Theme Music: https://soundcloud.com/themost...s/really-slow-motion
The last bastion of the goodly races. The final home of the hungry masses, crying for heroes, crying for help! Crying for freedom, revenge, crying for a chance at a life without the oppressive, spreading, ever dominating presence of all those terrible, evil monsters clawing at the Duke's barrier day after day, raiding all the farms that spread beyond the barrier to attempt to feed the hungry bellies of the citadel's four hundred thousand residents and denizens.
The domains of the human races have been defeated, crushed and conquered year after year by the rolling tide of evil from all directions of the map. The evil is in no way coordinated, each faction fighting among themselves in a never-ending war, yet collaborating in the wholesale slaughter of the goodly races of Ildoth. The gods have finally begun moving, designating champions to move forward and push back, throwing open the veil of darkness with blessed, holy light and hope!
The fight began with the fall of Citadel Gravegarden. The chosen heroes, pumped full of godly might cast back the invading armies of over two hundred thousand undead and giantkin from the long-lost citadels Rattlebone and Stronggiant. The heroes, ten thousand in total, pushed back and routed the force of evil! The ground ran with the blood and juices of the giants, the gravedust and smashed bones of the undead.
The heroes fought valiantly and finally routed the mighty forces of the monsters only to turn around and find a third force approaching. The voice of the gods themselves could be heard, rumbling in the lands, calling for everyone to flee.
"Flee, mortals. Live, fight, return!" The heroes knew they could not turn their backs on the many children, wounded, and weak in the citadel. They had to rescue them!
The sky was blotched by a colossal void in the shape of a dragon. Soaring around it were thousands of smaller, spherical voids. The heroes immediately rushed into the citadel while their commander directed the evacuation of the last bastion of humanity, they would have to escape, to flee through the monster infested wildland between Citadel Gravegarden and rush, run, guide the survivors to Citadel Liskivan, the multiracial citadel protected by the Duke himself.
The party was forced to be part of the evacuation, guiding the weak, the injured, the children, out from the citadel while the rest of the heroic forces engaged the strange dragon-shaped void. Before the first arrow was shot, it identified itself. It declared in a deep, mighty baritone, its voice shaking the ground and blowing trees from their stumps in a roar,
"I AM ACTIO! Dragon of Annihilation!" His strange, dimensionless chest puffed up, noticeably larger. The citadel was full of experienced heroes, none had heard of this dragon, ever. Yet, they all pushed, shoved, and did their best to rush the hundreds of thousands of people out of the citadel.
The sky went dark.
Actio the Dragon of Annihilation roared out a cone of pure void and swept the citadel with it. Everything was destroyed in a blink, leaving the citadel wiped clean of all matter, all energy, all magic, all existence except for the void in the shape of a dragon. The cone extended far beyond the indestructible Plotolum walls of the citadel, shaving the trees in all directions above the walls and vaporizing the exposed portions of the nearby mountains. One began erupting in long, low rumbles. That region is still experiencing earthquakes. All in the air were lost in that sweep as the dragon settled into the citadel, the many void shaped orbs around him began shooting out in all directions, leaving him with a handful nearby.
The party experienced the loss of over three hundred thousand of their people, and of all the heroes besides themselves. They and twenty thousand refugees arrived at Citadel Liskivan.
Citadel Liskivan is a six bastion starfort with fifty-foot-tall walls. The citadel is twelve miles wide and is surrounded by farmland on all sides. The farms work hard to provide for the 400,000 residents of the last home on Ildoth of the good races.
The citadel is full of all sorts of people, species, and races. There are temples to every god known, and many unknown. The Duke himself is seen daily getting coffee at a small coffee shop in the citadel. He is known for giving an ear to those in need, and making deals. The gods are active through their clergy at the various temples and provide many services that the tired, frightened, population need for a bit of respite.
There are shortages of many things, materials, foods and goods. If the influence of the bastion is extended, and the new land protected, the citadel will improve. The citadel is a small constitutional republic with a representative democracy.
This message was last edited by the user at 14:30, Tue 30 Aug 2016.
