Duelyst Forums

Reclaim the Ruins! [Forums Game]

#1

A call back to the old King of the Monolith game that appeared way back when this is just like that but with a twist!

To “reclaim the ruins” you must first defeat who ever currently has reclaimed it, you do this by curb stomping whatever they have left to guard the ruins whether it be themselves or literally an entire army of Serpanti.

The twist however is that this is a team effort, you just choose which faction you are fighting for. This means that you can’t have two folks affiliated with say Magmar fighting over the ruins! The instead you can help out whoever has reclaimed the ruins by reinforcing their defenses (yes you have to defend your claim).

Be sure to make your conquests interesting and set up your defenses after reclaiming the ruins.

The Ruins: It is a Three Story tall building with twenty-five rooms on the first floor, thirteen on the second and seven on the third. The Ruins also have two levels of catacombs with a vault on the bottom level, this is the goal. The catacombs are maze like and have several choke points and 90 degree angle corners and is generally low lit save for the occasional torch. The Vault on the bottom level is magically sealed and can not be simply opened (more on this later). The exterior of the Ruins is quite simple, there is an entrance with the doors currently unhinged, well more like blown to ribbons and confetti, a rather spacious courtyard with an incline going towards the entrance making the Ruins situated uphill, to the left of the courtyard is a rather tall stone tower that is two stories higher than the Ruins, the fourth story on the tower has a part of the wall missing from either time or a pervious battle but the tower is still stable. Towards the entrance to the courtyard is a pair of smaller towers similar to the larger one, well one of them is anyways as one of the pair is nothing but rubble.

Rules:

  1. You can not destroy the ruins or the large tower.
  2. You can not open the Vault, it will be opened after the game is done
  3. People affiliated with the same faction can not fight each other for the Ruins, because that wouldn’t make any sense
  4. People affiliated with the same faction can instead reinforce whoever has Reclaimed the Ruins by supplying additional defenders, defenses or both
  5. No Alliances with other factions. I.e. Lyonar and Songhai can’t team up, same for the other factions.
  6. The game will end on Sunday and the Vault will be opened then, a Poll will be started to declare the winning faction that will end on Monday. The two choices for winners will be the last defender of the Ruins and the last person to attack the Ruins. (Basically everyone’s voting to see who came up with a better narrative for the defenses or the siege)

To set the tone:

Here stand these ancient and broken ruins. Inside is a vault containing an unknown treasure. However, the door is magically sealed and is impossible to open until a specific circumstance is met. A figure stands upon a plateau overlooking the ruins. He notices that currently a band of mercenaries have laid claim to the ruins and the treasures with in. In the large tower a pair of Fire Spitters sit perched by the hole in the tower’s fourth story looking out on to the courtyard where a legion of Primus Fists are spread throughout the courtyard separated into several squads each led by an Emerald Rejuvenator. Towards the center of the camp the figure notes a small fortification with a number of Healing Mystics and Azure Heralds setting up tents and putting coverings over various crates that probably hold various medicines, it is obviously some form of a hospital. At the entrance of the courtyard over twenty Primus Shieldmasters stand in line with several Vale Hunters positioned behind them forming a Phalanx. In the tower near the Phalanx is a lone Arrow Whistler that stands sentry overlooking his allies below. At the entrance to the ruins where massive stone doors once stood is a pair of Sworn Defenders and a single Cryptographer, they appear to be discussing something. The figure places his left hand upon his chin as if stroking an imaginary beard. As he does this his cloak no longer covers his left arm revealing it is made of stone and sand. He ponders as to what defenders dwell inside the ruins. As he ponders this a loud noise echoes from the bowels of the ruins. The figure mutters something about the mercenaries probably trying to use a Boulder Breacher to drill into something. The figure also guesses that the interior of the ruins is garrisoned by a similar flavor of soldiers, probably a couple platoons of those Primus Fists inside, no Vale Hunters though, the ruins interior is probably cramped and meant for close quarters fighting. Movement along the exterior wall of the ruins catches the figure’s eye and interrupts his train of thought. “Silhouette Tracers, an interesting choice” the figure thinks to himself. As he finishes this thought a gust of wind blows his cloak away revealing a pair of azure blue eyes peering through a white mask. A man clad in sandshield with an odd weapon at his hip stares at his cloak as it is carried away by the wind. He mutters something about it being a gift and begins to follow it away from the ruins. He sighs while pursuing his cloak and simply says he’ll have to remind himself to warn Brother Col about the Silhouette Tracers after he reclaims his cloak.

