We Are Saints

[Lefish]

We Are Saints #1: King Claudius of The Mark
Issue #1: Chaos at the Mark

His Chief Warlord had already ordered the casters linked.

King Claudius was the ruler of one of the most powerful empires in Erf. That must’ve showed them. He fell for no Foolery. His enemies in his own court and his very own nephew thought his disability was more than physical. Those noble fools... His brother had known better, and now he had been croaked. The empire of the Mark had conquered several lands to the east, and had already allied with Dior to the northwest. He was mighty. Leviathan was a title he gave to himself.

However, no matter how mighty his empire was, the foundations of his sanity were crumbling. There was not much time left, he knew. The voices and the shadows were covering him with uncertainty, especially in this case.

For the time he had alone to let himself think, he had been organizing his ideas for the future. With his nephew’s newfound paranoia, he had better be careful. The nobles had been talking negatively in the last few turns. They saw him as vulnerable, and they forced him to make tough choices. He had to establish his power. They had to see how powerful he was. Once, he had two brothers: German and Livy. Now, he had none.

Father had originally intended German to be the Heir. However, after German’s death, he was forced to spend the last of the treasury by promoting Claudius as the Heir. Many thought German’s death was caused by an assassination attempt. Of course it was an assassination attempt. In this world, one couldn’t die but to another’s hand. These were the little things that he had to outlive day by day. One’s worst enemies are the ones who are closest to home.

He had a hard time in the Situation Room. His nephew, Thelma, had another one of his attacks.

“There is little that can be done, King” said the Thinkamancer. Claudius didn’t rely too much on casters. The Mark’s four casters weren’t very useful in battles, except for Hollis, perhaps. What were casters, anyway? Nothing more than glorified warlords. He couldn’t trust them; and he didn’t, either. Father used to rely on casters, and he was no longer ruling.

“Leave” said the king. The Thinkamancer, doubtful, followed his command. His Chief Warlord preened his insights. He stood ready for battle. Polonius was a commander Claudius could trust.

“My king…” Claudius looked at his Chief Warlord straight in the eyes. “If I may speak freely…”

“You may” answered Claudius as he turned around. By the tone of his Chief Warlord’s voice, he was afraid of what the king would say.

“Maybe it is lost after all” said Polonius in a very soft voice, almost whispering. Claudius fell to the floor, prey to the panic. So his Chief Warlord was afraid. The royal Knights in the room, as well as the remaining warlords approached at him and helped him stand up. The king took his cane and banged the floor.

“We don’t surrender to villains. We don’t ally with mercenaries.” Replied the king firmly. He had to stand his ground.

“I… I’m not talking about the battle, my king.”

Claudius understood afterwards. Not immediately, not during that conversation, but much time later, he understood that the Warlord talked about his Thelma.

“Where is Arties?” asked the king.

The Chief Warlord was confused, just like Claudius. There was something weird about that kingdom. “He just took off to Fronts. There have been raids nearby—“

“Perfect” said the king, “because we’re going to parley.”

The warlords were shocked and intensely angry. Thelma looked at him from a corner of the room. He didn’t even blink. They both knew. All was lost. He shushed his warlords and took his knights. As he walked up to the Tower to meet with Treewedgs, he could feel the hatred his warlords emanated. He couldn’t care less for them.

Claudius’ body began to tremble and his feet crumbled. It was part of his condition, and it used to worsen when he was anxious. The tremors hadn’t stopped since the beginning of the turn. His nose ran. The knights didn’t help him continue, as he himself had told them not to. This was his inner fight. Once he could hold onto his body, he rethought what he was about to do. His mind, however, did not change.

When he arrived at the Tower, followed by his loyal Knights, there was nothing more than silence. The Peblets were waiting for the enemy to attack. Below, he could see masses of Mezon forces waiting to strike. His Fate was coming, and he knew well. He would not survive until the end of this turn.

This is the first chapter of the story of "We Are Saints". I'll try to update this every three days to make it a consistent story.

Edit: Yeah, some phrases may sound weird, but it is because english isn't my native language, so please forgive me if there are some things that don't make sense.

[Xewleer]

An excellent beginning, you have truly interesting characters, excellent (though it would not suffer over much if you read out what you read and listened to it, may help clear a few awkward sentences) descriptions. I hope you continue this story as I hope to read more of it.

[Lefish]

We Are Saints #2: Curse of the Shaken Spear
Issue #1: Chaos at the Mark

He had already ordered the casters linked. It was foolish to go and parley with the enemy when the casters couldn’t help if needed. The King Claudius had ignored Polonius completely. That just came with the job. The king was a humble and generous man. He was also a bit paranoid and apathetic, just like now. And sometimes, he used to be bloodthirsty and cruel, very quick to anger and overly trusting. That’s why the parley seemed like such a bad idea. It was highly probable that the king would do something stupid.

That’s why he had to be quick.

The Thinkamancer and the Dollamancer had been waiting for his orders since the king dismissed Horatio. He told them their mission quickly, and they started working. The king had taken the remaining Peblets with him. That was about 30 flying heavies sent to a suicide mission. Polonius didn’t trust the enemy enough to parley during a turn not their own. For all they knew, they could be veiling their units. This didn’t offer reassurance to Polonius.

The king had been acting like he deliberately wanted his empire to fall. One, because of the attitudes and strategic decisions the king had screwed up lately. Two, because of the place they were right now defending. The Shaken Spear was a bad place to defend. It was two hexes to the east of the Mark, their capital city. Had the king not deliberately tried to destroy his own kingdom, they wouldn’t be defending a place so close to the capital.

The Shaken Spear was a vile swamp, a place where the Mezon forces could destroy them easily. Their units would work with more difficult in that kind of terrain. It has been said that every king or queen of the Mark who had fought at the Shaken Spear had been croaked. Maybe it wouldn’t be the exception this time.

But he could fight to make that a choice.

The Mezons wouldn’t capture. They were enraged because of the Mark’s sudden and aggressive expansion towards their territories. They had gone there to kill them all. The king was already talking to the Mezon’s chief warlord. Polonius remained in the courtyard, looking up.

“We're ready” said the Thinkamancer through their link.

“Good” replied Horatio to the good caster. “Our Fate is to be cut.”

“Destroy them.”

And in a single blast, the cloth golems captured in the first assault by the enemy Mezons, all the way to the Shaken Spear, exploded. This smart tactic leaded to massive enemy casualties. Up in the Airspace, the Mezon Chief Warlord stopped the parley and returned to their lines.

“Break the link. We have a lot of stuff to do.” said the Mark’s Chief Warlord. Sometimes, it wasn’t in the side’s best interest to trust in its own ruler.

[Lefish]

We Are Saints #3: Sides of Treewedgs
Issue #1: Chaos at the Mark

Treewedgs had seen it a long time ago. He was the first caster to that new kingdom of the Mark. About a couple thousand turns ago, this place was nothing but ruins. The soon-to-be-kingdom of Olympia had captured what used to be the capital of the proud side of Omega, which by that time was only a ruin. The Overlord of Olympia had named the new city Grease. The powerful chief warlord John had administrated the city for a long time. It was a magnificent level 4, and prospered for quite a long time.

The chief warlord got demoted after the battle of the Crispy Snow fields to the forces of the noble prince Carl, son of the mighty ruler of the same name. John then became an important part of Grease, which took off as a very nice project. On those days, Treewedgs only cared for the next day and the day after that one. He liked peace. And
peace waited for him… as long as he did not see those things.

On the turn he was popped; during the first turns of the soon-to-be-kingdom of Olympia, in the new city of Grease, he made his first prediction ever: Olympia would become a mighty kingdom. And so it did. He watched the side grow more and more and more. His demoted warlord became the chief warlord once again because of the need of a higher-level commander-in-chief. Tree had seen that one coming.

