Fiction SoB-The Legions of Los'tmabo'tl-FINISHED AT LAST (1st draft)

Re: SoB-The Legions of Los'tmabo'tl-Ch22 vs Nurgle and Khorn

oooh. stagger them please. I like the cliffhanger.

 

Re: SoB-The Legions of Los'tmabo'tl-FINISHED AT LAST (1st dr

Chapter 23 - The False Moon

Rodekhil Offaleater joined his companions halfway along the temple bridge. The chaos moon was at its zenith. It hung so low overhead that it almost filled the eye of the unnatural storm above the Great Maw.

Welhung had returned to his wife. Hellun herself was now barely conscious, her brow glistened with sweat and her eyes were rolled back.

Four lizardmen stood in an arc in front of the Slann's floating throne. The fifth, Caneghem, knelt before his Lord and proffered the cube from the solar engine.

Taisteslaikch'ken lifted his hands forward and it rose from the skink priest's hands. He raised his arms until the cube floated above his palanquin. The Slann Mage Priest spoke a command. It was not in the common tongue, the language of the lizardmen, nor even the secret language of the Slann. The command was given in the ancient tongue of the Old Ones themselves.

The floating cube had not previously shown any seam or irregularity on its surface. Now it's edges split with gradually widening lines of painful yellow light. The six planes retained their orientation as they drifted apart above the Slanns head and they revealed a hard bright orb, like a tiny star, which remained trapped within their bounds.

"Yield the tokens," Taisteslaikch'ken commanded.

Bob and Joe gaped at him in confusion. Rychek and Mahtis looked around for something to offer.

Only Caneghem understood. He lifted the Dark Magic Pendant of Khaeleth from around his neck. The Slann kept one spidery hand aloft, telekinetically holding the components of the cube in place. With his other hand he mimicked a grasping and twisting motion toward the pendant.

The pure black heart of the gem screeched like a blade being drawn down glass. Its protest was in vain. It could not resist being torn free, leaving Caneghem holding a bauble with a clear white gem. With obvious effort, Taisteslaikchken reeled in the black spark, which twisted and fought until he had managed to force it into the space between the planes.

The spark of dark magic zinged between the walls of its open prison. Whenever it approached the tiny star, Rodekhil felt a pressure build inside his skull.

Mahtis caught on. He raised the Rune Hammer o' Anti Magic in salute to his lord. Taisteslaikchken made a gesture, like two fingers delicately picking a ripe berry, and the golden dwarven rune on the face of the hammer peeled off. It floated two dimensionally in the heavy air. The slann drew it into the cube.

The pressure inside Rodekhil's head doubled. Within the confines of the open cube, starlight, darkness and runic power struggled to avoid each other. Where their influences overlapped, pressure built to the point where detonation seemed a distinct possibility.

The Bob's warp stone Sword of Barrenness was the next to yield its magic. The Slann drew the vile green warp power out of the crystal on the guard. Its evil oozed like a poison, and squeezed between Taisteslaikch'ken's telekinetic fingertips, but it could not escape. Inside the cube it's tendrils flowed to explore its new world. As they approached each of the other forces they recoiled. It became a sullen blob, radiating hostility from one corner.

The pressure built to the extent that Rodekhil didn't just feel it in his head. The air became almost too heavy to breathe.

Rychek held up the sceptre of Gork with leaden arms. Taisteslaikch'ken did not reach out his hand. Instead he spoke.

"Mighty Gork!" The sceptre's eyes flashed. "I cannot compel a God! But if you yield this fragment of yourself, I will guarantee that there will be a crumping which will be recorded in the histories of all races!"

The image of Gork on the sceptre kept its arms stubbornly crossed. (sssssssssssssssssssssssss)

"Oh dear. Perhaps your twin will get to do the crumping instead......."

With a roar of annoyance, the essence of Gork burst out of his icon and, for a fleeting instant, Rodekhil could perceive the full, towering animosity that was a green skin god. The manifestation of Gork charged at the dismantled cube, and, just as it seemed he would scatter its elements, he shrank and dove inside. Within its confines, he amused himself by beating up the other energies: starlight, darkness, dwarven and warp.



