1st turn sent out.

1 week grace period on turn playing, 48 hr turnaround on turns won't start until next Thur.

first turn sent. Now, gotta think of a theme for these logs...

Going skiing this weekend. Will play the turn on Sunday.

Handy Harry day 1

I have prepared for this since the devil gave us another chance. Despite that, I have not decided how I should play my cards. Should I go through the gates of hell to pick up Satans Carkeys, or do I go for Robbies head??
Headless Jack might be happy for a new one...

Good day.Picked up a tool that may come in handy...

ts

Sly Robbie, Day 1

Cold. That was the first thing I noticed. Then it was the wind, whistling through the ruins. I was in an abandoned city, its buildings slowly crumbling into dust, bones littering its streets and doorways.

But I was not alone.

Here and there, there was movement. I could see foul shapes moving. The dead. The dead were coming to me as if summoned. They did not threaten, they stood at attention, as if I were their king.

Then, with a rush, it all came back. The desperate deal I made with the devil, and how it all went wrong. He owns my soul now, I know that. All I have left is my body, a body left with one more chance to redeem itself. Should I succeed, my body and soul will be rejoined, free to find salvation in the rest of my life. Should I fail... well, I choose not to think about that right now.

But I am not alone. My former partner in crime, Handy Harry, made the same deal. He failed just as me, and was given the same second chance. I remember us both, in the Devil's audience, as he consented to give us one more game.

And now, I stand here, and as loathsome as I view these vile servants, I begin marshaling them to their objectives. Some darkelves are recruited, three mines are taken, a crypt is explored and a useful item is recovered. Already, my following grows with the addition of a human swordsman, a minotaur, a dwarven engineer.

I can have no sentimentality for my old partner. No, Harry must die. Or rather, his body must be destroyed, and his soul damned for all eternity, if my own is to ascend. I wish it could be otherwise, but facing the horror that awaits me should I fail, I can suffer no sympathy for Harry or any others in these lands that should stand in my way.

Onward, my minions, slay all those in your path...

Handy Harry day 2

The recruitment site surpises me with good units. Should I spend my money here or another place? I flip coins several times today to make up my mind...

ts

Sly Robbie, Day 2

How quickly I grow accustomed to the horrors around me. The undead surround me everywhere I go. It has become commonplace for me to watch them cut down the living, I no longer bat an eye. I was never one for obeying the law, mind you, but I never hurt people. I considered myself an honourable theif, actually. But the threat of eternal damnation has worked something on me. I no longer have much feeling for the living, and I seek only to claw my way to the surface, to the light, no matter who I drag down on my way.

Or perhaps it is merely the effect of having my soul rest in the devil's claws. Perhaps without it I simply lack the empathy to care for those my minions kill.

The darkelves I recruited are the only company I care to keep. My undead, of course, do not talk. Except for the vampires, but even they are not pleasant to talk to. Those seduced or enslaved talk only of their masters, fawning over them as dogs. No, the drow are so far the only living, free beings to join my cause. They are a people of bitterness, and in them I find kindred spirits.

As for our campaign? Two more undead warriors were enslaved, an archer and a swordsman. A halfling on a pony that dared approach my city was seduced, and a powerful black knight was hired out of an abandoned shack. There are more lurking in there that I shall hire tomorrow. The Knight made good his wage by slaughtering draconians guarding some building resources, resources which promptly went to the construction of a more powerful military base in the town. Soon, horrors shall walk the land that the living have not even conceived of in their nightmares. But as for me, tonight I sleep.

It is funny, but since I fell into the Devil's hand, I do not ever dream. There is something too, about the soul and dreaming. I fear what I am becoming, but must place all hope on first regaining my life, then upon redeeming myself. For now, if death shall serve, death it shall be.

Handy Harry day 3

My trapping is not working as planned, and I will be deayed because of some infidels I have to hunt down.

Hope tomorrow will be better.

ts

Handy Harry day 4

Had the urge to do some gambling. We'll see the outcome tomorrow morning.

ts

Sly Robbie, Days 3-4

My chief general, P.Q., grows stronger by the day. He is mute like almost all the other undead that serve me, so I cannot ask what his initials stand for. The bladedancer jokes that it means he is polite.