The Ruins stand claimed by a band of mercenaries. Who will reclaim The Ruins and reap the rewards of the sealed vault?

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#2

The first seal of the vault is broken by the boulder breacher. a small orange ball is released.

the cryptographer insists it must be studied while the sworn defenders are wary of this object, saying it must be put in a secure location until they know what it is. The writing on the walls warns of powerful monsters decending on the unworthy and the defenders take that far more seriously than the cryptographer. the orb is carefully placed in a box for safe keeping, but the artifact hunter overhears and thinks it might be time to cash in on this unprofitable expedition.

At midnight, the artifact hunter steals the box when all but the sentries sleep. As the flesh of his hand touches the orb a scream is heard and the hunter is no more. The guards rush to the scene, but find only an empty box on the floor.

over the next 3 days, the mercenary company loses a healing mystic, a vale hunter, and a primus fist. even their only boulder breacher was heavily damaged. just barely surviving until the heralds arrived. the monster he described was horrifying. a small beast of claws and hunger with an orange orb hanging off its tail. it tried to eat through the breachers armor but only got away with nearly killing him as it realized it could not eat golems.

now that the monster was confirmed, the mercenaries organized a hunting party for the beast. 3 hunting parties with 6 men each succumbed to the beast before the sworn defenders managed to slay the beast. the cryptographer demanded to study the beast and many guards surrounded it to make sure it didnt revive through some dark magic. but what happened was much much worse.

the orange ball burst, spraying everyone in the room with a foul smelling liquid. then the screams started. all of them scrambling over each other trying to escape, only binding them together as their flesh melted and fused into an unspeakable horror.

filled with pain, malice, and most of all, hunger the horror began hunting down the remainder of the mercenary company. many fought back, but even more fled the ruins. unable or unwilling to fight the beast that ate so many of their comrades.

with its hunger sated the horror began to make more orange orbs. it began to make more eggs. some of which hatched with the abundance of c̶o̶r̶p̶s̶e̶s̶ food nearby.

8 Likes
#3

The sky grew darker and darker. All traces of light slowly disappeared. Before long, the day came to an end and nightfall had arrived.

Under the moonlight a mysterious figure appeared. It was too dark to see his face, however his scales shone bright as if they were made out of diamonds. That figure was none other than Vaath the Immortal. He slowly made his way towards the ruins. Once he reached the courtyard he stopped. All one could hear was the sound of his breathing -What is this?- said Vaath. In front of him lay hundreds of corpses. Some were corroded others were torn apart. It seemed as if a huge battle had occurred at that spot yet no traces of the enemy could be found. -Did they fight among themselves or had something attacked them ?- thought Vaath.

Suddenly, a small insect like creature emerged from underneath a dead Primus shield master and attacked Vaath. In turn Vaath swiftly raised his arms and hit the creature, killing it with one blow. However by doing so spikes started flying in all directions. -Ahh, filthy ooz you’ve made quite a mess- muttered Vaath. After that he continued forward only to stop yet again when he heard a scream…

He quickly ran towards the noise and found himself outside a tower. Without thinking he entered and found a lonely Arrow Whistler surrounded by three “Horrors”. He immediately charged at them and decapitated the first “Horror” using his adamantite claws. The rest now enraged viciously attacked Vaath who had no other choice but to defend himself, using an ancient magmar technique, named Greater Fortitude.

The “Horrors” kept scratching and biting him but he felt nothing. His scales were made out of iridium, a materiel tougher that steel. With just one swing of his arms he killed both “Horrors”. After the battle had ended, he approached the wounded Arrow Whistler, placed his hands onto the ground, took a deep breath and started chanting in an ancient forgotten language. The room lit up and a green aura circled around their bodies. Both of them were now healed. The Whistler thanked him and informed him as to what had happened.

