TS

...Oops. Had Orcs on the brain.

Nomads, Day 52

The Orc leader's location after his hasty retreat from his tower was easy enough to see, considering he joined his forces that had hopped over to try and flank the Nomad capital.

What he did not know was that a very large Nomad army was emerging from recent conquests in the Shadow realm and had easy access to his army via a different teleporter. A balloon carried a portion of that army, two Sphinx and 5 Syron Giants, and they easily slaughtered the hapless Orc leader. One Sphinx fell during the orc's furious defense, but another convinced one of the warlords to join what would obviously be the winning side. Skulkan went down shortly after and the battle came to a close.

Ke'nan learned something new: if you defeat an enemy wizard in combat while he has no towers (thus eliminating him), then the battle immediately ends in a Draw and the attacking forces have their movement zeroed out. An Iron Maiden rode out from the Nomad capital and provided the coin necessary to convince the now leaderless Wazzzz that perhaps the Nomads would make for better masters.

In the meantime, other balloons ferried a large force over toward the Shadow Demon's capital. While the Shadow Demon leader was surrounded on virtually all sides and would almost definitely fall next turn, the decision was made to try and end their resistance now with the 3 heroes that had the movement to reach the city. The heroes were successful, though by the sounds of it one of them fell in the fighting.

All resistance has been ended. The Nomads stand victorious over an impressively diverse empire.

GG, TS

First round of screenshots.

And the rest of the screenshots are now attached.

Welp, that didn't go according to plan. At least I killed a sphinx :P

GG!

Should've kept my lords at home. The end result would've been the same, but still.

GG

Orcs: the final days
An epilogue to catastrophe: In which I provide some overdue closure to my tl;dr turn logs

It was now 24 hours since the fighting had ceased. The city was in a dire state, on the verge of collapse, and the elation of victory over a tyrant was soon overcome by some harsh realities.

Grar was addressing a session of the High Council turned Provisional Government:"It is essential that we tear down the wizard's statue in the square. It was a ghastly symbol of his yoke over us. All in fa-"

"I do not wish to be facetious, sir, but the statue collapsed late last night as a result of flimsy construction methods- sped along of course by the excitement happening around it. The sculptor himself appears to have fled eastwards," pointed out Tallock.

"Hmm, fair point. Now, to the military situation...", replied Grar, followed by a long pause in which the sound of collapsing buildings and screaming could be heard from the balcony behind him. The city brewery's roof had just caved in.

The general, standing proud in his resplendent red cape as the new effective leader of the Orcs, laid a map across the council room's circular table. It was complicated-looking, full of convoluted arrows and abstract depictions.

"As you are all aware, Skulkan's foolish policy of appeasement toward the Nomad threat is at an end, but our new policy has provoked a reaction from those desert vultures. Right now our home army has joined the western garrison in a defensive action, which should afford us some time to strike. Right here you can see the routes through this area's teleportation network... at least those that we have found over the past two months." He pointed at various intersections and representations on the map, making a few ministers scratch their heads, before carrying on. "I show you this because I am about to enact Operation Djinn."

"And what, pray, is Operation Djinn?!" demanded the Master of Magic incredulously, with an eyebrow raised so high that it met his messy grey hair.

"I can tell you. I put it together."

All turned to face the Spymaster, who rarely spoke at meetings. Tallock thought him a venal fool, who had adopted the scar-ridden, eye-patch wearing and cane-carrying look to appear more mysterious and experienced than he really was.

"Through a series of teleporter jumps, we carry our army and entire populace to a position south-west of the Nomad capital and rendezvous with Wazzz's loyal troops there, while our allies of convenience the Demons provide a distraction. My spies inform me that Kenan currently resides at home, vulnerable."

"And what if Kenan also has armies behind the teleporters?", demanded Tallock.

"We all know the Nomads are far too stupid to know how to work those things," sneered the spymaster, "nevertheless, the only way we beat the bastards is by becoming just as mobile as they are. Grar agrees with me that sitting around in our lands for so long has made us vulnerable; a mere convenience to suit that lazy old fool of a wizard."

The debate was interrupted by an echo of feet pounding down on the stone slabs outside. All turned to watch as the door slammed open, and a panting messenger ground to a halt in front of the assembled ministers.

"The Nomads have broken through our defences! There were too many of them!" he cried.

---

A vast horde of orcish civilians streamed forward, flanked on either side by surviving regiments of the nation's armies. Their destination was clear: the Nomad capital, and victory. But upon closer examination, the army was rugged, tired, poorly-equipped. Many were defeated and demoralised contingents from past campaigns, some were former outlaws, opportunistic mercenaries, unwilling conscripts and glorified policemen with little experience, or units whose political allegiance and motivations were so suspect that they had to be escorted under guard as if they were prisoners.

Wazzz sat up front on horseback, also surrounded like a prisoner by the rest of army command, and himself uncharacteristically sombre. He watched Skulkan's apparently lifeless body be carried past on a reclining chair and continued to reflect on recent events. It wasn't that he saw Skulkan's rule as perfect; he agreed there'd been the need for a change in leadership. What offended him was that Grar and the others had isolated him and done it behind his back, apparently not trusting him, and this was compounded by Grar's recent lies, with the Supreme Commander claiming to Wazzz that he himself had murdered Skulkan. No doubt this was intended to scare his former rival into submission, but it'd had the opposite effect.

Mere hours later, the army was ambushed from behind by a nomad army, which had rushed through the teleporter network. The battle proceeded precariously, but the orcish lines held for a while, before the disgruntled Wazzz and a full third of the Orc army abruptly changed sides mid-battle. Soon the Orcish nation and its dreams were mere history; its leaders unaccounted for, believed to have fled.

"And that, my dear students, concludes my tale of wrath and pride, iniquity and foolishness. A lesson for you all in the past flaws and folly of our peoples, on the turbulent nature of Wizards' politics and the ruthless world outside these doors.", concluded Shaman Crullock, with a sigh.

"Nor was I untouched by these events, as you have all seen.". The old man limped across the lecture hall, staring across at the young, green-skinned students of magic assembled there.

"And what happened to Skulkan? Does anyone know?", asked a student.

"No, but there are stories. Long after Torshor and its kingdom had been occupied by the nomads... and I assure you their rule was only temporary, before another set of wizardly warlords arrived in that volatile place and the battle for the land of flame began anew... many reported seeing him around the wizard's tower at strange times, and only for a few seconds before he vanished again. I theorise that he escaped to another pocket dimension and was thereafter chased through countless magical realms by that... thing I told you about, never quite managing to return to our world. The gods themselves have chosen to hound that tyrant, and only when they become bored may he escape their vengeance."

Crullock waved his hand vaguely in the direction of the students. "But that's a topic for someone else to explore, preferably someone younger than me. My story is at an end... and this class is dismissed."