"My lord, that is all we carry...." Bob spoke. "...but surely you need a sixth. A mystic cube. Six sides. The Law of Six. You know..." He hopped from foot to foot in consternation, as the slann turned his ancient gaze on him.

"Life." Taisteslaikch'ken croaked. "A life will provide the necessary sixth magic token." Bob gulped and pushed Joe off balance. Joe stumbled forward.

The Slann croaked a bitter laugh. "Your generosity is noted, but Joe cannot fulfil this role. And you, I have another need for.

"However, the cube needs a life. A pure life, having never set foot on this tainted earth. Did no one else carry a burden here?"

His eyes raked the party and rested on Hellun's heaving belly. There was a heavy pause.

Welhung started. "What? No! No! Not my unborn child! He clutched his wife tightly with one arm and groped for his weapon with the other."

"Not your child? You seem ungrateful for those you already have."

"They are mine and I love each one! I just wish they would stop appearing so, you know, often."

"Ah. Keep your formidable weapon down."

"Wha'?"

"There is no need to threaten me."

"Oh. For a moment I thought you were offering contraceptive advice."

The Slann rolled his eyes. "What would I know of such things?"

Taisteslaikch'ken returned his attention to the cube and it's floating contents. "There is but one alternative." He took an enormous breath, held it for a moment and expelled it for an impossibly long time. His chest did not rise again. His arms slumped to his side, and his great head bowed.

Something, like a silver mist, drifted from his parted lips and hovered above his head. Caneghem, with his mage sight could see that the threads of the geomagnetic web, which connected the slann to his kin, still maintained their ethereal connection to the mist.

Inside Bob's mind words formed. "Bob. When it is complete, you must cast the cube into the Great Maw."

Bob wrinkled his brow, "Why do you need me to cast the cube?"

"This work, which has been in the planning for millennia, could do with a little luck."

The silver mist entered the cube, and the pressure built to such levels that those that still stood were driven to their knees. The slightest movement was almost impossible, as if they were buried under tons of sand. The faces of the cubed closed together and the pressure was relieved with a snap. The Cube of the Old Ones tumbled to the deck.

Each plane glowed with a different power. Starlight glowed pure and bright opposite to the midnight of Dark, venomous green Warp fire cowered away from the duller green of Gork's simmering animosity. Gold Runic power glittered coldly opposite the soft silver glow of Life.

Bob lifted the cube. To the eye, it seemed that each surface was flat, but in the hand they felt as if they were bulging as each force repelled five other incompatible essences. Bob carried the cube to the end of the bridge with Joe trailing a step behind.

Bob turned the mystic cube in his hands. He blew on it. He tossed it from hand to hand. He did a lucky little dance.

"Stop wasting time! The conjunction is now!" The command pierced Bob's mind. In fright he dropped the cube and it tumbled into the Great Maw. He and Joe leaned over the edge and watched it dwindle away to nothingness.

"How will we know when anything is happening?" asked Joe.

Half the world away, the Vortex of the Great Ritual slowly began to rotate again. The wrong way. The vortex, which had previously drawn the winds of magic and the energy from the geomantic web and funneled it into space, now began to draw energy from space and pump it into the geomantic web.

The geomantic web increased its energy collecting function one hundred fold and tightened like a noose around the daemonic forces which assailed Lustria. Each Daemon was dragged squealing from physical manifestation and back into its native form of magical energy. Their matter was converted to vast stores of energy which was supplemented by the power of the global storm of magic. Both were gathered by the vast net. Within minutes the trap had been sprung, and the daemon host were banished from the world's surface.

The geomantic web fizzed with power, and the white hot tendrils could be easily seen by mundane eyes. When it seemed that no more energy could be contained in the web, it pulsed. The power contained within surged into the four strands which circled the globe like meridians.

The four channels surged with the energy of a hundred thousand storms and a billion elemental souls and poured it into one small, highly unstable cube deep in the gullet of the Great Maw.

The Maw had failed to digest the warp stone asteroid, but the geomantic pill containing six warring magic essences was orders of magnitude more undigestible. The Maw heaved and churned and with one great spasm vomited the contents of its gullet, including the alien warp matter which had sat uneasily within it for millennia.

