//------------------------------// // 11 - Evocant Deus Mechanicus... // Story: End Game // by Meep the Changeling //------------------------------// Sky Trigger - Day 5 Roseanger Gorge - Mount Mercy, Wieav One particularly potent problem with flying fortresses is just how difficult they are to hide. Parking spaces are easy, you simply find a large flat spot, a lake, a field, a forest, and set down atop it, crushing anything beneath you. But finding a space to park where everyone for miles can not find you? That’s another thing entirely. A thing most impossible by all accounts. Especially when you are trying to park within a few hours walk of a particular location, and don’t want the colossal dragon napping there to look down and wonder just how long that fortress has been there. Fortunately for the team, Mount Mercy’s lower southern slope had a particularly deep gorge running along it for a few miles. The mountain valley wasn't natural, showing signs of having been blasted out of the mountainside by powerful magic, presumably in a battle long long ago. The resulting valley thus had a large chunk of the mountain overhanging a portion of it. Chem had flown the Dark Fortress beneath this overhang under the cover of nightfall. A Nightfall with two full moons, but a nightfall nonetheless. The fortress’ position beneath the overhang ensured it would not be seen by the villagers above, nor their draconic guardian. For five long days it had remained concealed, providing Francine, Sky, and Chem with ample time to hone their skills. Francine had spent those five days relaying messages between the Fortress and Vinyl. Mostly because her idea of team building exercises were exhausting and prohibited anyone from performing other duties. Chem had discovered the wealth of spellbooks and scrolls within the keep’s armory and decided to memorize everything he could about Mar’rath’s magic. The Old One was a quick study, and had already mastered a large number of illusion spells and had begun to dabble in transmutation. He’d repeatedly insisted he wouldn’t fail their team again, and vowed to recreate his old bag of tricks using local magic. Sky had spent those days overhauling various equipment, repairing and cleaning dusty tools, and otherwise creating a small workshop within the keep itself. There was a lot of work to do, not just in creating the parts for NaN’s Eldritch Radar, but also in repairing the Fortress. The Fortress was still quite damaged from being nuked. Her shields were still offline, primarily thanks to the piece of rebar NaN had used to bridge the generator’s power terminals slagging under stress and taking one of the terminals with it. Fortunately the Fortress’s float system had proven easy to recalibrate. She could move, but only just barely. Which was an especially good thing because while the fortress was hidden from the threat above, she was parked within the middle of a boulder-strewn field with a clear view of the mountainside below. Anyone simply flying along at a reasonable altitude could find it easily. A Wevian military airship had done just that half an hour ago. Sky Trigger stood in the glass walled Command Room, leaning on the perimeter defense console’s crystal-mirror surface. His eyes were locked upon the glowing lights within the mirror, his face falling as ever more individual motes of light blinked into existence within the enchanted mirror. Each one red. The sound of ten thousand marching soldiers rumbled in the distance. The Fortress’ thick stone walls did nothing to deaden the dreadful sound. The dull rumbling moved ever closer, sounding an awful lot like a reverse-avalanche. Sky’s left hand clenched the bell shaped brass radio headset tightly as he repeated his earlier message. “Francine, this is an emergency! We’re under attack. You NEED to pick up!” Static hissed in the radio’s earpiece. Silence. Again. The Marine wasn’t answering. The Command Room’s recently installed trap-door creaked as Chem pushed it open and stepped onto the bridge. “Any luck?” The wizard asked hopefully. “Not a goddamn drop!” Sky growled, setting the radio down atop the life-sight display. “How about you?” Chem shook his head. “There isn’t an intact enough corpse in the place for raising, let alone enough to make sizeable undead for a defense force.” I’m just a little bit glad that plan didn’t pan out, Sky thought with a shiver. No need to start the zombie apocalypse while we’re saving the world. Chem turned and stepped over to the glass wall and looked out at the marching army below. Its seemingly