One of the problems of the kingdom was the war with their ongoing neighbors of Roma. Even though battles were a nice sport, the king was growing tired of it. And with the battle, he got tired of his chief warlord John, too. He ended up setting him up in a suicide mission against Roma. Chief warlord John made an excellent job out of what the king had given him. He resisted in the city of Guild for twenty full turns before croaking, waiting for reinforcements that never arrived. Treewedgs had seen it. Treewedgs knew it would happen.

His Duty crumbled when the king asked him personally if he had seen something, anything related to chief warlord John’s death. Treewedgs knew that if he told him what he did see, the king would dispose of him. His Loyalty crumbled, too. That turn as the first turn he lied to his king. This was the first of many lies.

The king, however, did a major mistake. After his brilliant tactician died, so did his kingdom. The enemy side of Roma soon took all of the cities Olympia had at first taken away from them. The kingdom of Olympia became once again a small side of three cities. It was the battle at the Shaken Spear that would decide the fate of Olympia.

Olympia lost the battle, and its capital, too. Treewedgs didn’t see that one coming.

The emperor of Roma sent his son to start a new side; a glorious side. They captured Treewedgs and put him under the new king’s command. The new side was called the Mark. The emperor of Roma gave his son a lot of money and units to start the new side. The first thing that popped into this new side was her. With her came the destruction. Treewedgs saw it the moment he saw her. The Turnamancer Amelia would cause the fall of the Mark. He did not tell this to his “king”, for he was not his real leader. In those turns they had chained him to the situation room. They tried to talk to him, but he wouldn’t say a word. Those days he lived through his predictions, which he didn’t tell to anyone.

When they brought her, they used her to turn him. He was part of the Mark now. She was also useful at other stuff. She dropped the time needed to pop a royal heir, which the king was desperate for.

Those turns, Roma and the Mark continued their expansion towards the south. The emperor of Roma was a vile man, and the king of the Mark knew it. So, he attacked his own kin for the greater good. There was nothing good in croaking your own father. The king popped his first royal heir and two more after that one. Those were Claudius, German and Livy.

With the time, Treewedgs had another prediction about the fall of the Mark at Amelia’s hands. This time, he told his king about it. The king, paranoid as he was, ordered his chief warlord -who was with him at the Shaken Spear at the time- to kill Amelia. He did not succeed, for him and the king got croaked soon after he gave the order. And so, the king died and Amelia lived.

The kingdom went to German, the royal heir. Treewedgs then saw a lot: German’s son would suffer from madness and his brother Claudius would be responsible for his destruction. Treewedgs had never failed a prediction… and this was not the exception. After German’s destruction, the kingdom didn’t go to Thelma, as it would normally do. The king had made Claudius his heir designate, above even Thelma.

The Mezon revolution altered Claudius’ pacific kingdom, along with Thelma’s sudden madness. Nobody knew how it happened. It just did. Claudius, fearing for what would happen to his kingdom in case he died, made Fort his heir designate, just like his brother German did.

It was coming to an end, and Treewedgs knew it well. He had seen this happen, too. Amelia would cause the destruction of yet another great emperor. And she, along with him, would carry her curse to their next lord. The life of King Claudius would end this turn, along with the life of many, many others. He knew it, because he was cursed, too. Now, in the Shaken Spear, it would all end.

But he would go on, as the first and last caster of his rulers. Until the Titans took him away.

[Lefish]

We Are Saints #4: The fall of Claudius
Issue #1: Chaos at the Mark

“We do not agree” said the tall Mezon warlord.

King Claudius’ mount trembled. It was unsure because he was unsure. The king tried to think of something better. He started to feel tremor in his right hand.

“Maybe we could negotiate. If you’re willing to-“

“I’m not willing to do anything. Us Mezons know we have the upper hand here. Your kingdom shall fall.”

“Even if you destroy me” Said king Claudius, “my warlords will take care of you.”

The Mezon warlord laughed. The Bevora he was riding moved unconsciously to the front, threatening the king. The caster riding the Bevora to the right of the warlord did not even smile. He was dead serious… and concentrated. Claudius did not know too much about casters, but that one looked like he was casting a spell. It was weird, seeing how nothing was happening.

The warlord practically read the king’s mind.

“This is Mia, our Thinkamancer. The Overlord wanted her to level.”

King Claudius nodded. He could hardly believe that the elegant and serious woman was with the Mezons. He didn’t trust either one of them.

“Perhaps your Mezons do have the upper hand here, but what would happen if—“

Before Claudius could finish the sentence, a big bang echoed from behind. The two commanders could see a big explosion not too far away.

An explosion coming from the Shaken Spear.

The warlord drew his weapon and the Bevoras advanced slowly. Claudius’ Peblets circled around him in an attempt to protect him from the enemy attack. It was foolish to attack Claudius when he was surrounded by such a powerful force of heavies and the enemy had nothing more than three low-level Bevoras, a caster and a warlord.

“Wait!” Cried the king “I don’t know what happened. There must’ve been some kind of misunderstanding. I didn’t order anything.”

“Curious. Considering how I’m being informed that all of the cloth golems we captured have suddenly exploded. They devastated my first line of defense. My chief warlord is roaring me to croak you this instant for that move. Should I? Give me a reason not to.”

The king got nervous. His whole body started to shake. The attack lasted just a few minutes and then he could speak again.

“Th-The forces y-you’re th-th-threatening me with are insignificant compared to o-ours.” said the king trying to make them reconsider their attack.

They didn’t.

“You fool foul.” The warlord waved his right hand and a roar came from the king’s behind.

At the instant, a large group of Bevoras appeared out of nowhere in front of the king. Not just in front of him. They started appearing beside and behind him. The riders were as fierce as the Bevoras, and were ready to strike at any sign of retaliation. They were vastly superior in numbers than the king’s remaining air force.

He also saw the caster change. From the attractive woman in an elegant outfit; the caster changed into a pale, serene and severe-looking lady.

Before Claudius could react to this, the warlord impaled him with his broadsword. The king tried to feel his last breath, but the air just didn’t enter his lounges. He fell from his mount and started going down towards the hard floor. The wind blew into his face as the king started to suffer yet another of his attacks.

As he fell, only one thought crossed his mind:

“But the Mezons don’t have any Foolamancers.”

[Lefish]

We Are Saints #5: A good spy
Issue #1: Chaos at the Mark

The chief warlord ordered them to end the link, and he had done so. What the warlord hadn’t thought of was that maybe Mia didn’t want to protect them from the backlash.

She dismissed the Foolamancy spell she casted with the use of her scroll. It was hard to think when everybody addressed you as “Horatio” or “Thinkamancer”, seeing how he had died by her hand just at the beginning of the turn.

She hated being undercover. She hated it because she had to carry so many magic scrolls around, and because so many things could go wrong in one turn. The link, for example. It risked her cover, so she had to let them take the entire backlash after the link. That would leave them incapacitated long enough to make her escape.

The halls were empty, and she could feel the enemy trying to communicate with her, confusing her with their dear Horatio. She ignored the thinkagrams. That would make them wonder what’s going on, but of course, most of them would be watching their little stupid king fall.

But the halls weren’t completely empty. The prince Thelma was walking furiously towards her.

“What are you doing here? Every unit is supposed to” Then he shushed. He looked weird at Mia.

“You’re not a basic infantry, nor one of our casters…”

Mia began to fear.

“… nor Gump nor cloth golem nor Peblet nor warlord. What are you, then?”

Mia launched a bolt of energy towards Thelma, using another of her magic scrolls. His body fell to the floor and hit it hard. The prince was croaked, and the king would be soon, too. Mia hurried to the Tower.

When she got to the top, she saw the Mezon warlord croaking the mad king Claudius. His body fell from the mount and the thick of his troops flew down there, following the body falling. The whole side didn’t fall, though. If the king and the heir were dead, it meant someone else was supposed to get the throne… perhaps the chief warlord?