The fountain of material would have fallen back to earth within moments, but for the rivers of of geomantic energy which spiralled around the stream of ejecta and kept it on course.

Atop his temple at the precise, diametrically opposite point on the globe, the great Slann Mage Priest, Tecciztec, Lord of Tlaxtlan, played the four strands like a musical instrument. Whenever the tower of material threatened to topple, he would shepherd it, by balancing the tension of the strands.

With the guidance of the streams of energy, the warp asteroid was hurled directly at its target. The heart of the chaos moon, which hovered so close overhead.

The initial impact shattered Morrslieb's surface and blasted a crater scores of leagues deep. Warp stone meteorites were hurled into the void between the spheres and much rained back to the earth' s surface.



The torrent of ejecta and geomantic power continued to pour into the moon, gradually pushing it away. It began to slowly but visibly shrink, transfixed by the column. Soon it loomed no larger than the earth's natural moon.

The stream petered away to nothing. The Great Maw and the Geomantic web were spent.

On Ulthuan, the Vortex of the Great Ritual stopped its counter-rotation, and resumed normal service. The wisest of the High Elven mages furiously scratched his coiffed head.

"That's weally stwange. I thought the Witual was Bwoken, but now its alwight. Has anyone seen my bwush?"

Atop his temple in Tlaxtlan, Tecciztec's arms fell to his sides. He withdrew within himself and was not heard to speak by earthly ears for centuries to come.

Image

When the Great Maw began its convulsion, there was a blast of such force that it knocked all of the group on the ramp off their feet. When the acrid wind had abated, Bob and Joe scampered back to the others.

"We should, erm, run for our lives maybe?" Joe suggested. Hellun was not fit to run anywhere, and it was too late, anyway. The initial blast lifted the warp stone asteroid clear of the maw, and the swiftly accelerating stream of matter and energy created a Venturi effect. The resulting vacuum drew in the air for miles around. The gale was not strong enough to dislodge the ogres, but the smaller lizardmen were helpless to withstand it.

Rychek clawed at the deck as he skittered along. His spawn kin, Mahtis grabbed him and hugged him to his chest. "Must I always be looking after you?" the Kroxigor rumbled.

Caneghem would have been sucked into the void if not for the iron grasp of his friend, Rhodekhil Offaleater.

Joe tumbled dangerously close to the brink before he was able to anchor himself by thrusting his spear tip into a crack in the deck. Bob slid past, clutching his now mundane hand weapon. Joe proffered a claw and clung to the bending spear haft with his tail and other hand.

Scant feet from the brink, Bob managed to clasp Joe's wrist. The spear creaked and bent further, but remained intact.

A sudden gust lifted Bob's eggshell off his head, and he had only a split second to decide what was more important. Hand weapon or shell. He clamped the shell firmly onto his head and watched the Sword of Barrenness spiral into the void.



Once it had vanished, he turned to thank Joe for the rescue, only to find his spawn kin smirking. "Oh, shut up!" Bob snapped.

Image

The Palanquin, with the empty husk of its owner was tossed by the buffet until the Maw was very nearly spent. As the tornado eased to a mere gale, it steadied, and then sailed serenely off the bridge and far out over the Great Maw.

The wind dropped entirely. A stunned silence fell over the survivors on the ramp. They dusted themselves off and gathered around Welhung and Hellun.

Caneghem drew breath to speak, only to be interrupted by a fierce growl. Surely not! Had not the daemonic invasion been erased?

The growl was repeated. It was Rodekhil Offaleater's stomach. "I could murder a kebab!" He declared.

Welhung considered for a moment. "I've got my appetite back too! 'Ow are you my love?"

Hellun was beyond responding. Indeed she was barely breathing. Caneghem took two steps nearer to offer comfort, for she was beyond any aid. The stalled labour had doomed her. She would surely perish soon.

Beyond their view, the palanquin drifted to rest above the centre of the Great Maw. The empty body of the Great Slann lord Taisteslaikch'ken, powerful wizard, respected battle standard bearer, heroic general and saviour of the world slumped off his throne and toppled into misty depths.

