Planning for Book 2: Chapter 1

[Beowuuf]

The trouble with the tournaments were they were monsters in terms of size. I tried to read them once or twice, but never got back to them - and now, of course, they're gone forever Aside from minor references to them by some characters/players, I don't know what happened in them.

If cloe's backstory is going to hinge open them, you could probably add a thread here with the relevant histories as seen in the tournaments. Obviously just for people interested in the really old WW stuff that can't find it now

Luckily, nothing plot-worthy happened in the KDJT so it can just be something that happened after or before the meeting in whatever alternate-universe sort of parallel way!

Never did find out what the relevance was of the last fighting tournament with Zipp was to the Eshnar story infact!

[Beowuuf]

The starting of chapter 2 - how?

I mean that two -fold. Firstly, how is it going to start? Will it be the MKC army going towards Eshnar? If so, I guess that shows us what posts are still needed before closing the previous chapter - everyone needs to be free of other plot concerns to be able to react to or even be involved with that army.

And secondly, what are we doing for the summary post? A fresh start seems to mean the usual 'summarise the previous chapter' won't work as well. So what's important information?

Obviously i had my West Watch story summary thread ...is a shortened version of that, one which then mentions the Chaosmaster and Eshnar, a good way to gentle get people into the story without much backstory needed?

[crysis]

You know I've got all of the tournaments I ran on the old site saved, right, including all the commentary and extras posted by everybody? I should probably give you the file for posting here as a downloadable bit of history from the old site.

[Beowuuf]

The Story So Far...

It is the year MS5106, and the fight against evil continues in Magnamund. The powers of good have grown strong, and yet the balance of Aon shifts equally to restore and create dark champions.

Old heroes pass to allow new - Guildmaster Banedon, Lord Rimoah, and Gynian the Sage had all died as age and the rigours of the fight against Naar took their toll. The Second Order of the Kai has grown powerful with several Supreme Masters, yet lost their founder, the hero Lone wolf. Lone Wolf did not die though - he left the Sommerswerd and Monastery in the care of his greatest pupils and departed for reasons he did not disclosed. Perhaps one day he will return if he succeeds in his secret journey, or perhaps when is needed most. Even now, the Sommerswerd again resides with Durenor to renew the vows of alliance once made.

Meanwhile, the Nad-Adez-Konkor appeared on Magnamund. These Kai Hunters - once Kai themselves, turned by dark ritual and tainted blood - have began a silent campaign of terror, always appearing when least expected and least wanted.

Old champions of Naar have tried to regain a foothold in Magnamund. Darklord Vashna, mighiest of the Darklords, finally managed to free himself from the bonds of the Maakengorge and returned to the destroyed Darklands to rebuild. Helgedad was raised anew, although the campaign he masterminded to destroy Sommerlund in MS5100 was defeated at the great Battle of Toran. Vashna was not seen again.

Other Darklords managed to raise themselves, yet always have the powers of good vanguished these old champions of Naar before they could take hold. In recent times, the Darklord Xog had managed to free himself from the bonds of death. By the Doomstone of V'Ka and the actions of a Nad Adez Konkor called eviltb, Xog has gained both life and great power.

Darklord Xog entered Sommerlund without others realising, obliterating all those around Eshnar. However, his life was ended when it was revealed his actions were only to free the true enemy in Eshnar - the Chaosmaster of the Daziarn.

Good is not without its means against these perils though. The Orders of Sommerlund - the Brothers of the Crystal Star and the Kai Lords - remain as strong as ever. The Kai have even secured a great military might - the Lastlands Navy. The Dwarfs of Bor have made movements in the world, solidifying alliances and fighting against the evils shoulder to shoulder with those of Sommerlund.

Similarly, the knightly orders of Magnamund - the Sommlending Knights of the Realm, the Knights of the White Mountain of Durenor and Vakeros of Dessi - have founded the Magnamund Knights' Council, a powerful accord for mutual defense and information sharing between these three knightly orders.

This entente was finally made flesh during a great meeting where the existence of Xog - alas discovered too late - was reported. Even now, a great army of the Knights' Council and their dwarfish allies seeks to move towards Eshnar and discover the truth to the rumours of the return of Darklord Xog.


And so begins Book 2 of the West Watch, detailing the great struggle against the Chaosmaster that would bring together the mightiest champions of good and evil to protect the balance of Aon.

[Beowuuf]

Jan 12, 2010 18:42:37 GMT -5 crysis said:

You know I've got all of the tournaments I ran saved on the old site, right, including all the commentary and extras posted by everybody? I should probably give you the file for posting here as a downloadable bit of history from the old site.

O.O

Oooooooooooooooooooooh! Yes, yes please!

[crysis]

Check your email in a few seconds...

[crysis]

Jesus, I never realized how many pages these things were! I have well over a thousand pages of tournament coming your way, BW!

[Beowuuf]

Then I guess I won't be catching up any time soon Told you they were monsters

Thanks though!


Oh, if you need your avatar hosted on an alternate webspace, you can e-mail that too!

