high seas are fighting enough for the both of us. The workers are working right?

F- if you took five seconds of you precious beer time then maybe you would know.

D - True. And it would be bad if they werent working on the right things but as far as I can see we have food on the table and I belive some soldiers in full training woke me up this morning.

F - Yes.

D - So, you see. I have complete control over this. Bartender! One more over here.

Posted: Sun May 23, 2004 10:10 pm
by ThinKing
Thin King woke up just in time to see the clock tick around to 57 hours - a new personal best! His happiness did not last long, however. He left his tent to find a deserted camp. A few scraps of material were strewn on the floor, no doubt from the scorpion costumes, leading in a trail to the northeast.

Checking his mail box, TK made some interesting discoveries. A former vacuum-cleaner salesman, who claimed to be hiding in the east, had sent him a message asking for peace. A non-Scholar!! Thin King was relieved - perhaps he was wrong before, and the Scholars were not out to kill him after all!

Or perhaps they were. The second message that Thin King found was from the feared warlord Korexus, demanding that Thin King evacuate the entire south-western half of the continent!

The final message was from TK's second-in-command, Geoffrey. It was obviously written in a rush. Geoffrey told TK that his troops were so scared of Korexus that they had all ran off to the northeast!! Rumours has spread among TK's troops that Korexus had been trained by the greatest warrior of them all, and the fear was too much for them.

Luckily for TK, his spy corps were braver. The note said that they had stayed behind to protect him. He looked around but he could not see them. All he could see were a bunch of about ten black scorpions, each of them six feet tall, talking about Korexus. TK assumed that his spies must have also fled, when Bob appeared, dressed as an aborigine. Bob's disguise was almost perfect, as he wore only a pair of underpants and carried a stick. TK was proud of himself. Even TK himself didnt know quite how he had been able to recognise Bob, even in full disguise. Perhaps it was the Simpsons underpants that he recognised.

Bob explained to TK that they had been working on some new disguises. The aborigine outfit was in production, but there was a dire shortage of underpants. To combat this, Bob pointed out a spy wearing the latest of their inventions. He was dressed as a grain of sand. Thin King pointed out that the spherical costume was certainly ingenious, but that grains of sand were not usually six feet in diameter. Bob explained that the spy just looked big because he was very close to TK, and that if he was to walk away a mile or two, he would appear to be the perfect size. Thin King was duly impressed.

With Bob alongside him, Thin King was confident that he could hold off Korexus...

Posted: Mon May 24, 2004 2:10 am
by Bjorn
Chapter 1 - Part 3 - "The March to the Sea"

Having established a camp on the continent, the army needed a direction to March. The Duke's armies were somewhere to the North, reportedly marching to the West. Perhaps reports of free land on the Western shore was drawing his armies in that direction. More likely they were looking for construction material as The Duke was known as the Crown Prince of Home Improvement. The fighting ability of his troops was unknown, but building projects and throwing wild parties was something they were well known for. It was good to know that Bjorn could send his troopers to the North for some R&R when the time came. But Bjorn had sharpened his Axe in preparation for battle. While The Duke might be spending his time wenching and wining, Bjorn had business in the south.

But first the Scholar leader had to be located. The army pressed South looking for the trail of Raw's armies. Bjorn hoped to find them in a depleted state after their opening attacks and bring them to battle.

++ You are attacking the neutral Province#53
You use these 15 troops from your Province #54 : °° 15 Armies
++ You have won the battle !! 11 Units invade the Province.

Canberra proved a test for the troops. The forest was primarily untouched and the defenders usually welcomed the advancing army with food and gifts. This would prove to be fertile ground for recruitment. As they approached the mountains to the south the highland folks who lived there proved to be a different matter. The first real battles took place as the army started to move into the mountains. The losses were not severe and the army pressed on into the mountains.

++ You are attacking Province#56 from Raw
You use these 11 troops from your Province #53 : °° 11 Armies
++ You have won the battle !! 11 Units invade the Province.

The reason for the fierce defense of the highlanders was now known. The forces of Raw had advanced from their citadel in Sydney through this area. The survivors of that campaign had flooded into the neighboring provinces and were in no mood to palaver with foreigners. Some time would be requiered to pacify this area, but the opportunity for that was still far off in the distance. The first task was still to find Raw's army. But which way had it marched? Besides signs of the advance from Sydney, it was not clear if Raw had marched West or South. Since the people of the forest had so far flocked to the Banner of Valn Ohtar, Bjorn opted to continue through the forest and forsake the plains.

++ You are attacking the neutral Province#57
You use these 10 troops from your Province #56 : °° 10 Armies

Unfortunately, the trails out of the mountains to the South were defended by more highlanders. The army was now familiar with their tactics and suffered only light losses in the descent. The hoped for battle with Raw's army did not materialize as the army again moved through the forest without incident. It emerged on the South coast relatively unscathed and took heart at their success so far.

Raw's citadel had been isolated from his armies to the West. It was hoped that any succor he might have been expecting from that area would now be cut off so a quick assault on Sydney was planned. Plans were advancing when the initial reports from his spies in the city reached the camp. It was not good news.