endless rows of infantry brandished pikes, crossbows, and shields each of which were covered in dozens of glowing arcane sigils. About a third of the soldiers were clad in full suits of plate armor, their position within the centermost regiment and the blue tapestries bearing a crest in the shape of a red dragon at the center of a spider’s web made it quite clear they were knights. The rest of the soldiers wore simple cloth uniforms, a long blue jacket, a black tricorn hat, and a rather spiffy red sash upon which most if not all of them displayed medals and other commendations. While they didn’t appear to have any form of protective gear, Sky had a feeling those jackets were much more than they seemed to be. The advancing ranks formed a sort of rainbow shape as they marched forwards, clearly intent upon encircling the Fortress completely. The formation contained distinct bands of soldiers, with a good ten meters between each rank. The rainbow term came from the unsettling way the ranks glowed brightly even in the noonday sun as the arcane power bound in their wargear created a series of colorful coronas due to the sheer amount of similar arcane power within each rank. These two forces were what the two had been expecting to face. What had not been expected was the mechanized cavalry and air support. The arakan forces had a squadron of eight large airships. The wood-clad dirigibles hovered behind the infantry formation, perhaps five hundred meters back and another two hundred up. Each one had turned to present their sides to the Fortress. A tactic Sky ahd found rather stupid until he’d remembered a particular element of ancient naval combat. Full broadside bombardment. And as if the airforce wasn’t enough, there was also ground vehicles to contend with. Specifically, a sizable detachment of thirty meter tall iron and stone golems. At least three dozen of them were deployed at the army’s rear, forming the back most “band” of their rainbow shaped encirclement formation. Naturally the arcane machines resemble their creators to a degree. Colossal iron spiders with cannons for mandibles, surrounded by shimmering protective wards. Despite the danger they presented in terms of sher numbers, Sky was about to laugh as he watched their advance. Then he spotted the obvious wizards atop each of the golems. The enemy mages sat down calmly, eyes closed, deep in focus, chanting as they rode their mechs, deep in trance as they formed a metaphysical wall around their forces. Welp, there goes the good feelings from ‘they are approaching without cover’, Sky sighed to himself. “They have armored cavalry,” Sky noted grimly as he walked up beside Chem. “And I’m no mage but that ripple there, that’s a class ten forcefield. At least.” “Yes, they do, and yes it is.” Chem agreed with a grim nod. “I’m afraid I don’t have any fully baked ideas that will allow us to keep the fortress. Do you? Were you able to get the Fortresses weapons online?” Sky shook his head slowly. “No, and our engines are uh… Well we could slowly drift away if we could destroy those airships. I’m still working on getting the engines happy with running at more than fifteen percent of full power.” Maybe I should have made that a bit higher priority, Sky thought to himself. Still, we have one of the three parts we need. If we can survive this, I’m pretty sure I can make- Sky blinked once, a puzzle piece falling into place. “But if I have five minutes I can get the weapons systems working!” He said with a deep grin. A deep grin which rapidly began to fade as a crushing realization hit him in the heart. “N- Never mind… I don’t have my special talent here. There just isn’t time.” Chem raised a skeptic eyebrow as he glanced sidelong at Sky, refusing to turn away from the window. The Overlord never turned away from danger. Especially not danger which might lead to their demise. “You just finished creating a device which a machine god said could not be built,” Chem pointed out, raising a finger in objection. Sky nodded and reached into his left cargo pocket, briefly pulling the intricate spider web-like lattice of brass and crystal to look at the device he’d finished moments ago. It hummed and shone with an inner light, both properties exactly within the goddess’s specifications. “This is different,” Sky said. “I’m a genius. Give me plans, tools, time, and I’ll make anything. I just had to figure out how to make this from things in the treasure vault. Give me enough time and I’ll make the other two ‘core parts’ as well… At least, I could.” Chem nodded. “If