Fall of the Dark Lord

[Kelne]

Flames arose in the night, casting a ruddy glow across the landscape.
The screams of the dying had ceased some time ago.

Standing on the battlements, Kelne clenched his fists in impotent rage.
It was all gone, in the blink of an eye.
Everything he had built and worked for all this time.

Only the keep itself remained.
For three years, he had defended this frontier region against bandits, drow, and marrauding monsters.

His rule had been founded on the premise that anyone who crossed him would regret it.
Strength was the only currency on the frontier, and he had possessed it.
He had originally been a minor bandit chief, scrounging a living from the scattered settlements and occasional travelers.
It had all changed the instant he had seen the old, ruined keep overlooking the town of Trefen.

That town was now burning before his eyes.

Of all people, he never would have expected the kingdom of Doma to attack. <p>If I decide to hold a double execution of the hero and an underling who failed or betrayed me, I will see to it that the hero is scheduled to go first.
The Evil Overlord List, #93
</p>

[Nick Shogun]

Interesting.... *waits for more*

[pd Rydia]

Hm... o.o A new line break for every sentence is strange, but kind of fitting. Anyway, yes, this is interesting. *sits down and watches* More. <p><font color=navy><hr width="47%"><small>Hello, my name is Dia. I'm a dragongirl, and I bite. RAWR!<hr width="31%">Quotes of the moment:
-=- "Love is when your brain stops working." -- White Knight
-=- "Love is when 72 billion monkeys steal a porsche and drive it off a cliff." -- SuperRube
-=- "Love is an intricate dance of lewd comments and biting." -- Lord McBastard</font></p>

[Uncle Pervy]

Oooo... Kelne Fic.

Does this take place after his organization was bankrupted by Embezzlement and The Opening of the Samurai Night Fever Casino? ^^ <p><table align="center" cellpadding=2><tr><td></td><td align="center">Rum, White Magic, an' Cabbits.
That's th' life fer me.

Seig No-Pants!</td><td></tr></table></p>

[Kelne]

The sound of hammering echoed through the old keep.
Although the stones were still sound, windows, stairs and the like had fallen into disrepair in the time since anyone had occupied it. Still, it wouldn't take long for his minions to fix it up. If there was one thing they were good at, it was construction work. Many an unwary traveller had found themselves staring out of a pit at a ring of grinning faces.

Nevertheless, banditry didn't pay well out here.
Hence the plan. Already, Kelne had put out feelers to the local villages. They were cautiously in favour of some mutually beneficial arrangement. After all, while a single raid on a village wouldn't net the raiders much, it could be everything to the villagers.

With him acting to defend them, they would be able to build up more of a surplus, which would soon feed back to Kelne. This, he reflected, was probably how most countries got started - the formation of some centralised authority to defend against marrauding raiders.

Not that any of his followers could be considered soldiers yet, but given time...

------------

Time had brought many things.
The keep had been rebuilt, into a formidable fortress.
Rumours of the "Dark Lord Kelne" had been spread about to frighten off attackers. Of course, there was a certain amount of truth behind them. Filling the crocodile pit had been difficult, but ultimately worth it.
Prosperity, if not quite peace, had come to the lands under his rule, and all parties had benefitted considerably.

Unfortunately, time had now brought his doom.
Over the past several weeks, towns near the Doman border had been sacked. These had always been the safest areas, as they had the Domans protecting them from one side, and Kelne from the other.

From the few survivors, he'd gathered that the Doman army was behind these atrocities, but he'd never been able to find anyone when he led forces out on patrol.

Now the Domans had arrived, and Trefen was burning.

As the light of dawn spilled across the horizon, Kelne silently vowed that somehow, he would make them pay. <p>If I decide to hold a double execution of the hero and an underling who failed or betrayed me, I will see to it that the hero is scheduled to go first.
The Evil Overlord List, #93
</p>Edited by: Kelne&nbsp; at: 8/24/02 3:05:34 am

[Uncle Pervy]

"Many an unwary traveller had found themselves staring out of a pit at a ring of grinning faces."