A large and mighty Bevora flew to the parapet and waited for Mia to mount it. She climbed to the creature’s back and joined the stack. Franziska had dismissed the veil.

“Were you able to complete the mission?” asked Franziska without even looking at her.

“Yes. The artifact is under the possession of the Turnamancer. I gathered the information while linking with the other casters.”

“You linked with the other casters?” asked again Franziska, the master-class Foolamancer. “Did they find out about you?”

“No. I incapacitated them before they could find about anything.”

“We need to go after the heir. Once he is croaked, we’ll capture the Turnamancer and collect the artifact” said the Mezon warlord.

“Prince Thelma is already dead” Franziska looked at Mia thoroughly. “I croaked him.” completed the sentence Mia.

“Are you sure?” asked the warlord. Mia nodded. “Then there must be another heir.”

“Impossible. Your Findamancer said there were no other princes in this side, didn’t he?” replied Franziska. Mia started to fly in circles around them. She didn’t like to be in the airspace like that, vulnerable to attacks by Claudius’ men. A large group had already surrounded the king’s body. Nobody seemed to be commanding them.

“Indeed. Perhaps a mistake in our information…”

“No.” said Mia. “There must be another heir designate. Perhaps King Claudius didn’t trust his nephew…?”

“Look, the enemy is coming towards us. What are our options?” asked the warlord furiously.

Franziska looked at the enemy heavies flying towards them. Enemy archers were taking firing positions, too.

“Maybe… the chief warlord?” Franziska thought out loud.

“In that case, we should croak him now” said the warlord. The Peblets were getting closer.

“Or blast the Tower and capture the Turnamancer now” replied Franziska.

“The thing is; we can’t do anything. Even if we deal with the heavy flyers now, our forces will be too weakened to croak him; and it is likely that he will be heavily defended… it is, if he has indeed become the Overlord” said the warlord.

“Then we shall retreat and wait” said Franziska.

“But then they’ll have the chance to regroup! We need to call to our forces in the Shaken Spear. We need reinforcements…”

The Foolamancer shut him up and touched Mia in the shoulder. Mia prepared herself as she and Franziska lead their mounts out of the hex.

“What we need now” said Mia “is Judge.”

[Lefish]

We Are Saints #6: Change of terms
Issue #1: Chaos at the Mark

His master was angry. It had been overly expensive to support the eastern conflict.

“Master, we thought it would be over by now. It seems that the king of the Mark had designated an heir other than his nephew. We didn’t see this coming…”

His master shushed him. VonKarma understood why he was angry. Two of their casters were out there by themselves on the field. If Karma had foreseen this situation, perhaps it would be easier. Only a perhaps.

“Mia is asking for support to finish the job” said VonKarma.

“What does she need?” asked the Overlord. He was growing tired.

“She is asking for Judge” said VonKarma.

“Impossible”

VonKarma knew this would happen. He tried to turn this around.

“My Lord, if we—“

“I want you to go. Personally.”

VonKarma doubted. “Personally? I hardly think…”

“I want you to retrieve the artifact yourself”

“But sir, the contract…”

“Rommel, I don’t care about the contract. We’ve expended very valuable assets in this job. I want to see what is this all about.”

VonKarma couldn’t resist the curiosity, either. First, the Mezons had hired them to stop the Mark’s advance into their territory and to croak King Claudius. Then, they had modified the contract and asked to croak the prince. Just a little while after that, they even asked them to locate and retrieve a valuable magic item in the enemy hands.

After that, they said it was an artifact. What did they really want?

Yeah, Mezons: To end the enemy advance. Yeah, right. Feel free to change your story anytime.

[Lefish]

We Are Saints #7: The new Overlord
Issue #1: Chaos at the Mark

King Claudius had fallen from the sky. He had been croaked. Polonius knew it. Those coward enemies had croaked the king… through the use of Foolery, for the Titans’ sake!

Now they were in the hands of that prince…

The soldiers started to group around the king’s body. He ordered all of the troops in the vicinity into the Shaken Spear. Only the minimum of units needed remained at the capital. Polonius approached the corpse. The king looked almost as if he were smiling. He started to sweat.

He took a soldier by the shoulder and shook him.

“Where is the prince?” The soldier said nothing. “WHERE IS THE PRINCE?”

“The prince is dead, commander.”

Polonius turned and saw one of the knights coming from the castle.

“Then who is commanding our forces? Call the casters.”

The soldier shook his head before answering:

“Sir… the Dollamancer is incapacitated. I found him in one of the lower levels of the Tower. And… we cannot find the Thinkamancer. We believe the enemy may have taken him.”

Polonius took his hands to his head.

“Does anybody know what is going on!?”

“I do.”

Polonius turned and saw the Predictamancer, standing in front of him. He was staring at the king’s corpse. Polonius called him by his name again, and the Predictamancer –Treewedgs, he thought his name was— looked at him.

“The Mezons have come to exterminate us. There is no negotiation. They have hired two casters from Phoenix to help in their attack: a Foolamancer and a Thinkamancer, who seems to be in possession of several magic scrolls.”

“Through the use of a scroll, the Thinkamancer veiled herself as Horatio, our own Thinkamancer, and went undercover to find out our secrets. When she linked with Hollis, she left him incapacitated to avoid him blowing her cover. During her escape, she croaked Prince Thelma.”

“Their plan was to first croak King Claudius and then eliminate Prince Thelma. That way, they would be free to exterminate us and our unled forces at the Shaken Spear. They didn’t count, however, that King Claudius didn’t trust his nephew to inherit the kingdom, so he secretly named an heir designate.”

Many questions popped in Polonius’ head, but none of them were important. The only important thing to ask at the moment was:

“Who is the new Overlord?”

“Warlord Forte, which is all the way to the Shaken Spear.”

“Then we shall retreat our forces and extract Fort—I mean, Overlord Forte from there. He must be sent somewhere safe… like Bras. That’s the only way our kingdom will prevail.”

“I highly doubt so, warlord.” said the Predictamancer. “…Because their next target is going to be you. We should better make our stand here and secretly retrieve our Overlord from such a hot zone.”

“Then we shall send whatever remaining Peblets we have in the Shaken Spear to the city of Bras. Try to find Horatio, our Thinkamancer. We need to bring Arties back from Fronts and prepare a counterattack. The question is: what will the enemy do now?”

The enemy stack of Bevoras, seeing the Peblets pursuing them, slowly left the hex boundaries. The Peblets remained in the edge of the hex, watching them aggressively.

They wanted revenge. So did Polonius. The enemy would likely wait until the next turn to attack once again.

“They’re retreating... Once our turn starts, I want all of our casters ready to take off, and a Peblet ready to take our new Overlord out of the Shaken Spear. We’re not going to lose this war.”

“Warlord, isn’t it a drastic move? I mean… is it worth considering such a great expense of energy just to keep an Overlord alive?”

Polonius approached the caster. The Predictamancer backed up.

“Have you seen anything?”

“No… not yet”

“Then shut up” said Polonius, and resumed his job.

[Lefish]

We Are Saints #8: The art of croaking a warlord
Issue #1: Chaos at the Mark

He kept running. Normally, he wouldn’t run away from a battle, but seeing how mighty the enemy troops were, Forte didn’t have much choice. One he reached the Gump stacks, he yelled his order.

The Mezon troops behind him screamed when the Gumps attacked them without mercy. Warlord Forte sat down behind the frontlines to rest. He was quite exhausted. He heard a cry for help not so far away.

“Commander! Commander!”

It was clearly one of his soldiers. He stood up, ready for more battle. Instantly, about forty Bevoras arrived at the Shaken Spear, soaring up high in the sky. Four of them saw the stacks of Mark units down the marsh and stopped in their tracks. The largest, mounted Bevora roared at Forte.