we don’t lose this fortress.” “Exactly,” Sky agreed with a nod. Never thought I’d actually get along well with an Old One, but he really seems to get me, Sky thought as he put the tachyon detection matrix back into his pocket. “And well, we’re gonna. If we can’t come up with something in the next, what, twenty minutes? Ten for them to get here, ten more for them to be ready to fire? Sound right?” Sky asked as he stared out the window at the dust cloud which covered the advancing army. “What exactly is your special talent?” Chem asked as he crossed his arms behind his back on thought. “I can instantly build things if I have all the pieces and enough energy to build it normally,” Sky replied as he looked at Chem with a smirk. “Is your special talent ‘Standing like Darth Vader’?” Chem sighed wistfully. “I’m still sad I never found a universe like the one in those films… Such a straight good versus evil dichotomy. It would have been wonderful,” he said with a thin smile. “I take it you have an idea?” Sky asked in response to Chem’s joke. “Part of one,” Chem admitted as he turned to watch the dust cloud. “What would you be doing with your talent?” “I’d overhaul the power conduits from the generator to the weapons arrays and connect the weapons control console over there to the guns. NaN only fixed the shield generator, and I pulled that weapon console apart earlier when I was inspecting it. Basically I’d use my talent to magic everything better, then hope Dragon weapons can beat spider-people magic,” Sky said as he looked over into the wizard’s shadow covered face. “Got a spell for that?” Chem nodded once. “I have a way that might do everything but the console. It can’t build, but it can fortify what is there already. Can you do that in a few minutes with the tools you have on you right now?” Chem asked sounding just a little more certain than he had a few moments before. Sky chuckled. “Of course I can,” he said with confidence. “I just need to solder the technological part back onto the magical part. Easy peasy.” Chem nodded once then rose to his feet, standing tall and proud, casting a few simple spells to make his cloak billow and adjust the lighting around himself dramatically. “Then I shall buy us some time!” Chem announced decisively. “Is the cloak billow necessary?” Sky asked with a blank face. It’s like he ping-pongs between me and Ay… Or Trixie. Not sure which “Well, I’m a hero now, so… Yes? I think they are supposed to do that when you say heroic things,” Chem said with a shrug. “Look, we haven’t much time and I’ll need to do a little work. Is anything in the floor beneath us important?” Sky pursed his lips in thought, doing his best to try and remember what little of the Fortresses workings he’d discovered during the last few days. “I don’t think so,” he decided after a brief moment. “Excellent!” Chem said with a smile, at last turning from the window and facing back into the command room. He flexed his hands, conjuring a pale green light at his fingertips as he began to weave a simple transmutation spell and instruct it in creating a very specific object from the materials around him. “I hope you can do that quickly,” Sky said as he reached down to his tool belt and pulled out his sonic probe. The little tool had proven to be exactly the right thing for connecting electrical wiring up to crystalline mana circuits. An invaluable task when dealing with Wieavian technology. Sky crossed over to the weapons console in just two steps and knelt down beside the large crystal topped desk. The console’s wooden access panel was already open, Sky had removed it hours ago before sudden inspiration had called him to other more mission critical projects. Chem’s hands finished weaving his spell, and released the arcane energy with a simple flash. The floor glowed a bright green as his magic sank into it and pulled the very minerals within the stone towards a spot slightly in front of the wizard. The stone began to ooze upwards, forming a vertical slab of stone shaped much like a gothic window. Thanks to the glass wall, Sky was able to watch as the slab’s flat surface reshaped, a fresco carving seeming to stink into it as if the stone were molten metal in a mold. The newly created shrine featured an alarming number of skulls, with one full sized and very realistic skull set in the center of the arch’s peak within a stylized gear. The central skull suddenly sprouted metal components as cybernetic implants grew from the stone itself, transforming it’s left half into a mechanical facimily of a human skull