[crysis]

They are really fun reading, though! I started to browse through them and almost got totally engulfed. Makes me want to fix em up and release them as young adult novels. Just a series of novels about these fighting tournaments, where all the character development and intereaction occurs within the confines of the tourney...

... you know... that's not a bad idea... I'm... gonna go look into that.

[crysis]

So I kind've missed the whole Xog connection to Eshnar during my months of absence from the site. Care to clue me in real quick?

[Beowuuf]

Xog turned his attention now to Eshnar itself. The ruined city lay before him like a brand new book waiting to be read. Xog set his gourgaz commanders to arrange their own camps and organise supply lines between Eshnar and V’Ka. The Darklord needed no bodyguard. The Doomstone alone provided him with all the protection he needed, especially since it also enhanced his own powers. Stepping through the ruined streets, Xog made his way towards the centre of Eshnar to where the ruined Shadowgate now stood. Around his feet the ground was bare. Little did the Darklord know that previously the ground lay full of giak corpses, now gone having been sucked into the Shadowgate when it imploded.

Xog stopped and sniffed the air. There was something not quite….right. The Darklord could feel something around him, something in the air, something….else. He raised his clenched fist, the one holding the Doomstone. The gem pulsed with life as purple flame lanced from its eye, Xog turning as he spread the area with fire.

As the fire licked across the ground, Xog strained his senses searching for something he knew was there.

“Come out from your hiding place, servant!” The Darklords voice echoed around the clearing. He had assumed that the Dark Hunter he had said to infiltrate Eshnar had perished when the power-shield collapsed. If this was his idea of a joke at the Darklords expense, he would pay for this transgression with his life!

”…theoneyousentisgone….”

Xog turned at the sound of the voice. It was small, like a child’s. Xog looked but could not find it source.

“Where are you?!” he demanded. “I will find you and break y-“

Xogs sentence was cut short. He looked down to his chest. A foot long piece of masonry now lodged in his chest, breaking through his breastplate. Wide-eyed and gaping, he turned to see standing in front of him, a tiny girl dressed in white with long black hair. But it wasn’t the girl that caused the panic to spread across the Darklords face. It was the being emanating from her that caused him to fear.

A dark, hideous mass stretched out of the girls head, connected by whips of smoke. This thing Xog knew all to well. He heard the stories, read the texts and headed the warnings of. The creature banished to the Daziarn, thought to be long dead. The Chaosmaster.

Xog could not move as the things hand extended towards him and lifted him into the air. The thing spoke, as he did the girl mimicked his every move. The voice that followed was a horrid mix of the childs voice and its own.

“Be still, child of Naar. Your time is almost complete on this plain. Long I have waited for a chance to transcend to this plain myself. Now, thanks in part to this child and to yourself, my time has come.”

The being reached towards Xogs hand, towards the Doomstone. With minimal effort, he loosed the Darklords grip and the ‘stone fell to the ground.

“This little gem has the power to make me whole. I thank you for bringing it to me. Alas, you will not be around to witness my true resurrection. But then, you will have your Master to answer for. This world is now mine. The gods have no place here. Their champions, Light and Dark, will fall. With the power of this gem, my power on this plain is ten-fold anything you could ever have mustered!”

Xog tried to protest, but the life was leaving him rapidly. The being squeezed its hand, and the last of the Darklords again left the land of the living.

Dropping the Darklords body, the being motioned and the girl crouched to pick up the discarded Doomstone. It flashed with purple fire and energy as the girl held it close. She wrenched in pain as the ‘stone took hold. The being attached to her wrenched and pulled, then suddenly flung itself forwards as it separated from its host. The girl went limp and slumped down, the Doomstone lying on her chest. A grotesque fully-formed hand reached forward and picked up the gem. Holding it in its palm, the Doomstone of V’Ka sunk into the fleshy thing.

The Chaosmaster was whole again.

[crysis]

Ah, okay, so seems like CM rode Hazelae into town and then abandoned her, wherein she went to fulfill her destiny. So Xog is dead then but his rumour persists. Good stuff going on here.

[eviltb]

Yes. Well thats what I was going for anyway ;D

tbh I dont know how the CM managed to imprint its psyché onto Hazelae, but she seem'd a good enough conduit for it to reappear through. I was gonna keep Xog, really but then the idea of the CM appearing was just the biggest anti-climax ever! That way both Good and Evil have something they can fight, rather than Good going up against another Darklord.

Oh and as far as past tournaments go, that last epic fight between me and Wuuf still needs an official winner

[Beowuuf]

It does! I can almost just about remember how I was gunna end it if I was going to win

[crysis]

lol, I don't even recall my own rules for the last tournament. In all honesty, I think my tournament days are done. I think Aguila Saber has taken over the tournament duties of the site rather nicely. I do highly encourage you to read the maze tournament, though, if you want to really understand the deepness of Cloe's deviousness.

As for child Hazelae being a conduit, that's actually more or less what she was. She was a physical manifestation of the demon Hazelae's power which had been separated from it, along with its malice (which is what came with Evil TB to Eshnar in the first place) and its intelligence (which became Lady Hazelae). That another power could attach itself to child Hazelae was highly probably.