“You!” he yelled at a group of Gumps “Stack with that squad of pikemen. Go and check who is that one yelling.”

The Gump grunted and stacked. The group left quickly to see what the consternation was all about. He turned and faced the Bevoras flying about.

“I’ll go take care of them by myself.”

He sent what cloth golems were left from that strange explosion and sent them to halt the enemy advance. He took a small squad of four Peblets. He grabbed his sword and swung it around as he mounted the Peblet closest to him.

They took off and he sent two of the Peblets to take care of one of the unmounted Bevoras. One of the Peblets hit the Bevora in the stomach while the other charged at its head. Forte and the remaining Peblet rushed towards one of the mounted Bevoras. It was mounted by a powerful knight; a warlord, by the looks of it.

The Bevora used its lightning breath attack at Forte’s Peblet, but did little damage to the lightning-resistant heavy. The other Peblet hit the Bevora in the upper body part –those pesky snake-like creatures’ anatomy was hard to describe— and the warlord almost fell from its mount. Forte rushed its mount to finish him off, but the Peblet stopped in its tracks as a bolt of light beamed in front of him. He turned, and saw some kind of caster wearing a white and elegant outfit with her finger pointing at him.

Forte ordered the other two Peblets that had already finished the unmounted Bevora off, to charge against the caster while he took care of the warlord. The caster shot another beam at one of the Peblets and made it crash to the ground. He evaded the other Bevora and restacked. Forte saw a flash of lightning and the warlord circled around Forte, who hadn’t been paying attention to his own battle. The caster kept evading the Peblet. Forte slashed the Bevora’s body, but it did no harm to the creature. He then tackled the unit with his Peblet… but he hit nothing.

“Foolamancy!” he yelled when he realized about the deception. A laser beam hit him on the back, wounding him severely. He fell from his mount and could hear how the enemy warlord eliminated the remaining Peblet.

“Overlord!” he heard someone shout. What did he mean?

A Peblet quickly positioned itself below him to cushion his fall. He then landed into the marsh ground. A group of Gumps surrounded him. A knight, which he supposed was the one yelling at the marsh, helped him get up.

“Overlord, are you okay?” asked the knight.

“Overlord?” asked Forte confused. That knight had just called him an Overlord. Why? Did that mean… did that mean King Claudius had been croaked? That wasn’t possible.

“The King…”

“The King is dead, Lord.”

Forte didn’t say anything. But then… No, it couldn’t be happening. He was a warlord.

“C’mon, my Lord. You shouldn’t be fighting here. A Peblet squad is waiting. They’re going to escort you out of here once our turn begins. Chief Polonius’ orders”

[Lefish]

We Are Saints #9: Destruction in the Shaken Spear
Issue #1: Chaos at the Mark

The Foolamancer dismissed the illusion and they continued their path. That warlord had escaped quickly. Of course, he couldn’t handle a battle like that. He received his new orders soon.

“Our objective has changed. Chief warlord Gema says we must now eliminate all enemy opposition in the Shaken Spear by the end of this turn”

Franziska smiled.

“We must first get Mia to our field HQ. She needs to contact our capital quickly. Our Overlord has answered our request”

“And what did he say?” asked Khan. He was growing tired of those casters. They didn’t follow orders and never fully debriefed him.

“We don’t know. That’s why I must return to the field base” said Mia, flying right behind Franziska.

“But you are free to croak any unit that stands in our way, though” said Franziska with her childish and yet evil smile.

Just as she said that, five Peblets appear from the marsh and rushed right towards them.

“Mia, can you stun those units?” shouted Khan. The wind barely let him talk.

Mia shot an almost invisible tendril of light, which hit the Peblets right in the head. Khan took advantage from this and stabbed the smallest Peblet right between the eyes. The fat creature fell from the sky; but on its way down, it bit Khan’s Bevora and didn’t let go.

Khan fell with the creature and felt its breath next to him. He punched the creature in the mouth, trying to make it let go, but it didn’t. Even if he had managed to set free, the Bevora was long gone. He would hit the floor anyway, but without a croaked Bevora below him cushioning his fall.

When he hit the floor, he got stunned for a few moments. As he got up an enemy Gump hit him hard and threw him away. He was surrounded by the Mark’s soldiers. As one of them; the leader apparently, ran towards him, Khan activated his magic item. The ground around him trembled and all the units in the vicinity fell to the floor, incapacitated.

He ran towards the field headquarter, but some surviving cloth golems stopped his advance. As he evaded a brutal punch from one of the golems, a group of Mezon bowmen appeared out of the trees and attacked the golems. Once they got croaked, he restacked and led the bowmen to the field base.

Their mobile headquarters were on fire. Mezon units were fighting for survival against Mark vandals. Cloth golems went about destroying the tents and breaking his soldier’s bones. A stack of Peblets were circling up in the sky above him. Khan regrouped the remaining soldiers in the camp and then he led the counterattack. Three cloth golems were devastating the main tent, so he set a stack of bowmen to hit them. Once distracted with the bowmen, he took a small squad of Boars around them and made them tackle the golems from behind. The Boars’ sharp teeth penetrated the soft cloth protecting the golem’s body.

The Phoenix casters arrived with five more Bevoras and attacked the Peblets. Once a croaked Peblet or Bevora fell from the sky, they would burn him and have a Boar throw him towards a crowded stack of soldiers, or a high-valuable target.

As he was fighting against a landed Peblet, Mia fell to the ground. He quickly disposed of the Peblet and took Mia with his hands.

“Are you alright?” Shouted Khan in the middle of the chaotic fight.

“They’re… no longer incapacitated” said the caster. Khan didn’t understand it. He thought she meant the troops he was fighting in the marsh, but when he saw towards the
sky, he saw a large group of mounted Peblets. Most of them had mounted warlords, but one of them was carrying Hollis, the Dollamancer.

He quickly arrived and healed the cloth golems in the area, but escaped before anybody could target him. The chief warlord, Polonius, was there, too. He was mounted in the biggest and strongest of the Peblets. He had to croak him. Their mission would end if he croaked the chief warlord.

“Foolamancer!” he shouted. He was kneeling next to a wounded Mia, and Franziska was nowhere to be found.

“What is it?” He heard inside his head. She was somewhere nearby.

“I need you to use what’s left of your juice.”

“What do you need?”

Polonius just saw a single warlord running towards him with his blade up high. He readied his sword. Was this man crazy, or was this man smart? He smiled as he realized what was going on. He was even better than Claudius at discovering someone trying to fool him.

“Is that the best you can do, warlord? A simple illusion…”

Then he stabbed the warlord behind him. That was such an old trick.

“Your illusion didn’t fool me, Mezon” claimed Polonius, proud of his wisdom.

Then, he felt the steel in his loins. The cold steel was burning his insides. He raised his sight and looked at the “illusion” stab him wildly, once and again and again.

“The real illusion was behind you, warlord” said Khan.

The capital site was two hexes to the east, but he needn’t worry now. All of the now barbarians would soon get what they deserve… after retrieving the artifact.

“Croak whoever’s left in here. Their Overlord has been destroyed. They will surely fall” ordered Khan to one of his high-ranked knights mounted on a fierce Boar. He nodded, and with the rest of the Boars he swept the surroundings of the camp. The remaining enemy units were croaked without mercy. The enemy had been finally eradicated. The only thing left to do was to capture the Turnamancer and it would all be over.

A message arrived the next turn.

“Sir, chief Gema wants to know what you’re going to do now” asked the messenger. He got the communication ring ready. Khan smiled in victory.

“We’re going to capture the Turnamancer and claim our prize. After that, we’ll eliminate any remaining barbarian in our new lands”

The messenger looked at him obfuscated. Was he stupid, or what?