On his first day in my service, he looted a graveyard, and found a most interesting tool. Later, the dwarven engineer P.Q. enslaved would confirm that it is a dwarven tool for the repair of machines. But there was an additional lever which he did not recognize. Upon pushing this lever, a net suddenly sprang out of the device. Obviously magical, as there was not enough room in the tool to contain such a thing. What is more, the net has the effect of draining the independent will of those encased in it, so that they often become enslaved to whomever entrapped them.

P.Q. has by now amassed quite the following, including the dwarf, an elf, and two minotaurs. He also enslaved two skeletal warriors, but they had little resistance to our cause. It is most strange to see the peoples of good follow this wraith. P.Q. is little more than a pile of bones held together by rags, but he grow stronger by the day.

Fortune has favoured me, perhaps. The other day, my warriors captured a magic catalyst, and upon completion of the spell I was researching, I found a mighty spell in its place. Now, if only I had the research and mana income to use it! But there may be time yet, and the wait would be worth it.

My luck held further as one of my death knights approached an altar of the spirit of nature. I am familiar with the whims of this spirit. Who is not? She will ruin entire economies if obeyed, calling for the razing of all manner of mines and mills. But today she only asked me to kill infidels, a task I much prefer. However, one of the infidels is a powerful unit, and if it could be trapped, would prove an asset.

I am starting to grow accustomed to this life. The cold no longer bothers me, and the horror of my followers produces only the occaisional twinge of fear. But where, oh where, is Harry?

Handy Harry day 5

The gamble went in my favour, and finally things are going more like I planned...

Finished off the infidels, and got a nice item as a reward.

ts

Sly Robbie, Day 5

What a strange turn of events. Today I sent my undead legions against many targets. Most of them were intended to hurry along my spell research. To this effect I require both catalysts, but also mana income, as I currently run a deficit of 20 mana to keep my research running fast. But I was given a quest to hunt infidels by the spirit of order. Upon completion of the quest, as the infidels lay dying, the spirit sent its reward. Three figures descended from the heavens, in a blazing aura of holy light. What I have done to deserve such servants is beyond me, but they are powerful allies against my former partner and current rival, Handy Harry, whom I know will employ the same undead legions. One unit in particular offers infinitely interesting possibilities. But it is a hard job to keep such warriors happy, as they object strongly to serving in an army of the damned. Perhaps even they do not understand the purpose of the spirit of order in sending them to me.

Gold becomes increasingly scarce. I am sustained by that which I find on the ground or loot from ruins and tombs. But my gold deficit makes my mana deficit look mild in comparison. However, the potential of my newest soldiers, combined with an overabundance of low-level fighters, and the proximity of a powerful stack of defenders brings a desperate plan into mind. Should I be able to pull off such a maneuver, many infantry and archers would die, but a powerful new unit could be mine, solving my gold situation and increasing my odds against both Harry and the Devil.

As I lay down for yet another night of dreamless sleep, my head races with plans...

Sly Robbie, Day 6

Took a good look at my standard today and discovered that it was not in fact purple, but rather blue. My sight is fading, I fear. The world around me pales into mist. I feel myself becoming a wraith, the world of the dead and the damned seeping into the edges of my waking mind. But who could not feel oneself to be in the land of the dead in such an environment. My territory is a wasteland, where only volcanos and the dead may find a home.

Today was somewhat slower than recently. PQ attacked another spell vault, enslaving only a mummy. That is just as well, for there is no money to support any new troops. I don't know for what reason this landscape is dotted with so many spellbooks and vaults. I suspect the devil is shaping this conflict to his own amusement. My other troops move into position for a deadly battle either today or tomorrow.

How the wind howls. I feel it echo in the emptiness of my heart. How long till I am no more than the skeletons in my service?