The Great Maw began its powerful grinding and showed its appreciation with a burp which shook the foundations of the mountains of Mourn.

A worthy sacrifice indeed.

Caneghem had stepped a little too close. With a mighty grunt, Hellun expelled a goo covered bundle of chubby arms and legs which caught the little skink priest low in the midriff and knocked him off his feet.

"WHAT IS IT?" Hellun demanded.

"Ogre.......?"

"No, you muffin! Boy or girl?" Welhung clarified the question.

Caneghem examined the weakly struggling infant. "Oh no! Welhung I'm so sorry. Your...son.....He isn't breathing. He won't survive."

"Ha! You don't know as much about ogre reproduction as you claim!" Rodekhil barked. "Ogre whelps don't take their first breath until after their first meal." Rodekhil carefully lifted the infant by the scruff of its neck and passed it to Hellun. The ogress had produced a breast the size of a stegadon egg and the child clamped on greedily.

Joe stared, mouth agape, while the other lizardmen didn't know where to look. Caneghem attempted to rise to his feet, only to be skittled by the after birth. The baby paused and took a deep breath. It's face crumpled and it finally emitted a sound. Once the echoes of the ear splitting burp had faded away, it fell upon the breast again with the enthusiasm of a starving carnosaur.

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The rest of that winter was among the most dangerous periods in history. Warp stone dust and meteorites had showered the globe, inflaming the rage of the beastmen and the greed of the Skaven. Dead things which had lain undecayed beneath the surface felt the tug of the earth renewed, and chose this time to rise to unlife, rather than be digested. The warp stone dust stirred even mundane life to mutation and hostility.

Woods which had been merely dark, became hostile, hostile woods became active, and active woods acted on their long held grudge against all things two legged.

Four gods of chaos, stung by defeat, goaded their earthly warriors into an unholy crusade to assail the forces of order.

The greenskin god, Gork stirred his hordes to new heights of savagery. Mork followed suit.

However, the greatest danger to all races of the earth, both evil and good, was the renewed appetite of the ogres. They launched the largest campaign of culinary conquest that had been seen since the migration at the coming of the Great maw.

The annals of every race marked the year 2418 (by imperial reckoning) as one of the bloodiest on record, but only the Slann Mage Priests of Lustria, and a handful of witnesses, ever knew the true tale of the False Moon War.

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Re: SoB-The Legions of Los'tmabo'tl-FINISHED AT LAST (1st dr

Chapter 24 - The Great Plan

There was a mist in the depths of the void. At least it thought it was a mist. It pondered its ability to think. There was nothing else to think about. The void wasn't black, it was absent of light. It wasn't cold, it was absent of warmth. The mist hovered like a silver cloud. It slowly began to dissipate.

The mist knew that it had once had a form and a mission. The mist had once had a name.

"Taisteslaikch'ken." A voice intruded. "It is I, your spawn brother, Tecciztec."

The mist that had been Lord of Los'tmabo'tl responded with curiosity. "I recall a mission. To cast a chaos moon into the dark space between stars, and to allow two polar warp gates to be restored to their positions off the surface of a world."

"Morrslieb has been pushed far enough away that it's influence has lessened considerably. Alas the moon remains in stable orbit about our world. The polar gates still touch the poles, but they are once again closed by the magical wards of our spawn kin."

"The moon endures then?"

"Yes, but the mission was no failure. You have averted the certain destruction of our world. In countless generations the peoples of this world will still breathe the words, "Tastes Like Chicken" after giving thanks for their meals. Even if they cannot recall why."

The mist was fading quickly now. As its hold on its material existence lessened, it was able to grasp universal truths.

"Brother Tecciztec, I applaud your role as architect of this victory in the tapestry of the Great Plan, which is now revealed to me."

Tecciztec's astral consciousness sharpened. "You perceive the Great Plan?"

"From beginning to end." The mist was now a mote.

"What is its purpose? The Great Plan's ultimate purpose? How are we to fulfill it? Will the Old Ones return? Why did they abandon us?"

The only reply was silence. Tecciztec was alone in the void.