“Sir… chief Gema wants to know what barbarians you are talking about”

Now it was Khan who looked obfuscated. He felt as if a Gump had fallen over his head. This was odd.

“The barbarians… whatever the Mark’s former forces remain” said Khan, trying to hide his confusion. Or maybe the chief warlord was the one confused…

“Sir…” said the messenger “Chief Gema says you haven’t destroyed the Mark. She says… their side is still strong. You haven’t won this battle”

Khan stood up from his seat in the main tent and went outside. It was their turn. There were no barbarians nearby, so he thought they must’ve croaked them all. He mounted a resting Bevora and flew up. Far away, he saw Nero, the mighty capital of the Mark. The side hadn’t fallen. He… he didn’t destroy the heir. The Mark’s heir was still alive.

He hadn’t won the war.
“NO!” Khan’s yell was heard even as Overlord Forte hid in the open field, waiting for his turn to come and continue his travel towards Bras.

[Lefish]

We Are Saints #10: Nero has been abandoned
Issue #1: Chaos at the Mark

The city was empty. Completely empty, save for some freshly popped spearmen and a few cloth golems. Other than that, it looked like a ghost town. Her soldiers destroyed what was left of the Mark’s units.

Chief warlord Gema was angry. She was angry because not only did they not croak the right one… but because they didn’t at least secure the artifact. The Turnamancer had left the city with it. She kicked a piece of rubble around, near the place where the king had fallen to his demise. There were cracks on the floor near it. He did fall heavy.

Khan returned from his scouting mission with a full stack of Boars. He headed towards Gema in the Courtyard.

“There’s nothing more than a few stranded cloth golems, ma’am. They’re really gone”

Gema thought with all of her mind power. Had they a Thinkamancer, she would’ve helped her meditate, but she didn’t have any. Many things crossed her mind.

“Do you think the Thinkamancer may have betrayed us?” asked Gema after long thinking. Khan doubted.

“I hardly think so. They’re mercenaries, but they’re good. I trust them deeply”

“Then how did the enemy find out we were going after the heir?”

Khan blinked, petrified. He wasn’t sure about the answer to that question. He looked at the Phoenix casters, standing up in the Tower, looking at them from above. They looked as mighty as the city.

“The—the Thinkamancer was under the impression that the Mark had a Predictamancer” said Khan while pointing at Mia. Chief Gema looked up and pursed her lips.

“And no one told me this because…?” asked Chief Gema with a slick of Rage in her tone. Khan stepped back as she asked the question.

“We didn’t know, ma’am” admitted Khan, ready to be disbanded for causing the chief warlord’s rage.

She didn’t say anything, however. She looked at the floor and crossed her arms. She walked away from him in silence. Khan doubted whether to follow her or not. Any wrong choice could be reason enough to croak him. The sensation faded as he received a thinkagram.

“What is going on, Mia? Chief Gema is very—“

“I’m not Mia” The voice interrupted him at the other end of the thinkagram. He could only see flashes of light as the voice spoke “You are looking for something for which I care about too much”

Khan’s legs got suddenly weakened, and though he couldn’t see anything, he felt the floor as his legs gave up.

“You don’t know who I am, but I do know who you are and what you are looking for. I know who your chief warlord is and I know all about you.”

Khan could hear muffled voices in the background and lots of steps. Perhaps his soldiers had finally realized he had fallen to the ground. They were screaming, calling for someone.

“Tell me, warlord: would you like to be as powerful as the Titans themselves? Then trust me, and I’ll give you what you have always wanted.”

Suddenly, a burst of images and information entered Khan’s head. He started screaming, not because it was painful, but because it was too much inside his head. Faces, data, conversations… everything went inside like a vacuum.

As sudden as it started, it all ended. First he saw nothing more than darkness. He thought he was finally entering the City of Heroes; until he heard someone whispering to his ear. It was a familiar voice.

“Mia?” he muttered as he opened his eyes.

“He’s awake” said the blur. Khan couldn’t see clearly. Something was affecting his vision.

“Khan? What happened?” said Chief Gema’s voice. The images started to define and become logical in his head. He was gaining consciousness.

“I know where the enemy is” said Khan as he sat. He rubbed his head, as if someone had hit him with a blunt object. It was so confusing… and yet so clear.

“I’ll lead you to them”

Khan wasn’t sure who had he told that to. To Chief Gema… or someone else?

[Lefish]

We Are Saints #11: Inside the Half-Moon Creek
Issue #2: War of the Edges

Forte had lots of things to do. The first thing he did when he arrived at the new capital site Bras of his new kingdom was to start popping warlords. The old Mark had four casters when it started. Now, Forte had to begin with three… and no Thinkamancer. It would be hard to communicate, but it was achievable. He also needed a new chief warlord, seeing how the last one had gotten croaked in the Shaken Spear. He immediately made Arties, who was now managing the city of Fronts, into his new chief warlord.

The most competent one he had.

After he started production of warlords, he upgraded Bras into a majestic level 5 and rearranged his kingdom. He stopped expansion and set up all cities to pop as many units as they could muster. In order to become a military power, one must have military assets. After the battle of the Shaken Spear, the Mark got seriously weakened. Their neighbors could’ve seized the opportunity of conquering his entire side… that is, if they had any neighbors. His whole kingdom was surrounded by impassable mountains.

There were only two entrances to his kingdom, and one was in a war state because of their constant struggle against the Mezons. The other one connected their empire with the ever-growing, powerful, utopian and yet reliable side of Apple.

The city where the empire of the Mark coexisted with the sides of Dior, Dolce and Gabbana was called the Half-Moon Creek. Inside there, the four kingdoms established trade routes and formed long-time alliances.

After Claudius’ death, Lord Christian offered counseling to Forte. Dior had become a very friendly side to the Mark, lately. About four turns ago, Forte and Christian had established a fully military alliance in the Mark’s war against the Mezon. Forte would’ve liked to have established a Coalition with Dolce and Gabbana, but that was impossible at the moment.

The sides of Dolce and Gabbana, each one at one of the tips of the Half-Moon Creek, decided to enter into a full-scale war. The Alliance of Dior and the Mark immediately supported Gabbana, claiming the Overlord of Dolce was evil. Dolce gained support from the Mezons, who wanted to help them expand and get out of the Half-Moon Creek.

The thing was, if they wanted to expand out of the Half-Moon Creek, they had to deal with Apple. Steve, the king of Apple, warned Dolce of retaliation if they dared to conquer one city out of the Half-Moon Creek; something which Dolce didn’t care too much. This caused Apple to get in the conflict, too, against both Dolce and Gabbana.

Later, they managed to gain the support of the Phoenix mercenaries. Phoenix was a strong side, and joined the conflict only because they needed to pop a trade-friendly city near the Half-Moon Lake, at the northern part of the Creek. This project had always been rejected by Dior and Dolce, although the Mark and Apple had friendly eyes to it.

They were at an all-out war, where every territory they stepped was a zone of battle. Forte aided Gabbana in contending with Dolce, while at the same time resisting heavy siege by Apple. Forte, however, tried to avoid any direct engagements with the Mezons. They conflict wasn’t yet finished, and they seemed overly vicious when it came to destroying the Mark. It was too much rage contained in a battle to make adequate tactical decisions. Forte wouldn’t let his sentiments blind him, like Claudius did. He would only mess up with sides he could afford to mess up with.

In the last couple of turns, the Mark’s forces had been directed towards two major hotspots: The siege at the Fronts citadel and the battle of the Mountain Pass. There were also rumors suggesting that the Mezons were advancing secretly through the dangerous desert to the south of the Half-Moon Creek.

Right now, Lord Forte was travelling to the siege at the Fronts citadel, where he would meet with Christian of Dior. His great column moved at a fast pace, thirsty of battle.
Forte wasn’t sure he was very thirsty himself.