with a large circular glowing red eye, while leaving the right side untouched, forming a sort of yin-yang like device depicting man and machine. The glow faded a heartbeat later, and Chem immediately inspected his creation, leaning in close to make certain every last detail was correct. “It will do,” he said to himself, nodding in satisfaction. That uh, that looks pretty evil. Sky noted to himself. He turned back to the console for a moment, trying to focus on his own half of the task, but… Nooooope. Have to ask. Sky mentally sighed before turning to look back to Chem. “Uh, dude? Could you walk me through what it is you’re doing? Because that looks like some kind of robot-zombie summoning shrine,” Sky asked. Chem laughed and flashed Sky a look which said ‘I wish it was one of those.’ “I’m going to use magic to commune with the machinery within the fortress and attempt to appease it so it functions despite the probability of catastrophic failure it’s condition would likely cause,” Chem summarized as he stood before the freshly transmuted shrine. “This world has technomancy?” Sky asked in surprise, sitting up a little more straitly. “With how technophobic Null is?” “Oh, no,” Chem said as he shook his head. “I’m using a ritual from someplace else, but-” Sky’s tail stood up straight with instant alarm. “Um, how about NO!” He shouted worriedly. “We’re not allowed to use power from other universes, or anything that’s beyond the scope of a mortal from THIS world! That’s an INSTANT LOOSE by the rules!” Chem laughed and flashed Sky a smile. “Don’t worry. I may have learned how to do it on another world, but this particular sorcery is possible here. I used it to improve your sidearm yester-” Sky’s left eye twitched slightly. “You tested foreign magic without telling us?! You could have doomed my whole world, you IDIOT!” He growled, hands curling into fists. Urge to kill, rising! Sky raged internally as he tried his best to keep himself from strangling the wizard. Chem held up his hands defensively. “Calm down! The spellcraft I used relies on a force present in all realities. I just don't know any other way to successfully use it myself.  I've only done it a few times because it resists beings of my nature. It’s a magic that belongs uniquely to mortalkind. All of it, everywhere.” Sky’s glower softened sightly. “Okay. What omnipresent force exists in all the multiverses that you can call upon? And what’s it do?” He asked slowly. Chem hummed. “In order to avoid a lecture and lose time, because you know, there’s an army marching upon us... I called upon the force which allows you to take elements of the natural world and reforge them with purpose, and petitioned it to make your pistol better. It worked! It now has a fourteen percent increase in muzzle velocity. Until its spirit is displeased by a lack of maintenance and respect, at least.” “... You, asked physics to physics harder?” Sky asked with a frown. “And that just, worked? Like, your magic just let you talk to physics? One on one? Wut?” Is that how he improved it? Sky wondered as he recalled Chem asking him to borrow his sidearm the other day. It really is performing better. Like, in every way it could. But just by a bit. Okay, maybe he found a loophole in the rules. Chem nodded. “Yes and no. It’s more like prayer. You dont command this, you request things of it. It never speaks to you, there’s no mind here. It’s just the most basic and crude of sorcery. Sometimes it has the opposite effect, but sometimes it works.” “And anyone in any universe can do it?” Sky pressed. “Therefore you can do it here?” “Yes,” Chem replied. “In fact I guarantee that an inventor such as yourself has subconsciously done it many times. The only way I can tap into this primal and universal magic is via a method a machine cult priest showed me. It’s a long story. “To cut to the chase, yes I tried it here because under RPG rules, the fluff behind your spellcasting doesn't matter. Only the “mechanics” do. Since the mechanics for this are universal, and Yog has indicated he would much appreciate it if we win, I had faith that Yog would not count my actions as against the rules. And I was correct. I plan on enhancing all of our equipment when the others return to us. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to see if I can convince this fortress to work a little harder.” Chem sat down, crossing his legs and resting his palms atop his knees, eyes closed as he began to meditate, focusing deeply on the machine below. His lips moved slowly beneath the shadows of his hood as he began to perform the ancient ritual he was taught by one of the few friends he’d made in his old life. Sky took a deep breath, calming himself. It’s magic, he’s a Wizard, Yog clearly didn’t care about him not learning the spell here since it works everywhere. It all checks out. Further proof he’s on our side. Let’s do this! “Sorry for doubting you,” Sky said as he began tracing the main power lead to find its terminal. “It’s just my world is at stake.” “Mine too,” Chem said quietly. “Please, I need quiet for a few minutes.” Sky nodded and returned to work. The command room fell into near total silence, only the humm of Sky’s probe and Chem’s quiet chanting. Chanting which Sky didn’t pay attention to at first, but slowly, as the minutes ticked by and the humm of his probe became more and more a background noise to him, something about Chem’s chant became rather apparent. “Are you chanting binary strings?” The engineer demanded incredulously. Chem didn't reply, merely continuing to softly chant something which did indeed sound remarkably like someone reciting a text in binary much like the singing of a gregorian monk. Sky shook his head slowly at the lack of a response. “Dude, please, answer. That’s REALLY distracting for innumerable reasons!” He begged. If you can seriously recite Dusk’s Prayer in binary at a shrine and sup-up tech that is the dumbest awesome thing I’ve ever learned! Sky mentally groaned. Chem sighed and opened his eyes. “Whelp, this place has been neglected and battered for years. It’s awake now, but there’s not much of a spirit left to appeal too.” Spirit to appeal too? Sky asked himself in confusion before he facehooved. “Technopathy!” He exclaimed as he remembered several things at once. “You’re using Technopathy! Now things make sense. There’s a mare on my engineering crew who insists machines have souls too. But she just talks to them in Equish. “Is that how all Technopaths work? You talk to the machine and weave your magic into the words?” Sky wondered. “Yes,” the wizard answered before gently patting the stone floor. “This old girl is nearly dead, though she appreciates your TLC over the last few days and will put her all into it when we press fire. Now then, let’s sew confusion in the enemy's ranks.” “With illusion spells?” Sky asked as he returned to work on the console. “Try to scare the crap out of them, give us an opening to shoot at the airships and slip away?” Chem stood back up and cracked his fingers. “What can I say? Every artist has their medium,’ he said as he began to focus on his magic. We’ll work out how to come back for Lyra and Vinyl later. Right now we need to focus on NOT losing this fortress! Sky decided, turning his attention to the disassembled console. Only a dozen more cables remained disconnected. But of course finding their terminals in the maze of hastily connected wires would prove time consuming. To say nothing of troubleshooting if the console didn’t fire up. “Fair warning, things may get a bit stupid. Depending on what genres of fiction you enjoy,” Chem warned with a smirk. Sky looked up, his face lit by the dull green glow of his probe. “Wah?” He asked simply. Chem turned and offered the engineer a wink as his finger tips began to glow with pale green light. “We’re standing in a castle built atop an ancient space station about to do battle, which I’ve improved by giving its spirit a pep talk. I’m bound by nerd law to make a particular reference.” Sky nodded. “No problem, I get it. Trust me.” He said with sincerity. After all I’ve never met a reference I didn’t make. “It’s a shame you have to work,” Chem sighed wistfully. “This will be fun! I wonder how they will react to a true Evil Overlord? Perhaps they will understand that I’m not the person they are looking for.” Sky grunted and amused grunt as he fuzed a strand of copper to a crystal terminal. “Pretty sure that turning a whole country into the Zerg but worse makes Hatty an Evil Overlord.” “No. Just evil,” Chem disagreed, whis voice filled with calm certainty. “The difference lies in… Presentation.” Sky’s brow furrowed angrily. “Dammit!” He swore as he shot Chem a glare. Chem wheeled around immediately. “Is there a problem with the-” “No!” Sky said grumpily. “I’ve been waiting years to use that Megamind reference.” Chem gave Sky a long look of pure confusion. “Mega-what?” “You- You’re inconceivably old, but have never lived in a universe which has the movie Megamind, learned about the movie, and watched it?” Sky asked in stunned disbelief. “That’s… Literally impossible!” Chem