Handy Harry day 6

Went for a risky battle with four units. I knew that it could go both ways, but there were no reinforcements nearby. The result was a disaster for me as the four units were all killed.

ts

Sly Robbie, Day 7

Am I becoming evil? I never thought of myself as evil, though I certainly had no qualms about breaking the law. But day by day, I find my humanity slipping away. I think ceaselessly of the murder of Handy Harry, a man whom until recently I had regarded as something of a friend. Now I seek only his death.

But his is not the only death that I face, for countless others are slaughtered simply for standing in between myself and Harry, or for obstructing me in my quest for the power necessary to kill my former partner. Witness the elves and dwarves I slaughtered today. I never bore their people any grudge before, but I ordered my forces to slay them today. I did not even bother to enslave them to my army, for I cannot afford their upkeep. No, they were simply killed and left to rot. If another should play the devil's game, then perhaps their bodies shall find service as undead warriors for another damned soul.

I ponder these things not out of any moral anguish, but merely out of curiosity. For any feeling with which I formerly would have considered such matters is long since dead in me. I wonder what the devil's aim is in this game me and Harry are playing? I fight to save my soul, but in doing so only damn myself further. I wallow in blood towards salvation. Shall there be anything left of me even should I succeed? I do not know. I can only hope that should I win, and should the devil release my soul from his grasp, that all that once made me human shall return.

Until then, it is foul deeds in the dark. Today I enslaved a new 'pet' that shall surely be Harry's undoing. It is hard to keep it happy, but it will perhaps bend to my will if given the right food...

[This message has been edited by JamesEde (edited 12-13-2009 @ 02:22 AM).]

Handy Harry day 7

I fear that my opponent has enlisted some real strong units to send for me. I am therefore working hard to set up a welcome committee.

ts

Sly Robbie, Day 8

Another grey day. The sun never shines upon these lands. It is all the ash vomited into the air by the volcanoes. How could life ever thrive in such wastes? No wonder one finds none but the dead here. It is undoubtedly the proximity of the gates of Hell that causes such a blight. The lands of the damned seep their foul magic out to wither and corrupt all life in the area.

But while life may be in short supply, minerals are not. Having broken through the tower guards yesterday, I find a valley rich with mines and loot. I would like to think that this wealth shall solve my gold problems, but alas, I know that I shall merely use it to build my army to larger yet more unsustainable numbers. PQ and his knights liberated an orc stronghold today, and began recruiting from the many strong greenskins inside. It is nice to hire evil units again, and avoid the morale problems of these archons and others.

My research finished today. I begin the casting of a spell that shall doom Harry and deliver my soul. It shall take a long time to cast, but the catalysts littered about shall speed the process.

What is this I feel? A dark eagerness, an excitement grows in me. I had thought all emotions to have been purged from me with my soul, but I find it not so. It seems that only certain emotions have left me. Others, such as hatred, anger, lust for violence, remain. I wonder, does the devil really offer me a chance for redemption? Or does he merely seek a new demon for his bidding? For that is what I fear I am becoming. Should I even succeed in defeating Harry and entering Hell, shall I do so to gain my soul, or merely to lay my sword at the dark lords feet?

Handy Harry day 8

Learned a couple of new spells, but nothing useful.

No sign of Robbie yet.

ts

Sly Robbie, Days 9-10

Yes, blood. It flows freely over the lands now. It has come to be that the sight of death is the only thing that stirs me at all, and I come to clutch at this sensation as a drowning person might to the others around them, uncaring for their plight and focused only on one more desperate gasp of air. Yes, death has become the only way to stir life out of me. Otherwise, I sink into a cold listlessness in which I feel nothing, neither emotionally nor by senses. The world grows dim and shrouded as in a grey mist, and I find my sense of hearing, of sight, of touch grow less. Food has lost all appeal to me, and I eat only to sustain this body, in the hope that someday it shall regain the inner fire that animates it. I am a walking corpse traveling these lands, dependent on the murder of others to keep some semblance of my living personality with me.