[Lefish]

We Are Saints #12: Not so Duty-bound
Issue #2: War of the Edges

Ever since the War of the Edges had broken out, Lord Wright was getting more and more anxious. Rommel VonKarma could see it. Even though he had won every single battle and conquered every single territory, let it be from the Great Eastern Alliance or from the Dolce or Mezon sides, his Lord was worried. VonKarma understood that it was only part of his job to be anxious, but it started to make him anxious, too. VonKarma usually had the idea that when his Lord was anxious, it was for a good reason… until this war.

They had completely ravaged two levels 3 and captured two levels 2 and a single level 4. Their side was expanding, although not like VonKarma would like to. He just wanted one thing from that pesky battle: the Half-Moon River. If they could build their citadel, they would get a powerful mercenary presence in the eastern part of the continent. Besides, Karma had an excuse to croak some Mezon units, which was a good bonus by itself.

VonKarma always felt some kind of anger against the Mezons. He couldn’t explain it… it was in his blood. When Lord Wright told him they would work for the Mezons, VonKarma knew it would be a hard job; but he rolled with it, because it was his job, and he was a professional.

One thing he knew was that he had a good eye with opportunities. Long before he was Wright’s chief warlord, he used to be a warlord of the SocParty. He had great potential. He could feel it. His Lord, however, didn’t trust him. That’s why VonKarma sold out his side. Among the units with low Duty and Loyalty, he was the lowest of them all. He pursued his own agenda, not his ruler’s. He joined Phoenix for his own reasons.

Lord Wright? He didn’t know a thing. Once he realized what was really going on in this fight, he would croak of stupidity. VonKarma didn’t need Phoenix. Phoenix needed him. It was because of him that they became such a mighty side. Once, Lord Wright tried to have a Turnamancer cast some kind of Loyalty spell on him. One of the things that Lord Wright didn’t know was that his casters were actually VonKarma’s casters; and they would follow VonKarma to whichever place he would like to go. Adolf Wright was a man who had made enemies in his very own kingdom. Why would anyone do that?

VonKarma looked at his artifact as his Gigaraven flew towards the Mountain Pass. Sitting behind him were Mia the Thinkamancer and three elite Reapers. Another four Gigaravens and a small group of ten ravens flew behind him. A caster was riding the Gigaraven right next to him. Was it Judge, or Franziska? He didn’t remember. He looked below him, and the small contingent of ground troops moved slowly behind them. He smiled. It would be an easy victory.

[Lefish]

We Are Saints #13: Meeting with the Leaders
Issue #2: War of the Edges

Warlord Beverly was mad. She had just contacted Overlord Stefano, and things weren’t looking so good. Since the war between Dolce and Gabbana had started, she was sent to guard by herself the Edge Desert at the southern part of the Half-Moon Creek. This meant she had to be prepared for any attack by the Mezons or Apple. It was such a dangerous zone… and yet, no enemy units had been seen since her units started patrolling the area. That was way too strange. They had to at least spot some Mezon scouts from time to time. But not even that happened.

When she arrived at the tent, the Thinkamancer they had employed was waiting for her. The tent was completely dark and empty, with the exception of the Thinkamancer standing next to a single chair. Beverly sat on the chair and the Thinkamancer initiated the connection. She put her hand on Beverly’s head and she entered the shadows.

For a moment she saw nothing, but then a room materialized in her head. She was sitting in a round table. Several warlords and leaders of the Great Eastern Alliance were in that room with her. Lord Stefano was the first to acknowledge her presence.

“Welcome, Beverly, we were just about to start.”

King Christian cleared his throat and nobody said a word. They all looked at him.

“Welcome, warlords, overlords and kings from Dior, the Mark and Gabbana. We have gathered here today to discuss our tactical situation.”

“Arties, Chief Warlord of the Mark, has informed me that although Apple’s siege at Fronts has to this point been unsuccessful, his unit’s morale and stamina as decreased significantly. The city of Fronts is slowly losing its strength. It will fall very soon, unless we give them our support and finish the siege once and for all.”

“On the other hand, Stefano is worried about the advance of Dolce through the Mountain Pass. They’re attacking several strategic positions, and the forces of Dior alone can’t hold the enemy.”

“We have another problem” said Beverly. The rest of the Commanders on the table looked at her. She felt on the spotlight.

“There is a suspicious situation in the Edge Desert. No enemy…”

“We’re aware of that situation, Warlord” interrupted Chief Garde of Dior. “Lord Stefano has informed us of your situation. The council, however, does not think it is such a pressing concern.”

“…Concern? Chief Garde, with all due respect, it doesn’t look like it. This may indicate an overwhelming invasion or…”

“Warlord, you’re out of order!” said Lord Forte. Beverly shut up, ashamed of her outburst. “The council has already discussed the situation at the Edge Desert. Although it is a strategic location and a very attractive target, the enemy has shown no interest on it. As long as the Mezons support Dolce and Phoenix keeps trying to get to the north, the Edge Desert is safe. There is no reason for us to send any reinforcements to the city of Zara when there are places where our support is most needed. Do you understand?”

Beverly looked to her feet and crossed her arms. She had been ashamed in front of all of her allies.

“Yes, Lord. I understand.”

“Good. You’re dismissed, Warlord.”

The image in her head vanished and Beverly came back to dizzy and blurry reality. The Thinkamancer retrieved her hand from Beverly’s face. Beverly sat there, thoughtful.
The Thinkamancer looked at her worried.

“…Warlord? Are you alright?” asked the Thinkamancer.

“Yes, I’m fine. Thank you. Your services have been paid for, caster. You may return to the magic kingdom.”

The Thinkamancer exited the tent, leaving Beverly by herself. She could hear steps approaching. The light invaded the tent and a caster entered. He stood behind Beverly, waiting for her.

“Beverly.”

Julius the Dollamancer knelt down and put his hand on Beverly’s shoulder. He touched her cheek gently with his hand.

“Let’s go out.”

[Lefish]

We Are Saints #14: Several fronts
Issue #2: War of the Edges

White the Healomancer had been informed of strange movements in the area. At first, he didn’t understand what they were talking about. When their turn didn’t start at dawn, he understood there were enemies close.

Warlord Sandy had left him in charge of the small outpost while he was away. Their allies needed some additional leadership for a special mission, and he would be absent for a few days. He was unlucky enough to be attacked when the Warlord was away. He was the one who had to make the decisions now.

“Those may be allied units, soldier” replied Bob the Healomancer when a knight asked for his orders, “we’re not attacking until we make contact. Send a stack of…” Sandy interrupted himself as a thinkagram arrived. It was a warlord with long and white curly hair. He had a somewhat dark skin and a piercing on his ear. Sandy had heard about this warlord.

“So you’re our enemy? A single caster protecting the outpost?” said Chief Warlord VonKarma, “it would be a pity to dispose of you. Why don’t you just let us take the…”

“I’ve heard about you, Warlord. I’m not afraid of you or any troops you muster” said White ruthlessly. He expected the enemy to at least take him seriously, but he just laughed.

“Caster, we’re going to eliminate all of your units. You should better start running.”

The thinkagram ended, and the warlord’s image disappeared. White roared in anger.

“They’re not even going to get close. Send all of our Scarves” said the Healomancer, furious. He would hang in there until Warlord Sandy returned.

============================================================================================================================

It was a dark day, just like the others. The sun hadn’t come out in a long time. And yet, Arties knew his turn had begun. A Peblet popped above him and flew around the Tower. He immediately ordered it to join an assault stack. He prepared all of the defensive positions of the city. Perhaps the enemy would try to attack this turn.

For three turns now, the enemy hadn’t sent any units in. Perhaps they were reconsidering their siege in the city. It would be good, seeing how low was his troop’s morale. But still, it was highly unlikely. The enemy was probably massing his units and preparing for a full-scale assault on the city. That was what Arties would do, anyway.