Vaath then stood up, told him that he would help him take back the ruins and without any hesitation started casting another spell. Electricity started crackling from his body and the room was filled with light yet again. Suddenly, a massive amount of energy burst from within his body…A Plasma Storm…It affected an enormous part of the ruins and although it destroyed most of the weak creature, many more powerful ones roamed freely.

He knew that this was the work of demons so he was sure that more would come.

3 Likes
#4

this is too complex for me

3 Likes
#5

Figures.

Basically it’s like the King of the Monolith game, but with factions.

4 Likes
#6

Yeah, its basically king of the monolith, but you can help people with the same faction

2 Likes
#7

tldr plz :stuck_out_tongue:

post needs to be 15 characters or more long :confused:

4 Likes
#8

Tldr;
Theres some ruins with a magic unopenable vault. Make up a story capturing/defending the ruins from the previous guy who made a story.
You cant destroy the ruins or open the vault, but you can help out other people with the same faction

3 Likes
#9

a refreshing electric storm killed the weak parasites mooching off the exceedingly strong hunters. but it signaled that there was strong prey nearby.

the creatures hid from the strong green prey that was warily exploring the surroundings with the weak fearful prey. there were several cautious attempts to pick off the weak prey, but the strong one was too wary and the horror bursters ran before they were killed. this timidness continued until the prey reached the largest nest of eggs.

the strong prey began to crackle with electricity while the weak prey guarded the rear, but the creatures felt the danger to the nest and attacked. the ground rumbled as many horrors approached the room and the bursters nearby filled the room with acidic gas.

the iridium scales bore the brunt of the acid for the strong prey, but the weak prey melted into tasty goop in a matter of seconds. the acid wasnt enough to prevent the green one from bathing the weak eggs in a storm of plasma, destroying them. the green prey, realizing the approaching horde of horrors, attempts to flee. the enraged bursters refuse to let the killer of their unborn escape. the weakened scales are strong enough to prevent injury, but not enough to prevent the bursters from latching on. cleaved in half by adamantine claws but still attached to the green prey, the orbs begin to burst in vaaths face.
the horrific smelling liquid melts through the remainder of the iridium scales and starts to melt the egg smasher underneath as the hoard descends from all sides

2 Likes
#10

The remains of the first seal lay scattered on the ground, the first room stained with the blood of the original crew. The Boulder Breacher, now protected by a forcefield, scanned the desecrated remains of his former allies. He backed away slowly, but was pushed forward by the peacekeeper behind him. He advanced towards the second door, demolishing it in a matter of seconds.

The peacekeeper hovered inside the musty room, then beckoned the breacher to follow. Hesitantly, he entered the room. As they peered around the empty room, the shadows began to shift. Out of nowhere shone a glowing orange orb. The scared breacher shuffled towards the entrance, his faith in the forcefield faltering as he remembered the last encounter. The peacekeeper stood his ground, determined to kill the horror. Another orange orb glowed in the darkness.

Three, four, five. The peacekeeper cowered at the number of enemies. The orbs disappeared. The breacher, still retreating, collided with something. He turned to see another orange orb, glowing brightly in front of his eyes. The orb disappeared, the breacher uttering a sigh of relief. Then, it returned, glowing many times more brightly, illuminating the whole room.

The stormmetal golem’s eyes blinked again, the flame in its eye glowing brighter as it adjusted to being freed from its tomb. The creature made no move to attack them, and neither did the rest of the golems. The 2 golems studied their features. They had found allies.

Acid dripped through the holes on the eastern wall, which was connected to the room which the lizards had insisted on excavating. As the lightning crackled, the golems heard vaath’s final scream.

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#11

The Vetruvian Imperial Guard dispatched to hunt down the rogue mercenaries said to be terrorizing the villages near the city of Tyvia were settling down for the night when one of their scouts, a wind striker to be exact, came bearing news of a small group of heavily injured primus fists. The commander of the camp, Captain Oberon of the house of burning sands, demanded that they be brought to him for interrrogation immediately.

Upon seeing the normally proud primus fists reduced to the pitiful, terrified stragglers before him, Oberon knew something was wrong. After a quick, but nonetheless foreboding, interrogation Oberon gathered his men and set out to reach these so-called Ruins.