There can be no doubt that in offering us this last chance, the devil has truly gained a profitable bargain. For one of us is damned to all eternity, that much is sure. If the other should gain his soul's freedom, no great loss. For there are countless others laying dead in that victors wake, and such sins shall surely be impossible to erase should he even attempt redemption. The devil will have his own, in the end. These past days I discern a difference in the sensation that each battle brings. Where the slain are of an evil persuasion, I feel only a little warmth. Where they are the undead, I feel nothing at all. But where they are either neutral or good races, a warm glow wells up in me. In freeing a dungeon, I slaughtered four archons, and was treated to such a surge of joy that I felt possessed. And lo and behold, what creature emerges from there? A demon, laughing at its freedom and at the carnage it shall now surely inflict upon the innocent. Surely I have been sent back to do the devil's work.

And the worst thing? I care not a bit, even should my brief time in these lands bring untold evil to its inhabitants, to the very world even. All this and more would I gladly deliver, were it only to buy me but a brief respite from the chill of death and the flames of damnation.

Tomorrow, the dawn shall be red...

[This message has been edited by JamesEde (edited 12-16-2009 @ 01:54 AM).]

Handy Harry day 9-10

I am doing progress on several fronts, but not as fast as I hoped for. An important mission that has been delayed will hopefully be completed tomorrow, and some other interesting stuff to... I hope to get my hands on a very powerful unit.

ts

Handy Harry day 11

I failed in my attempt to get a powerful unit. It will take some days before I can give it another try.

Today I finally freed the prisoners. My second try and way too late.

Things are not going my way, but at least I have some strenght on one front.

ts

Handy Harry day 12

The assassination of Sly robbie...

With the help of a watchtower, I've been following the location of Sly Robbie for some days now. He has been hanging around up North near the dungeon. In the meantime I have moved my best stack of troops closer and closer in the underground.

Yesterday I sent my hasted hero to the surface to check him out. I could then spot 14 units ready to go for the dragons lair. As suspected he had been given a Saint as a quest reward earlier in the game. Amongst them were also a succubus and a beholder.
This day I was not able to attack them.

Today I found them at the training arena. It seemed like he expected an attack, so I suppose he has spotted me in the underground. Anyway, his troops were far better than what I could attack with. He was standing there with 18 units.
Amongst them a red dragon (as I feared), a great wyrm and a newly resurrected basilisk. I could only reach them with 7 of mine. Two heroes, two black nights, one karagh, one big beetle and a death knight. A lot of Sly Robbies units were wounded while mine were all healed and maxed up with enchant weapon and fury. Anyway, it was clearly a suicide mission, if not...
It could be I had a small chance to kill the wizard and win the game. I noticed that he had an item with resurgence, but that can't work on him or could it...???

Alot of things were going through my mind:
If I pull back I expect Sly Robbie to slowly win this game. He has better forces than me and a much better possibilty to get more strong units joining in. In the long run he will crush me. Also because of mistakes made in other areas of the game.

The fact slowly entered my mind. My best chance to win would be to attack now. I closed my eyes as I gave the order. The coin was thrown in the air. I opened my eyes and... Sly Robbie is defeated!!!

A sneak attack gives me the victory over my stronger enemy. Sly Robbie is killed by the karagh in my counter attack, and the battle is over.



Thanks for the game James, real good play from your side, but unfortunately for you I had some luck there in the end...

Wow.... game over so soon.... Exciting and Congratulations (I was so enjoying the posts).

Wow.... gotta get your thoughts on this game, both of you.... and send screen shots and commentary too if you want and I'll try and put together some video coverage!

So.... Costa looks like he is returning to the finals! Congrats!

Rats. Really thought I had a chance here. Oh well, I believe I end my tournament run exactly where I predicted I would.

Good game Costa, though I feel I hardly got to know you as an opponent. Our first, last and only battle decided the match. I take comfort in the thought that I threatened you enough to force you into a risky battle.

I didn't take screenshots, unfortunately. But I can give a rundown of the game for me. Pretty standard stuff, with me trying to enslave and seduce all i could in the first rounds. A couple of turning points, first when Wyrm came up in my spellbook on day 3. This led me to pump all my magical energies into researching and then casting this, which I managed to do on my last turn. THe other one was recieving a saint from the spirit of order. This enabled me to get some powerful units, but they were always on the verge of death, and I hadn't enough healers to cure 'em. And I didn't want to backtrack to the healing waters behind me. So I was a bit unprepared for an attack. I actually had no intention of going after you. I felt I had enough firepower to move on the carkeys, with a smaller but tough, fast force to guard my homeland. I was just about to turn that direction now that I had picked up the basilisk.

And I enjoyed writing these logs, moving away from comedy into tragedy. I guess Sly will now go down to claim his rightful place as one of the devil's chief demons. That was where he was headed barring a miracle, anyways. Of course, the Spirit of Order tried to save him, by sending the saint, but the devil had cleverly placed a demon in a dungeon that Sly freed, counteracting the saint's influence. And the loss of his soul was simply too much of a corrupting factor. Sly grew to enjoy his murdering too much. Better that Harry shall redeem himself by vanquishing the evil thing Robbie was becoming.

I really enjoyed this tournament, my first, and look forward to the next. One thing it got me was publicity, so that my fantasy trivia has never been more popular. That Athach question had been up there for months. Maybe now I can go back to my original plan to sell my signature line as advertising space...

james.

My last log, I had written earlier and was planning to post when i read the news.

Sly Robbie, Days 11-12

Another day dawns for the damned. My undead roam this land, killing many, enslaving some. We know have a motley following in our dark entourage. Archons, nomads, creatures of all sorts. Many barely cling to life after the battles that brought them into my service. Some follow with the glazed and empty expressions of my undead, while others, such as my lone remaining archon servant, require constant vigilance if their loyalty is to be maintained.
I wonder what the purpose of the spirit of order was in sending me such a holy warrior. Part of me, the little part that remains human, hopes that it is the spirit’s purpose in lending me such a powerful servant to see me achieve my salvation. But it could just as easily be the fickle whims of an unknowable deity.

In any case, this servant has now provided me with two very powerful units, and an equal number of other strong warriors. So I keep him on a short leash, both psychologically and literally. A great deal of my powers as a wizard are employed in keeping his will weakened sufficiently that he will remain in my service. Even then, I find it necessary to surround him with many of my stronger, loyal servants.

Word comes from PQ that he has enslaved many new servants, and hired many of the strong orc warriors. His army grows as does mine. And lo, a new general appeared outside the gates of my capital. He shall be given a place of honour in my army, and many mighty items to assist him in his conquests.

And his help is greatly needed, for I sense the time is imminent for myself and my former friend, Harry, to come to blows. I know he lurks nearby, for I find myself in diplomatic contact with him. Yet neither I, nor any of my followers, even those blessed with true-seeing, have seen aught of any movement from Harry’s forces. They must play a game of stealth, setting traps. So I order my forces to form up, to stick together. I finish the summoning of a powerful creature, and use the remaining mana to enchant my forces.

But such strategy slows our expansion, and gold and mana remain in deficit. I will have to find new sources of income to maintain my troops. Blood alone cannot sate their appetites, nor can it sustain my spells and the many creatures I have bound to myself through my magic. Our conquest moves forward on the edge of this knife, between strength and desperation. So much for my soul, I move forward with little more control than as one carried by the tide. Harry, or myself. One must perish, and I am determined to continue drinking the sweet draught of life, even should I risk further damning my soul in the process.

Some comments about my strategy and the game:

My main objective was to gather a fast moving stack of troops and send them to the underground. I saved money to buy the goblin town and the dark elf town. I was rewarded with a big beetle, and that helped me to dig out some money underground. I was able to buy the goblin town with karagh on day 8 and dark elf town with incarnate on day 10. All this went as planned.

JamesEde revealed in the logs (between the lines) that he had been rewarded with a saint. This stressed me abit because I expected him to resurrect the red dragon and other strong units. My plan was to possess a saint as a respond to this. I was however tempted to possess a Chaos Lord guarding a death node near the dark elf town. I set this fight up in the editor for some testing, and it worked out fine, but when I tried for real, I ended up losing the incarnate.

This forced me to be agressive, and to go for a quick kill of the wizard.