"Mahrlecht!" he cried into the emptiness.

 

Re: SoB-The Legions of Los'tmabo'tl-FINISHED AT LAST (1st dr

Epilogue

Somewhere else entirely, King Balance and Queen Randomness were amicably sharing a pot of tea. The king had shaken off his bonds, as he always did.

"You intervened," declared the Queen.

"Hmm?"

"You intervened. The Chaos Moon is in a perfect orbit. The warring forces are perfectly balanced. Only you could have done that."

"Yes, dear. Pass the sugar if you would be so kind."

Queen Randomness passed the sugar, and a silver teaspoon. The spoon rattled against the china teacup.

"You know the war will spread, don't you? They will all still be fighting 40,000 years hence."

The King shrugged as he sipped his tea. "I suppose so. Would you like a scone?"

The Queen sighed. "With jam and cream, please."

 

Re: SoB-The Legions of Los'tmabo'tl-FINISHED AT LAST (1st dr

There's an early Christmas treat for us all. 2 Chapters and an epilogue.

4 months and 67928 words later we got to the end (only 9016 behind JK Rowling's first novel, whatever that was). You'd be surprised how much was planned from the beginning, and how much I relied on y'all for inspiration for that, and all the padding in between.

It'll get a rewrite, and a final title sometime, then who knows. 40000 words plus puts it in the Nebula Award for Best Novel (Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America).

Then a lecture tour, and possibly a permanent exhibition in the Louvre.

Failing that, Son of Bob enjoyed it, Daughter of Bob is confused, and Wife of Bob will be glad to have me back. For a while.

Let me bask in glory for a few days, then please provide editorial comment to your heart's content.

SoB

 

Re: SoB-The Legions of Los'tmabo'tl-FINISHED AT LAST (1st dr

BOB!!!!

Great work!

 

Re: SoB-The Legions of Los'tmabo'tl-FINISHED AT LAST (1st dr

I finaly got some time to read the last chaper
(and the recently updated earlier chapter on the boat from Lustria).

Very impressive Bob, you'r Art and writing are realy improving, and the ending was realy epic.

 

Re: SoB-The Legions of Los'tmabo'tl-FINISHED AT LAST (1st dr

Thanks n810. The revision is coming along slowly, but that's because I'm revising book 2 and writing book three at the same time. I think you'll get a cameo in book two, but might have to wait until book eight or nine for another reprise.

 

Re: SoB-The Legions of Los'tmabo'tl-FINISHED AT LAST (1st dr

Just read most of this story in one go... my lungs have started to hurt from laughing to much.

 

Re: SoB-The Legions of Los'tmabo'tl-FINISHED AT LAST (1st dr

n810 has some medication for that.

I've spent the evening working on a bit of book 3 (!). Book 2 is finished (in rough form) and will start to appear after "The False Moon War" is done. http://www.lustria-online.com/threads/spawning-of-bob-the-false-moon-war-complete-novel.14388/

In Book 2 you will see how Bob ends the Empire's little civil war with little more than bad language in: "the Time of 3 Emperors" (BSB page 172)

Book 3 will be "The Great War Against Chaos" or "Bob's War Against Willing Suspense of Disbelief" BRB 173

Book 4 is to be a dark tale of Horror: "Bob and Friends go to Sylvania"

The general plot of book 5 will need to be divined from the entrails of a small animal. A Halfling would be preferred, but a rabbit will suffice in a pinch.

 

Re: Spawning of Bob- The Legions of Los'tmabo'tl Ch 2 on Pag

Sounds like someone from my school!
Is it a sad thing that I can't defend my own country?

But just to get something back for the Sheep Shagger joke here's something for Bob!

Why wasn't Jesus born in Australustria?
They couldn't find Three Wise Men or a Virgin!

 

You spelt my name wrong.

 

Twice now. Sorry.

I'll never mention you again.

 

Perhaps we should just awkwardly ignore each other.

 

And to think I've been reading this on the blogspot instead of here. More likes for the like god.

 

The Blogspot one is the "final" draft. It never got transposed here in full because effort.

I cut a bit of the lumpiness of the story flow out between drafts - but I still like the bits I cut.