You’ve been a Guttermage. You’ve been the first and greatest lich. Now, you once again have been granted the gift of life.You are Atrebor, once known by the moniker of “Immortal King”. Now, having been defeated by the heroes and forced to prematurely inhabit the fruit of an incomplete experiment, you find yourself weakened and lacking in information as a decade stands between the time of your waking and your more than timely demise. You now find yourself wandering the world, hoping to recover your lost power, unlock the hidden potential of your divine constitution, and uncover the mystery behind the hero Michael’s mysterious disappearance. In your search of mana cores— the crystallization of magic power— and a means of gaining a foothold in human society, you find yourself in Gladisgard, the first line of defense between the humans and the heartless children of death, the Demon race. The situation is dire, with the revelation that the demons have crowned a King, spelling potential disaster for Gladisgard, and the world as you know it. As if that weren't crisis enough, a band of mysterious assailants have breached the fortress's mighty walls, unleashing a horde of monsters manipulated by powerful magicks through the Last Bulwark’s now compromised defenses.
You rush through the cold halls of the castle, forgoing your legs entirely and instead opting to rocket through the air. Your control is precise, and your memory of the residence's layout is near perfect, allowing you to navigate the labyrinthine construction with celerity and precision few in your position could replicate. Your boots only touch the ground the moment you reach your destination, the faint clunk of your mass alighting on the floor beneath quickly proceeded by the creaking swing of the heavy wooden door."Good, you’ve come.”The Duke’s office, lit brithter than ever as every torch-holder and lamp burns with light and fuel, has been transfigured from administrative center to war room, generals, advisers, and even clergy all huddled around a map at the center of the table. The Duke acknowledges you, gesturing for you to go to his side as he lays small wooden blocks across the flattened streets of Gladisgard.“We’ve secured the choke points and reinforced the center wall.” K’tann declares, “The problem is more the assailants than the monsters.”You nod, but remain silent as the room devolves into arguments. One faction, headed mostly by the secular administration of the city, are insistent that splitting their resources to chase the hooded figures would only weaken their forces and, in the worst case, lead to the city collapsing. The other, headed by the clergy but strongly favored by general K’tann, instead argue that complacency will only lead to this attack being repeated, and that the passive stance is entirely unsustainable. The duke, weary and unsure of what best to do, instead turns his attention to you and Rykov.“What do you believe we should do? Rykov, your input especially is needed.”“I’m not an expert in monster manipulation,” Rykov begins, “but I can say that this would take a monstrous amount of magical skill. I doubt even Archmage Sophien could transfix this many monsters at once. The only mage in the world that could replicate this…”
>>6367680"No, this kind of attack is unlike Archmage Iorwith.” you rebut, “I’ve read his work and the records of his deeds. He doesn't deal in living soldiers, and even if he did he never creates such blatant conflicts with the powers that be. Frankly, the most likely scenario is that this, rather than a human mage, is the work of a Demon.”“There has never been a demon as skilled in magecraft as an archmage.” One of the clerics, seemingly a bishop of Paeora, counters, “They may be mighty, but they entirely lack theory.”“The new Demon King— I can only assume you’ve been told of its advent— is ruthless, pragmatic, and most dangerously, willing to use humankind as a point of reference to gain strength. The same old tactics that they’ve been using over a thousand years of defeat have finally been discarded.”“Assuming it is the demon king, that changes things. If we catch them now, we could nip a very dangerous problem in the bud.”“Or,” the captain of the city guard interjects, “Lead us to be culled instead.”“What do you think, young mage?” Rykov directs the attention back to you, “Among all of us, you have the most firsthand experience of the supposed demon king’s new tactics. What should we do?”>”This is a trap. We must protect the city and pursue later.”>”This is likely a trap, but we can't afford to let this opportunity slip. We should tail the demons and see what they're planning.”>”This is an important opportunity. We should divert as much of our forces as possible to finding and ending these bastards.”>”I can't say. Ultimately, I must leave this decision to the Duke.”>Write-in
>>6367681>”This is likely a trap, but we can't afford to let this opportunity slip. We should tail the demons and see what they're planning.”We must fight for information.
>>6367681>>”This is likely a trap, but we can't afford to let this opportunity slip. We should tail the demons and see what they're planning.”
>>6367681>>”This is likely a trap, but we can't afford to let this opportunity slip. We should tail the demons and see what they're planning.”seems reasonable. Great art btw Po
>>6367681>This is likely a trap, but we can't afford to let this opportunity slip. We should tail the demons and see what they're planning. We should use our fastest and stealthiest scouts, with invisibility, if possible. I undrestand this might be suicide, so I volunteer to lead them.
>>6367678Don't forget to archive the previous chapter>>6367681>”This is likely a trap, but we can't afford to let this opportunity slip. We should tail the demons and see what they're planning.”
>>6367681>This is likely a trap, but we can't afford to let this opportunity slip. We should tail the demons and see what they're planning.”>>6367702 +1 to volunteer
>>6367681>>”This is a trap. We must protect the city and pursue later.”We need to play this strictly like a mad wizard should be played.We need to stay in town and defend it in order to farm for mana cores. If they expect us to directly interfere/fight: we need payment for that - in mana cores.We could use these mana cores for all kinds of cracy magical experiments (or for the boring option: eating). Personally, I think a Kaiju-sized Godborn Facsimile would be the most appropriate. If it needs to be, we could even make this Kaiju (mildly) useful with benevolent divine magic or something.