Lord Christian was supposed to arrive that turn along with his column. Normally, it would be hard to send reinforcements, seeing how Apple had seized almost every passable hex adjacent to the citadel. However, they had secret tunnels in the mountains near the citadel. Dior, unfortunately, didn’t have many tunnel-capable heavies so most of the reinforcements consisted of regular infantry and knights. Some of them could dance-fight, though…

Arties looked at the dark sky and tried to look beyond the thick black clouds. It was an ill omen to not to be able to see the stars. When the messenger arrived and told him that the Mark forces led by king Forte himself had arrived at the forests, it only reinforced this belief. Dior’s column was supposed to arrive a turn earlier than the Mark’s units. This was bad. It got even worse when the drums sounded, announcing the attack.

============================================================================================================================

Stefano had told his troops to stand ready to fight, not ready to parley. So, when the enemy tried to parley with them, they had to decline the offer. It would’ve been nice to at least hear the message, though. When Chief Warlord Leo heard about this, he got very mad. Of course, he couldn’t disobey his Overlord, but when the enemy had numerical superiority (just like Dolce) the best choice was to listen at what they had to say. But no, Lord Gabanna’s pride was too big to even consider parley with the enemy.

Now that he thought of it, the whole campaign to protect the Mountain Pass was just stupid. A very stupid and shallow mistake it was. He felt as if the whole region of Mountain Pass was just like the Shaken Spear: a territory cursed with the complete destruction of the defender side. He had heard many stories of entire armies being destroyed at the Mountain Pass. And it was Leo’s job to defend the Cold Portal, where numbers counted for nothing… and Lord Stefano had deployed most of his army based on numerical superiority. This bode badly.

Finally, dawn came and Gabanna’s turn started. Leo started the turn by dispatching four stacks of his highest-level knights to the front lines: The speartons.

[Lefish]

We Are Saints #15: A simple counterattack
Issue #2: War of the Edges

It seemed far simple, actually. Rommel VonKarma wasn’t the strategic genius they had him be. This could mean two things: Either VonKarma wasn’t such a genius at plotting strategy, or White was more intelligent than they thought.

As soon as he saw the enemy forces split up, he understood the enemy plan. He had left his entire ground column a couple hexes away from the city to prepare to breach the city once his siege units had destroyed the wall. His Shooters, along with all of his Ravens and Gigaravens were in a mountain hex adjacent to the city and started breaching the walls with the Shooters.

The obvious thing to do was to eliminate the flying group before they could punch a hole in the wall and let their ground column pour into the courtyard, but it was a very bad choice to attack the Shooters with so many Gigaravens lurking around… specially with VonKarma’s leadership.

So, they would try something different. They would attack the ground column with their scarce flying units and once they were finished, retreat the air forces back to the outpost just before the end of their turn. Their priority was to lower their numbers, so they would attack the weaker units first.

VonKarma could either let the few archery units in the column handle Gabanna’s Scarves, knowing that they wouldn’t suffice; or he could send his ravens or his Gigaravens to the column to eliminate the attacking units next turn. He could actually destroy all of White’s Scarves with a single stack of ravens and White hoped he did send his flying units to help against the attackers. That way he could send all of his archery units out there to attack the Shooters. He had so many archers under his control that they could easily destroy the Shooter group. If they waited for the flying units to raze them, though, their vast numbers wouldn’t matter. That’s why he was playing it out on the field: he would surely lose the defensive fight.

It was so clear, and White had spent quite long time thinking about it. That’s the way he would play. And he played quite rough; but against this warlord? It seemed far too easy. He didn’t trust his judgment this time. This was Rommel VonKarma he was talking about. There had to be a hidden ace, something he had overlooked… The thing was he hadn’t overlooked anything. VonKarma had arrived to this battle overconfident.

White would make him think twice on the matter.

As the Scarves got closer to the column, the small enemy group became visible. There weren’t many enemies around. Their orders were only to attack quickly from above before taking casualties and then returning to the outpost. They knew the archer units were waiting for the flyers to leave the mountain hex so next turn they could croak the Shooters. As they got closer to the column, something became evident. The ground soldiers and reapers down there on the field started to fade out, like a mirage. Ravens and Gigaravens eliminated all of the Scarves before they realized. Franziska had dispelled the veil. That meant phase two had begun.

[Lefish]

We Are Saints #16: Bad news for the support
Issue #2: War of the Edges

“What do you mean Christian of Dior hasn’t arrived?” yelled Forte. His soldiers stepped back very worried. The messenger had no idea what to tell his Overlord. Forte took his hand to his temple and sighed. “You’re dismissed” he told the soldier, who left with such a hurry.

That was definitely bad news. Avant, the warlord dispatched by Dior, walked towards him, anxious to know what was going on. He was clearly worried about his Overlord.

“What’s going on, Forte?” asked the chief warlord with a strong thunder-like voice. He addressed Forte by his first name. Not by Overlord or Commander.

“There seems to be a problem with the troop disposition…”

“Oh don’t tell me that crap. Something bad is going on and you should better tell me” claimed Chief Garde. Forte couldn’t answer his question. “Forte!”

“Ok, ok. Geez” said Forte, “but please let me finish before you start yelling and stuff…” Avant shrugged. “Christian hasn’t arrived yet”

Avant Garde raised his left eyebrow before he could completely understand the implications of what Forte had just said.

“What-the-HELL?” said Avant in a very quick and sharp tone. “What do you mean Lord Christian hasn’t arrived yet! He was supposed to be here before us!”

“Yes, he was supposed to. Look, chief, there’s no need to panic. As long as the siege…”

“No need to panic? Forte, if the enemy attacks before Fronts receives reinforcements from Dior it will surely fall! Not to mention that the enemy may have captured Lord Christian! We need to act quickly…”

“No we don’t” said Forte with an authoritarian voice. Chief Avant stopped in his tracks “I’m the one leading this column, and I say we must wait until we get information from Christian.”

“May I remind you that Lord Christian is the leader of the Alliance? If something happens to him…”

“Then I would become the new leader, and I would order you to be quiet and wait for news.”

Chief Avant got so close to Forte that he could feel his breathing. He was obviously trying to intimidate Forte.

“Do you have a problem with me, Forte? Perhaps you should say so now before Dior risks its troops trying to save your citadel.”

“My problem is that you can’t hold yourself together. Act like a chief, Garde! Don’t do anything reckless.”

“Screw it” said the chief warlord.

“Excuse me?”

“Screw it. Dior’s forces aren’t sitting ducks. We’re leaving.”

“You CANNOT leave!” shouted Forte at the warlord, who seemed not to pay him any attention whatsoever.

“It’s my Duty” said the chief warlord “You two, gather all of our elite units. We’re going to look for Lord Christian.” The soldier nodded and ran off into the soldier ranks.

“Although now I see that the Mark doesn’t respect its Duty with the Alliance like Dior does, you may take the bulk of our forces.”

“You’re leaving your units?” asked Forte.

“I’m only taking the strongest and the fastest” said the warlord as he got on a Trojan. He creature grunted as he mounted it. The soldier Avant had just talked with returned followed by Dior’s Dittomancer and a small group of knights riding on Trojans. “We’ll rendezvous with the rest of the column in two more turns. We’ll send you a message if we find Lord Christian before then.”

As he got out of the hex and spent his remaining move, chief warlord Garde didn’t look back. Forte sat down and sent a message to Arties in the citadel. Things were about to get really bad.

[Lefish]

We Are Saints #17: Good planning
Issue #2: War of the Edges

“Halt” he said. He could sense an incoming Thinkagram. The Reapers stopped walking and waited for him. It was her.

“Have you made it inside the installation?” asked Mia the Thinkamancer.