After two days of continuos riding, Oberon and his men finally reached the dreaded ruins. He rallied his men, setting 15 imperial mechanysts to begin creating several fireblaze and windstorm obelisks for the upcoming battle. Bearing his trusty wildfire ankh and the staff of y’kir entrusted to him by his father, he brought the men not assigned to the building of the obelisks into the Ruins.

Upon his entrance into the courtyard Oberon frowned as he came across the decaying remains of the mercenary group he was hunting. Despite being hateful bandits, Oberon said a quick prayer to Eyos and continued further into the ruins, albeit with a more cautious eye. Delving into the labyrinth underneath the Ruins, Oberon and his men came upon something he had never expected to see, an egg. Crackling with green energy and almost as large as his own head, Oberon instantly knew what egg this was, " One of the Thirteen," he said with awe. Seeing the large mound of goop it lie next to and what could’ve passed as shredded cheese all around, he only had an instant of warning before he and his men were swarmed! Countless demons and parasites crawled out of the cracks in the walls with the hulking silhouettes of horrors close behind. The pyromancers immediately went into action, blasting away most of the smaller swarm before they got too close. The iron dervishes, their metallic bodies shining with the power gained from the constructed Obelisks outside the ruins, formed the first line of defense against the horde. The platoon of Flacius’ stood behind them, chanting wards of power and protection for Oberon while summoning ethereal blades from their arms. The Dunecasters stood in the back with the pyromancers, chanting spells of strength to boost the dervish even more, while the group of Aymara Healers stood beside Oberon, prepared to mend the wounded. As the two forces clashed, Oberon commanded a few of the Dunecasters to prepare a Circle of Dessication in preparation of their retreat. Oberon himself stood in the middle, blasting enemies left and right and as the horrors approached, he surged forward felling one with each burst of his ankh. As his ankh’s power dwindled and his forces grew weary of the fight, he spotted the signs of another wave of horrors fast approaching! With the authority befitting that of an Imperial Guard, he commanded his forces to fall back, the wind strikers helping some of the wounded while the pyromancers provided covering fire for his forces. It was only after reaching the first level did he hear the telltale BOOM of the Circle of Dessication going off, killing what was left of the horde within the ruins. After a quick skirmish with a few of the forces chasing him and his men down, Oberon was able to Dominate the Wills of a few of the pursuing horrors, learning of what had happened here as well as the whereabouts of a couple of silhouette tracers from the original mercenary group. Having stationed a few of his men to defend the entrance to the catacombs below, Oberon quickly rendezvoused with the surviving silhouette tracers who informed him of the single, remaining egg clutch.

Oberon was apprehensive of the information, but quickly became ecstatic at the briefing that the room itself lacked a ceiling due to the discrepancy of the Ruins. He thanked Eyos as it was still dark and, after leaving his equipment with a team of Mechanysts, Oberon, accompanied by the two silhouette tracers, traveled to the last remaining egg clutch, situated at the uppermost level of the Ruins. Facing the Giant mass of the clutch and the few horrors guarding it, Oberon made a sign, invoking a powerful spell one that would call upon the fury of the stars to destroy the foes before him! One by one, ethereal avatars of the Stars came crashing down, smiting the horrors and the last of the egg clutches!

By the time the sun had risen, Oberon and his forces had cleared out what remained of the demonic menace infesting the ruins, and by burning the bodies had ensured the prevention of the resurrection of the demonic host. After wrapping up the Egg he found in the Labyrinth, he gave it to one of the Wind Strikers before dispatching it back to Kaero with a report of what had happened here.

He then ordered his forces together and, assembling a one use fountain of youth, healed them up to full. He then prepared to fortify the Ruins, awaiting reinforces from either Tyvia or the Petra Fortress to relieve him and his men.

Remaining forces (Vetruvian):

Summary
  • Oberon with full Staff of Y’kir and Wildfire Ankh
  • 10 Aymara Healers
  • 19 Imperial Mechanysts (one blew up in a mechanical accident)
  • 30 Iron dervishes (25 are given +2/+2)
  • 23 Dunecasters
  • 15 Falcuis
  • 12 Pyromancers
  • 2 Silhouette Tracers
  • 1 Horror full health, 1 Horror 2 health
  • 3 Fireblaze Obelisks & 2 Windstorm Obelisks

Notes:

Summary

At this point, only the uppermost of the ruins are cleared of horrors (and corpses). This is a separate group than the original sandshield mentioned in the OG post. The reason why they seem so powerful are that they are Imperial Guards, therefore starting off with a +1/+2 buff (I equate that to their training). They also haven’t met up with the golems mentioned by @jon678910 since the golems are at the first seal which is at the bottom of the Ruins.