shrugged and walked over to the throne at the Command Room’s center, plopping down in it casually. “Never heard of it. Now let's not-die so we can kill Hatty then go watch it. I like new things!” The wizard exclaimed as he wheeled around in the chair, rotating it to face the fully mobilized army, fingers ablaze with purple fire. “Get ready to fire as soon as possible. I’ll fly, you shoot. We’ll only take out the airships. No need to anger them more than we must.” A thousand drums began to hammer out a droning military tattoo. A thousand flutes joined them, followed by trumpets, each instrument playing their part in creating a rather haunting regimental theme. Chem blinked in surprise. Sky stared out the window incredulously. “Are they seriously going all Early Solar Era military tradition on us?” The engineer asked. “We’re the super-evil-danger as far as they know! Just fire! I mean, shit!” Chem pursed his lips. “It’s probably a form of magic. Moral boosting most likely…” He said as he glanced at his shrine for a long moment then nodded. “What?” Sky asked slowly. “In for a penny, in for a pound,” Chem said with a wink, snapping his fingers and releasing his illusion spell. The magic trailed along the keep as Sky had expected, but also flowed over Chem’s hat, and cloak, transforming them into a wine red hooded robe with gold trim. “What's with the costume change?” Sky asked. “Shhhh, there’s work to do,” the wizard replied. “And also a particular fantasy of mine to fulfill… “ Day 5 Roseanger Crag - Mercy Mountain Range, Wieav Captain Jago sat atop his dragon as they placed in front of the army. Zorgoth said telepathically, not wanting to show the assembled army he thought their only means of victory was luck based. “The Dark Lord’s made an error in judgment!” Jago proclaimed loudly, magic amplifying his voice, carrying it to each soldier above the loud melody the army’s bards preformed. “His hiding place is half of a cage, we are the other half! When the battle begins, the Great Maru will surely hear our struggles and come to our aid. We can contain this evil! It will not move before our salvation arrives!” Zorgoth said with a mental chuckle. Jago replied. Zorgoth replied soothingly. The dragons words were punctuated by the violent crack and scrap of stone braking then sliding along stone. The army looked up as one, terror filling their hearts as each of them assumed the Dark Lord had collapsed the mountain above them. But it was not so. The Dark Fortress’s outer walls cracked and slid, their shape slowly rearranging into something else. The soldiers began to clutch their weapons even tighter. A few troops shouldered their crossbows, ready for wave after wave of undead to pour out of the keep. The creak and groan of metal joined the scraping of stone on stone as some of the ancient draconic foundation peeled away. The detached stone and steel debris flowed around the Fortress ominously. “Steady! Prepare for combat!” Jago called, doing his best to keep his own nervousness from his voice. Jago asked. Zorgoth squinted at the fortress. Zorgoth’s telepathy faded as the dragon’s eyes widened in a mixture of surprise and terror as the rubble formed into a colossal skull which covered the entire keep. Steel beams sprouted from the skull’s left eye socket like worms devouring a corpse, swiftly forming complex shapes resolving into… The dragon demanded as half the skull was replaced with obvious biomechanical augments. Jago asked. Zorgoth replied, just in time to see the remaining steel form a colossal floating gear shape which orbited the fortress horizontally. A short Arakan soldier whose sash bore the golden acorn crest of a Commander nervously cleared his throat. “C-captain? Perhaps we should order the airships to begin bombardment.”. “Y-yeah,” Jago agreed with a nod as he picked up his farspeaker amulet. “All ships! Begin firing. Mages, figure out what the Dark Lord is up to. That’s got to be some sort of spell focus!” Zorgoth noted curiously. Jago said with extreme skepticism. The ground shook slightly, pillars of stone rose up from the ground around the fortress, forming a solid wall around it, concealing the entire base. “HA! He’s fortifying!” Jago cried triumphantly. “He thinks he can lose!” A random soldier proclaimed in a mixture of shock and awe. Jago’s eyes widened in horror. “Just like Stonerake Island, men! He’s on the ropes!” One of the veterans called loudly. “The Captain's right, we can take him down!” Jago sighed in relief. The thundering of a hundred and twenty cannons drowned out