“We’ve arrived safely” answered Judge.

“The enemy just tried to attack us. It should be clear now. The veil has been dropped. Prepare to start the second phase.”

“Have you destroyed the flying units?” asked Judge.

“Yes. They sent all they have to attack the column. Our flying forces have decimated them. The archery column is probably retreating back to the city right now. You must finish before they come back.”

“Couldn’t you delay them?” asked Judge.

“It’s their turn. There’s not much I can do” said the Thinkamancer and ended the turn. Judge gasped and looked at the Reapers, who were waiting for his orders. Judge didn’t like Reapers much. They were much like Archons, but far creepier.

“What are your orders?” asked one of them.

“We’re entering phase two of the plan. Launch the beacon.”

The Reaper nodded and he clapped his hands. His two hands started emanating a green light. Judge took four of the Reapers and stationed them around the Reaper casting the signal and him. The Reaper raised his hands and prepared to cast the spell.

“PyroKing” whispered the Reaper. A blast of green light was shot off to the sky. The beacon reached its maximum altitude before exploding into a blast of green and yellow lights. On the rest of the outpost, thousands of soldiers looked at the explosion. The Shooters saw the beacon and directed their shoots towards there.

One good thing about Shooters was that they could shoot a big blast of energy up to one hex away if a Reaper first set up a target. Exactly like they just did.

“Let’s retreat. The enemy will arrive soon.”

They split in two groups and Judge took his group into a small tent. The other group continued running towards the hex boundary.

“Cast the veil. Quickly” said Judge. One of the Reapers casted the Foolamancy and they waited.

“I think I saw them enter this tent” said a voice just outside of the tent. A couple of knights entered the tent and started looking around. One of the knights passed right in front of them without noticing. Judge held his breath. The knights left the tent and the Reaper dismissed the veil.

“Let’s meet with the other group and hide for the rest of the turn” said Judge. As they exited the tent, they hit one of the knights who had checked the tent before.

“THEY’RE HERE!” he yelled.

“Tesla!” said Judge and a blast of energy hit the knight in the chest, knocking him prone.

The soldiers started to surround them. Judge had commanded the Reapers to stand down. They would lose that engagement no matter what, so they better save up their juice in case something happened. The caster defending the outpost arrived at grinned at the sight of his captured enemies.

“You are going to tell me exactly what is going on. I want to know what that madman is planning” asked the Healomancer very directly. Judge said nothing.

“Are you not going to talk then?” asked the caster. Now Judge grinned. He waited for more enemies to gather around. It would take the last of his juice, so he had to make it count.

“Yes” answered Judge in a weak voice as soon as enough enemy units were around them. The caster walked closer to him. “Manhattan…”

“Manhattan?” asked the Healomancer confused.

“… Little Boy Fat Man” said Judge in a quick manner. The enemy caster opened his eyes wide and yelled at his units to run as he mounted a sweetmander that was close by.

The ground under Judge’s feet became a glowing green color and he felt the heat go up from his feet up to the tips of his fingers. He himself was glowing in this bizarre energy.

Two hexes away, at the place they had trapped the enemy’s flyers by disguising their ravens and Gigaravens as ground units, VonKarma saw a mushroom cloud rising from the ground of the outpost.

“Judge must’ve encountered resistance” said Franziska. VonKarma nodded. He whistled at the Reaper mounted on the Gigaraven flying next to him. The Reaper answered the call and approached his warlord.

“I want you to call Mia. Tell her we’re going to use after all the secondary protocol.”

[Lefish]

We Are Saints #18: Dawn at the Mountain Pass
Issue #2: War of the Edges

The scouts had returned with a lot of Intel on the enemy forces disposition. Apparently, they had situated top stacks of heavy units surrounded by lots of infantry. These soldiers would serve as protection for the heavies. What they lacked in subtlety they had in excess of power. That tactic would be highly inefficient with an army of few numbers, but would be powerful if used by a side with many heavies and even more infantry. Many units would be croaked, but the heavies would have a shot at the wall. Their only goal was to breach the wall.

Leo walked in circles. He had sent nearly thirty Muses to scout and only five had returned. The enemy was strong indeed. Leo wished their Healomancer, White, was with him. That would make the battle even; but like this… it was going to be a massacre. King Stefano had told Leo that he would send reinforcements as soon as the siege in Fronts had been solved, but that problem had yet to be solved. He was alone. Who could he ask support from? The only units that could help him were Beverly’s forces to the south, and she was very grim lately. She would probably ignore his ask for help and continue guarding that stupid desert. Why was she there, anyway? No-one cared about that place. There was nothing else to do but to end turn.

A horn sound announced the end of turn and Leo sat down in a small wooden chair, waiting to hear from the enemy’s attack.

Nothing happened until noon, when one of the warlords under his command, Stella, hurried towards his tent.

“Chief, they’re here!” she yelled the moment she entered the tent. Leo stood up.

“Have we lost any units?” he asked. He called a nearby stack of spearmen and a couple of sweetmanders. When he left the tent, he was surprised to see everybody so calm.

“No, Lord. They came here to parley” said the warlord as she pointed to a small contingent of units near the ex boundary.

They seemed to be two warlords and a small group of sneakers.

“You know King Stefano’s orders: Croak, don’t parley” said chief warlord Leo.

“I know sir, but… don’t you think Lord Stefano is wrong?” said the female warlord.

This made Leo think.

“I know what you mean. Sometimes, it isn’t in the side’s best interests to trust its own ruler” said Leo thoughtful.

“Exactly” answered the warlord.

[Lefish]

We Are Saints #19: Secondary Protocol
Issue #2: War of the Edges

It was dawn and the beginning of their turn. Chief VonKarma was being extra careful in this mission. Lord Phoenix got very mad at him for taking all of his casters, and had threatened to disband Chief VonKarma if he didn’t return them all back in one piece.

Her chief warlord and Lord Wright were going through a rough patch. Rommel disobeyed his ruler’s orders more and more often, and Wright was very close to demoting VonKarma back to Warlord. Chief VonKarma had expressed more than once his desire to leave Phoenix. If things ended up like that, Mia would go with her Chief. Franziska would probably follow him, too. Mia only needed those two to be happy: her sister and her love.

Right now, Rommel needed her and she wouldn’t let him down. Once the Shooters had blasted a hole in the wall, Mia sent the ground column through the breach. The enemy would surely fall.

================================================================================================================

VonKarma was leading the air group. Being flyers, they could go through any place they wanted, but they shouldn’t go through the hottest side of the battle. That would only increase his side’s casualties. He saw Mia’s group advancing through the breach. That would make them send all of their forces to the breach, and VonKarma’s forces were going through the exactly opposite side.

They came through the lake hex, and VonKarma orders the ravens to fly low.

“Are you ready?” told VonKarma to Franziska. She nodded. Then, their group divided. Franziska, along with two elite Reapers jumped off their ravens. They were to extract Judge from the tent they were keeping him. VonKarma left the ravens in the edge of the water hex to wait for Franziska and the Reapers while he took the Gigaravens to aid Mia in her battle.

When he arrived, it was all chaos. His Reapers shot Shockamancy spells at high-level units. VonKarma headed directly to Mia’s stack. She was surrounded by elite Reapers. They were all at full hits, of course. Elite Reapers were the best of the best.

“Are you okay?” asked VonKarma. Mia looked up. He could see the unrest on her face “Don’t worry. We’re almost finished here”

And indeed they were. The enemy was perishing. Of course, the ground match had been even so far, but when the Gigaravens arrived it changed the tide of the battle completely. There were three archers on every Gigaraven, along with the knight riding the huge creature. The ground troops didn’t only have to suffer from the attacks by the archers, but also the slashes of the huge birds with four giant wings. The Gigaravens were smart by themselves, but with a commander leading them… they were a force to be reckoned.