Summary

Vaath the Immortal is one of the Thirteen Aspects who are, if you believe the Codex, are essentially immortal as they can be reborn as an egg. Oberon doesn’t have his egg shattered because A.) it’s hard AF and B.) If he killed him, it could spark a war between the Imperium and the Thirteen Aspects, which is not his decision to make (He’s a commander of a unit in the military, not one of the ruling houses!)

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#12

I assumed this is a takeshi’s castle style door maze.

#13

The Abyssal Scout Company rounded the bend, “Nothing, Again! What a surprise!” said the scout leader. “We’ve been out here 3 days, and still no sign of any structure worth dying over! Let alone a few thousand!”. This was the case for all the scouts sent out by the Abyssian Vanguard forces, a few aged buildings here or there, but nothing major. But all that was about to change, for as the scouts rounded another bend, they caught sight of a massive ruined structure. But that wasn’t all, inside there looked to be many Vetruvian forces fortifying the place in preparation for an assault. This was all the leader needed, with that, the groups very form seemed to sink into the ground, and vanish.

They reappeared moments later in the Vanguard’s Camp. From there they were rushed off too meet with Vanguard leader, Variax. The meeting was brief, and basically confirmed what they already knew. With that, the remaining Scouts were ordered to return, and the Vanguard moved towards the ruins. From there, Variax formed a plan, since the structure was held by an equal, if not much larger, force. They would wait until reinforced by either Lillithe or Cassyva to stand a fighting chance of holding it after they took it, until then, they’d sit and wait…

2 Likes
#14

well, i guess so, but thats only for the 2 basement levels.

and @johnbob78, horrors and horror bursters are technically abyssian units (and the dominant force in most of the ruins, though unorganized). you can join in and they would technically be on your side (except for the two that got dominated).

#15

I know, but the Vanguard is only supposed to be a few Priestesses, Dancers, and Stuff tops

Not:
Oberon with full Staff of Y’kir and Wildfire Ankh
10 Aymara Healers
19 Imperial Mechanysts (one blew up in a mechanical accident)
30 Iron dervishes (25 are given +2/+2)
23 Dunecasters
15 Falcuis
12 Pyromancers
2 Silhouette Tracers
1 Horror full health, 1 Horror 2 health
3 Fireblaze Obelisks & 2 Windstorm Obelisks

Yeah, I ain’t beating that without either Cassy or Lillithe’s armies.

#16

eh, either way, the longer you wait, the more time the horrors have to breed(they do so rather quickly). and given that nobody has cleared out the corpses, they have plenty of food grow. not to mention any tricks the bursters have up their sleeves

#17

Ev’ry time I think of the structure of the Ruin, I can’t help but think of either Luigi’s mansion or an Aztec temple… Besides, the horrors down below have 5 stormmetal golems, 1 Boulder Breacher (with forcefield), and a Peackeeper to keep busy with. I think we don’t have to worry about them becoming a big problem for a few days (the Circle of Dessication worked to clear a decent amount of adult/matured horrors and other swarmy stuff) The Horrors Down Below does have a nice ring to it does it not?

1 Like
#18

Does that mean that the Ruin was originally an Abyssian construct since the box that was discovered beyond the first seal contained a sleeping Horror Burster? I do wonder if they would bend beneath the will of an Abyssian leader and if not immediately, how?

How many corpses are down there anyways?

2 Likes
#19

not sure, i was debating between making it an ancient abyssian structure, or making it something that is just guarded by powerful things by each faction. depending on how easily each thing dies and how many seals are broken trying to enter the vault.

honestly i have no idea how many corpses there are.
but since other people keep saying theres corpses, i assume theres more that the horrors just havnt eaten yet.

2 Likes
#20

At the very least, the top is clear of both horrors and corpses!

I prob could’ve done corpse combustion! :laughing:

I’m assuming the vault itself has a seal for each faction? The last one’s probably meltdown :cry: