[Be Gone] Ch 39 – King Gravity’s Compost Pit

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            Spells and Wards put in place popped and cracked, Seals ruptured and Spirits chained for unknown ages screamed and were set free... only to wail and die as vivus followed them to feast on the streams of power and death they represented.

            The Lords of the Tainted of the Shadowlands maintained their composure. Kuulch held onto a battlement, and let go the Black Axe driven into the stone to grasp Lady Nunivio and hold her there to watch with him, instead of fall and slide helplessly to her doom alone. The Bloodweaver seemed anchored to the stones beneath him, but that did not matter when the stones themselves groaned and began to fall away, towards the whiteness that was not being occluded as Tainted stone fell upon it, but was instead exploding in size!

            With a colossal, earth-shaking roar that swallowed any and all despairing screams, the entire Fortress Watunzusji slid sideways down and off the levered side beneath it, sending the other side even higher as it did so, until that side also began to crumble under its own weight and join the general plummet into the gaping hole below the Fortress.

            The massive cloud of dark dust that billowed forth as the whole structure collapsed was shot through with great fountains of unwhite mistfire burning through the entire thing. It destroyed the cloud’s momentum and sent glittering shards of congealed sand back to the ground in a sparkling rain. From the distance, it looked like a great scintillating flower had bloomed, and was slowly falling back to the Land.

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            The vivic flames, fed by the highest concentration of Taint to be found in this area, Burned thick and heavy as they reduced the heavy Tainted stone and everything within to glittering, fine sand, falling through the cracks and crevices to fan the vivus below like glowing embers.

            Walls, keep, towers, and all, the entirety of the Fortress, even the tunnels leading up to the sides of the pass and the towers therein, all collapsed into the gaping hole below, and unwhite flames crawled over the area, devouring any trace of Jigoku’s touch.

            A deep and melodic Hum rang over the area, Chords of magic echoed back and forth, and began to play. Deep in that pit of Burning stone, something began to take form.

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            Korbald paced forwards, eyes gleaming with new magic. Spirits fluttered around him and the aura of command he presented... and that single tine of a Crown of Fire he bore.

            He could see it now, even if the whispers of the Spirits didn’t make it plain. He trotted ahead, and several dozen Tigers followed suit, all of them afoot, needing no normal mounts to move with speed and energy through this blighted land.

            A land no longer within Jigoku’s influence.

            The Fortress and city of Watunzusji had been anchors of the influence of the demonic realm, magic from the Tainted welling up from below and helping spread its power, steadying and securing it.

            When that power was instead set on vivic fire, it wasn’t just losing an anchor point; it was severing a whole chunk of the area via the Road of Burning Jade, and empowering the Land to push it back even further!

            There was a stream of Taint in that burning pit that was instead pumping new power into the Land in a steady flow. From the city, a ring of vivic fire was starting to spread... especially backward along the Road of Burning Jade and towards the Fortress of the Iron Fangs, cleansing the Land of its Taint on the way.

            The general border of the Shadowlands had rippled and receded with the loss, and Korbald was following it now.

            He didn’t know how large the interior of the Shadowlands was, as Aelryinth had confirmed that there were definitely signs of dimensional stretching going on in there, but he and his men had come over ten miles, and the retreating border was still waiting further ahead of him!

            It was their biggest one-day gain yet, even greater than killing the Onisu and its army in terms of distance.

            All because Watunzusji was swept into King Gravity’s Land-feeding compost pit...

            He knew Aelryinth could manipulate an absolutely ridiculous amount of stone, and wasn’t even at his cap. Sands could be gathered and compressed into stone if you knew how to do so, and vivic-purified stone would be ideal for what the man had in mind.

            Starting a vivic blaze down low, establishing Barriers so word didn’t reach the surface in time, and then reforming all the underground structural supports so the fortress fell under its own weight had not been difficult for the dangerously determined Ringlord.

            As for the horrors Ael had found down there, Ael had only given him cursory descriptions, and Korbald hadn’t wanted to learn much more. The Damned knew full well how to abuse and Corrupt anything and everything in pursuit of power, and they had been happy to do so.

            They still had to burn all this ground with vivus to get rid of the Sin in it, but that was fine. With Permanent Walls of Fire with vivic Kickers, they could and were cleaning up dozens of square miles of land every day. It would likely take years and more to do it all correctly, but that was the price of the Duty of Fire.

            They could also Summon in some Nature Elementals to help, but none of his people were Druid Primaries, so they didn’t have the Caster Levels to anchor a Ritual to do so yet. Such were going to be necessary for restoring the wildlife of these lands, if nothing else.

            They would build another Obelisk to mark the retreat of the Shadowlands as the goblins and minor oni pulled back once again, and they would keep taunting those creatures in to fight, fight, and fight some more.

            As they died, the Land would feed, and the border would slowly retreat once again!

            If anyone was at the pit right now, they’d hear regular cracking and crunches. Some of them came from Tainted stones shattering and breaking down, but more were coming from great two-thousand-cubic-foot spheres of equally stained stone falling from the sides of the pass down long tubes and into the pit with many-tonned impacts, crushing and slamming the rubble below ever more and more compactly.