any other triumphant proclamations. Bright plasma streaked across the sky as the shots slammed into the fortress, blasts of orange flame, clouds of sickly green acid, and plumes of purple lightning peppered the newly formed skull and defencive wall. Jago allowed himself a smile. Perhaps this would go smoothly. The Dark Lord hadn’t fired yet, and the Fortress’s Death Ray was well documented as being a truly potent weapon. The air in front of the Dark Fortress sparked and crackled, ethereal green flames spread out in front of the skull, twisting into words as the colossal gear began to slowly rotate. The fiery words quickly became clear, visible even through the smoke and flames of the bombardment. Upgrade in progress… Jago and Zorgoth said as one. Sky Trigger - Day 5 Roseanger Gorge - Mount Mercy, Wieav The Fortress shook and creaked under the sustained cannonfire. Acidic smoke began to fill the lower levels. Flames licked the stonework as the walls slowly began to crumble. Thick black smoke began to pool at the top of the Command Center as something below them burned. “What is taking you so long?!” Sky demanded urgently as he slapped the weapons console back into place. “This illusion is complex!” Chem called back, gripping the throne ritightly to avoid being thrown from it onto the floor. “Are the guns ready?” Sky grit his teeth and slapped the console. Sparks of white magic traced across its surface, the display dimly lighting up and listing various options. “Looks like it, no time to test.” Sky answered. “Yeah we can’t take much more of this,” Chem agreed. “Get ready to fire. Your cue will be when I aim the main gun.” Main gun? Sky wondered with a frown. Day 5 Roseanger Crag - Mercy Mountain Range, Wieav The Golem Corps joined in the bombardment. Their smaller cannon’s sharp cracks punctuating the roaring booms of the airship’s broadsides. “Keep firing!” Jago ordered. “Do not let them finish whatever it is they are doing!” Zorgoth said as he watched infantrymen fire their crossbows at the fortress in a mixture of desperation and determination. “Captain,” a female voice called from Jago’s farspeaker. “The mages have finished their analysis. It’s an-” An inhuman voice boomed across the field, it’s sheer volume drowning out the cannons. Whatever the reporter was trying to say had no chance at being heard over the buzzing mechanical voice. “From the weakness of the mind, Omnissiah save us. From the lies of the Antipath, circuit preserve us. From the rage of the Beast, iron protect us. From the temptations of the Fleshlord, silica cleanse us. From the ravages of the Destroyer, anima shield us. From this rotting cage of biomatter, Machine God, set us free.” Jago had just enough time to think, What in the hell does that mean? before the stone pillar wall exploded in a shower of shrapnel like a claymore mine. A truly titanic shape moved within the thick clouds of smoke the bombardment had created. It’s lumbering mass visible only as the occasional flash of red and gold. Zorgoth narrowed his eyes, seeking to penetrate the smoke with his draconic vision. His eye widened in a mixture of horror and rage when he finally did. “OH, THAT IS BULLSHIT!” The dragon bellowed. This had an extremely negative impact on the army’s already shaken moral. A second voice boomed through the air. One each veteran knew, and feared. For the first time in two hundred years the Dark Lord spoke. “I have fought as a God fights. I am Imperius Dictatio. Kneel before me and beg for your lives!” Lord Zeneanus the Ever-Living demanded as his alien war machine emerged from the smoke. It’s footsteps shook the very foundations of the earth. The sound of its hydraulic servos dwarfed mere thunder. The roar of it’s drive engine comparable only to that of the Colossus atop the mountain. It’s great bulk towered over the army, and even the airships, putting the Dark Fortress’s command deck a full hundred and fifty meters above the ground. The Dark Fortress now stood firmly atop a hunchbacked red and gold golem seemingly designed for the express purpose of carrying a fortress upon its shoulders. It had no arms, only colossal rotary cannons. It’s entire surface was festooned with all manner of weapons, as if the titanic golem had been the result of its commissioner and designer having a disagreement over the meaning of ‘enough cannons’. For the first and last time, Wieave’s soldiers looked upon an Warmonger-class Titan. The army’s orderly ranks disintegrated immediately as the soldiers panicked, desperately climbing over one another in an