++ The Spy reaches Province #55 ! [+2% EFF]
POP=125 ARM=33 LEVEL=1.00 ARC=12 MAG=1
WOK=24 AIM=+Chop DFS=1.6 SPY=5 GCA=0 TREE=169

The Wily Raw had not counted on any help from the outlaying provinces and had recruited an entierly new army in the city. He had collected all of the local victuals into the fortress and his factories were busy with the production of war material. It looked like it was going to be a very difficult siege.

Posted: Mon May 24, 2004 2:11 pm
by Duke
After spending quite some time at the Inn Duke decides that he has to get his act together. Drinking in bars while the future Kaomaris is being decided around his borders. This wont do. Servants! he yells. Some people in the bar turn their heads towards Duke and with a shrug they go back to what they were doing.

After a quick walk back to his castle Duke quickly gather the different people of importance. Generals, Political leaders the magician and so on.

- I need an update of the situation in the empire

Everybody looks at eachother and a general steps up. Sire, I am in charge of the improvement of the army.

- Ah yes. I remember ordering them to shape up their level of skill. We sent for Kerad. The expert from Death Mountain.
How is he doing with the troops? Are they improving?

The General looks a bit unsure and replies "Kerad from Death Mountain wasnt available so we got Conrad from Beverly Hills instead.

- Conrad?

Yes, he is a great plastic sergeant. He has given them nice implants and liposuctions. We have bought them blonde wigs and small bikinies as well.

- What!?

oh,oh, and they have worked on their scandinavian accent. Listen.

One of the blonde women (men?) turns to Duke and says with a deep voice "Hello sweety. My name is Inga"

- No, this is freaking me out. I need some air. And nobody has that name by the way. It is actually the swedish word for "nobody" which is ironic since.....*one of the "girls" blows a kiss at Duke* aaargh I need to go.

But Conrad says that when they attack the enemies will be stunned by their cleavages.

- I bet they will be stunned by a lot of thing. Our stupidiness being one.

Duke turns to the head of the intelligence departement.
- How are the spies doing?

Err, hm we made a bit of a mistake so we have no intel whatsoever.

-mistake you say?

Yes, we wanted to have those Aborigine costumes, the once that TK's spies uses but we didnt want to pay for the original ones, those were expensive so we ordered a copy of the original.

- yes?

Eh so....

At this point five large aubergines enters the room followed by a small bowl of ceasar sallad with legs.

- Oh moses smell the roses!

THe good news are that we got the salladoutfit for free! They have practiced to move unnoticed in them.

Seeing the spies trying to roll away (unnoticed) Duke says to his advisor "This is disturbing me in so many levels right now that I need to go down to the Red Dragon for a while, a long while"

The head of intel speaks up yet again. We also have developed a secret weapon of mass destruction.

The party follows the man outside and stops on the field in front of the castle.

From nowhere a coyote shows up wearing rollerblades, thick goggles a helmet and has a big rocket strapped to his back. He gives Duke thumbs up when he passes and then rides off towards the border.

Duke sighs and as he turns he says to himself "I wonder who should be more afraid. Us or them?"

Posted: Mon May 24, 2004 6:06 pm
by Raw
Humm....I don't like to type a lot.....so I'll just say this.

I've got Bjorn right where I want him.

-Raw

Posted: Mon May 24, 2004 7:52 pm
by Duke
Well he snuck up on you through your backdoor and he has the initiative so I guess you like having him from behind then? :shock: 8)

Posted: Mon May 24, 2004 7:54 pm
by Raw
I'd rather have you from behind, and I may later on in the game, but for now Bjorn will be fine.

-Raw

Posted: Mon May 24, 2004 8:11 pm
by korexus
"I've got Bjorn right where I want him.

-Raw"

korexus held the note in his hands, reading and re-reading it with a sense of dread slowing washing over him. Last time he Raw had made a statement like that was immediately before the Padacio Massacre. "With 3 people already fighting me, Dameon will never expect my attack!" He had reasoned...

korexus still couldn't remember the outcome of that fight. Raw had fallen, he knew that much but beyond that was blurry. Almost as though it had never quite happened...

Shaking himself out of the trance into which he was falling, korexus started to re-asses his situation. If Raw was right, then maybe he could lend some aid in the fight against the Betrayer, it would probably not be prudent to rely on that too soon though. Still, Brykovian had indeed been a good teacher and korexus could handle his own fights.

"Our flanking move seems to have caught them off guard, sir." A scout's report read. korexus smiled wryly, it was easy to out-flank someone who was running away. However, he doubted that this was the case here. The Betrayer was no coward. A thief, a liar, a lazy drunkard and sometimes an outright coward, but certainly not a communist. Wait. Never mind. This looked like a smoke screen. He'll let us get over-confident and then pounce on our troops when we least expect it. However, when you know about an ambush it can become as dangerous for the ambusher as it would otherwise have been for you.

Now that inspiration had struck, korexus hastily began to send out orders to his troops.

Posted: Mon May 31, 2004 9:31 pm
by Raw
Someone got served! :wink:

-Raw

Posted: Tue Jun 01, 2004 7:27 pm
by Duke
Prepare to eat those words. I still remember when you came to WOK wee-man. Prepare for some old school style :wink:

Posted: Tue Jun 01, 2004 9:12 pm
by Raw
I can't wait till you bring it old school :lol:

Consider it on....actually...you know what...."IT IS ON" :lol:

Does anyone watch southpark? Last episode I saw, the kids got served in a street dace competition, then it was on.

It was superfunny, that's where this came from :).

-Raw