            Vivic flames crawled up the sides of the pass as a vivic inferno of burning stone blazed with heavy mist, and cleansing vapors billowed forth.

            Nothing was going to be crawling out of that pit.

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            Feature kept the surrounding landscape clear while I worked.

            I had invested a lot into him. In the game, I’d once had a hawkdragon as a Familiar, but I had lost it in an encounter with a swarm of firebats. The Karmic hit and penalties had left me absent of any such Companion until I could make it strong enough to survive without me taking direct care of it, with the result that I’d never gotten another one.

Hawkdragons hadn’t existed on Terra-Luna, and when the Land had picked something for me, well, a snake is what I ended up with. Hurray for optimization, ya?

            Giant snakes in magical games were often both poisonous AND constrictors, a combination not found in nature. Add in Eidolon and Natural Companion benefits to a Familiar, and you still get one impressive Familiar.

            Take the Companion Master Advanced Class along with the Theurgic Stacking Feats, which gave your buddy a bunch of extra Familiar/Companion Feats, and it got even better.

            Most importantly, once my Familiar also became an Eidolon, he couldn’t really die. Even if the Land would supply me with another Familiar, I didn’t want to sacrifice Feature if I could at all help it. Him becoming my Bound Eidolon just meant I had to feel less guilty about using him, and he was more than intelligent enough to decide on how he wanted to serve me.

            He wanted to fight and help me out. That was his job and his role, and he was very proud of it. He knew that his power stemmed from his status as my Familiar, and if he was Bound to obey me, he also knew that I would not order him to do anything he was not truly willing to do.

            I knew he was willing to die for me. He knew the Land could just assign me another Companion, and he knew his duty and place. He was very powerful, and he was very proud of that power and his ability to help me out.

            I had never relied on him like I had recently. The thought that I had been protecting him from harm didn’t make him indignant or angry. He understood that I didn’t want to exploit him or force him to endure undue pain.

            But this was his choice, and he was glorying in the help he could give me now.

            Mastery of the Bond raised the level at which he could share my Buffing spells, from touch to ten feet, to ten yards, to a hundred yards, to a thousand feet, to a full mile. It also added a mile per Tier to the distance I could see out his eyes without effort, as well as maintain an effortless Eidolon link. We could chat effortlessly, and I could see what he was going to fight, and give what advice he might need.

            Mostly he didn’t need any advice. After all, he’d been watching me kill stuff for years, and I always talked about the what and why with him. He was fully capable of breaking down an Assay and understanding what it meant, comparing himself to them, and doing what was prudent.

            He was a snake, not a dragon, even in Dracoform. Overbearing ego, arrogance, and pride were not part of his character... although he was perfectly able to pretend they were if it was useful to do so!

            Being able to use my Wrath while I was not doing so was also a very nice boon to him in all respects, giving him a punch that a True Dragon would have to work to equal. A blast of Dragonwrathfire was not something anything but the most obdurate of demons could survive.

            Part of my mind remained connected with him at all times, while other thoughtstreams were speaking with Korbald and the people slowly being brought into the Markspace as the Marks spread; first among the humans, then slowly to their spouses and children, and then to Vassals and other followers.

            There was no Allegiance link between us, but my position at the top of the Markspace was bloody obvious to everyone.

            The last point was doing that very essential yet too-often overlooked responsibility of being the Good Guy... proper clean-up.

            Also, set-up for my final hand. Burying this pit under a million tons of stone spheres was just an opening play, after all. What came up out of this pit was going to terrify the shit out of the Shadowlands!

            In addition, I had to put up a few Obelisks in this area and back along the Road of now-White Jade. The Bears wanted to put a forward base in this area, especially since it was now blazing with vivus and very good at punishing anything Tainted that wanted to bother them.

            Mmm, that meant I should put up some basic fortifications for them...

            -Korbald, are you going to spread the Marks to any of the Horse or Bear?- I /asked him as he was in the midst of a goblin slaughter hundreds of miles north of me.

            He wasn’t doing much of the slaughtering himself, more securing the flanks so the goblins didn’t get clever while the younger fighters got themselves some easy Karma, and the discipline that had been hammered into them showed its value. The disorganized and demoralized goblins repeatedly crashed into their lines and were repelled by Spears, Swords, and locked Shields, heaping burning piles of the creatures in front of the squads and teams, while the stronger and more elite went roving in Cleaving swirls of fury and death, and Archers on raised Disks sent out hammering volleys of doom.

            Watching an elite Archer impale ten goblins with one shot was always entertaining.

            -The Iron Bear is an Eighteen, and most of his generals and the daimyos are Twelve and higher. Likewise with the Horselord, although he’s a Fifteen. Do you think that is wise?- he /asked in return.

            -They are Ironskulls,- I /answered simply. -You’re Deep. Do you truly think that they are your equals, when for fifty years they’ve been watching in disbelief as the Tigers grew stronger and stronger?-

            -I’m more worried about the political implications when they realize just how much stronger we are than they are. You can’t hide that fact in Markspace, while in real life they can comfort themselves that we aren’t all that impressive.-

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