attempt to get away. The Titan aimed it’s left arm-cannon at the left most airship. A brilliant ray of white-hot light lanced forth, vaporizing the airship completely. “RETREAT! RETREAT!” Jago screamed into his farspeaker. His unnecessary order was buried beneath the Dark Lord’s cheerful singing as the Titan began to slowly lumber forwards. “Mind receptors, witness glory from the burning of the flame! / The fires of the forge are like the trumpets which proclaim. / Our engines at full power, your destruction is our aim. / Our Truth has come online! “With heat and iron and industry, we'll purge you from this world! / You will sunder, melt, and shatter from the bolts of wrath we've hurled, / and upon your ruined end, our blood red banners stand unfurled. / Our Might has come online!” “CHEATING BASTARD!” Zorgoth roared, nearly lost within his rage. Sky Trigger - Day 5 Roseanger Gorge - Mount Mercy, Wieav Sky slowly shook his head as the fortress slowly flew out from under the overhang, concealed within the illusion of a warmachine. Fighting was no longer an option, it was time it take to the air. As soon as their distraction brought them clear of the solid slab of rock above them. The weapons console flashed red beneath Sky’s hand, which still rested on the now disabled ‘fire’ button. A dozen different warnings burned within the crystal mirror, begging Sky to please NOT DO THAT AGAIN! But the half dozen burnt out systems were not the cause of Sky’s distress. “Traitor, Xeno, Heritech, they are as one to us. / We will scorch them from existence with our engines devious! / Our hate for them encoded into every bolt and truss. / Our Wrath has come online!” Chem continued to sing like a total dork. “Our plan is awesome, I’m happy to be a part of it, but your song choice SUUUUUCKS!” Sky moaned into the weapons console. Sky didn’t want to look over at the throne again. Chem was using a miniature version of the illusion much like a marionette with strings of magic, so he could keep its movements fluid. The problem? And this mech looks TERRIBLE! He added silently, his inner engineer wanting to strangle whoever decided to design the mech Chem was basing his illusion off of for giving it feet so large it should rip its knees apart trying to move them. I’ll bet the army out there is afraid of it because they are worried physics is failing… Chem giggled. “Hey! I never got to pilot the real thing. Let a dork enjoy something, will you?”  He asked coyly before adding a volley of lasterfire to the illusion with a quick wave of his hand and a fresh pulse of magic. “I’ve always wanted too pilot one of these since I fielded them in a miniature wargame I used to play about nine univerces back. I was so happy when Sis found a universe that was similar to it. And then it turned out they never invented Titans in that iteration.” he added. Sky sighed and nodded once. “Fine… I mean, you are saving our plots. Still a terrible song though.” “I mean, this is taking about all I have mana wise… And they’re going to figure out this is an illusion any minute now and then it’s back to butthole clenching terror time. I would like to enjoy this while it lasts.” Chem elaborated. Sky nodded. “I get it. It’s fine. Go ahead. I’d probably do something similar myself…” Chem gave Sky a playful thumbs up and began to enter the commands into the throne which would allow the fortress to take to the air while also keeping it concealed for as long as possible, intending to leave his illusion behind on auto-pilot for as long as it might last without him to fuel it. “Titans striding forward, Ordinatii by the score, / they are drowning out blasphemers 'neath their great mechanic roar! / Tradition is our bulwark, it endures forever more. / Our Victory comes online!” Why do all my new friends have terrible taste in music? Sky grumbled to himself. “Aww come on, Sky!” Chem laughed as the fortress limped along at it’s even further reduced speed. “They are fleeing in terror from something a ten year old on the mother of all sugar highs doodled! This is the best day!” Wait, that’s why he’s laughing? That actually IS hilarious! The engineer thought as he broke out into a grin. “You have a point, but we should get out of here as fast as we can,” Sky said with a slim smile. “We are,” Chem answered sadly. Sky looked over at the speed control on the throne. “Crap… I’ll uh, head below and see what I can do.” “You do that,” Chem said, his smile fading as reality set back in for him and the Fortress began to limp upwards, it’s crippled engines groaning in protest.