I laughed so very hard and loudly at that. ^^

Anyway, this is interesting as hell. The beginnings of Kelne, I am really enjoying this.

It raises the question of why Doma attacked, though. Given that this area seems to be outside their borders, it looks a bit unusual. Perhaps a Rogue Doman authority at work? Or is the present Monarch being a might agressive?

That raises a question. When does this take place?

On the techinical side of things, the breaking is damned odd within the paragraphs. That intentional? Anyway, squish them paragraphs together.

I am really liking this, Kelne. I will try not to drag my feetso long on my next reading. <p><table align="center" cellpadding=2><tr><td></td><td align="center">Rum, White Magic, an' Cabbits.
That's th' life fer me.

Seig No-Pants!</td><td></tr></table></p>

[Kelne]

Had Kelne compared notes with the commander of the Doman army, he would have found that their perceptions of events matched almost exactly. With one or two minor exceptions. Namely exactly who was responsible for the massacres.

The negotiations, such as they were, were short. Captain Brennan called Kelne a bloodthirsty murderer without even the courage to admit to his crimes, and Kelne called Brennan a morally bankrupt lackey who sheltered behind orders.

The call to surrender was rejected out of hand, and the siege began at noon.

--------------

So that's the way it's going to be, is it?
Cold rage ran through Kelne's veins. Massacre the people and blame the Dark Lord. After all, he's evil. Who'll believe his side of the story?
Not that he would get an opportunity to tell his story...

A fireball erupted on the ramparts to his left. He ignored it. At this range, there was ample time to dodge, so the blasts didn't normally hit anybody.

Already the revisionist history was beginning - what that captain had shouted at him from outside the walls would probably become the One Truth within a matter of days. Two hundred against a thousand. Not good odds for him, even with the stout walls of the keep to even things up.

It was the mages who tipped the balance. Over a hundred in the Doman force to his twenty. A loud chant sounded to his right, 12's hands weaving as he worked to dispell an incoming attack. Spears of ice melted in a wall of flame.
The mage turned. "Nothing to it, Boss," he said, grinning.

He never even saw the meteor that smashed through his section of the parapet.

Below, blasts of raw magical power were hammering at the gates. Ordinarily, mages played little part in seiges. They were few in number, and exhausted themselves after only a short time. More mundane forces such as catapults would batter down walls.

However, when the resources of a large nation such as Doma were brought to bear, the rules changed. They might not be able to keep up this rate of bombardment for more than a few hours, but they wouldn't need to. And he had nowhere near enough mages to resist them. All they did was attract attention.

Well, he had no intention of dying here.

Turning from the parapet, Kelne descended, issuing orders as he went. <p>If I decide to hold a double execution of the hero and an underling who failed or betrayed me, I will see to it that the hero is scheduled to go first.
The Evil Overlord List, #93
</p>Edited by: Kelne&nbsp; at: 8/24/02 3:12:16 am

[pd Rydia]

Just one thing...

I'm pretty sure the commander of the Doman army would be Hakaril...you'd need to chit chat with AM about that, though.

Also, the line breaks are getting a little silly. You need to use a double line break for new paragraphs, and stop using single line breaks almost any time you start a new sentence. >.>;; Most places where you have a single line break, you don't need it, except in cases of dialogue/internal monologue. <p><font color=navy><hr width="47%"><small>Hello, my name is Dia. I'm a dragongirl, and I bite. RAWR!<hr width="31%">Quotes of the moment:
-=- "Love is when your brain stops working." -- White Knight
-=- "Love is when 72 billion monkeys steal a porsche and drive it off a cliff." -- SuperRube
-=- "Love is an intricate dance of lewd comments and biting." -- Lord McBastard</font></p>

[Uncle Pervy]

It's really hard to tell what's happening here, Kelne. Who's got the mages? Who's holding out? Where's this at? Less pronouns, more proper nouns!

And sis, from the looks of this, it seems to be a contigent. So Hak may not be personally involved. It's likley one of his lieutenants

This is a bit tangled, so Ihope the nest bit explains it well ^^ <p><table align="center" cellpadding=2><tr><td></td><td align="center">Rum, White Magic, an' Cabbits.
That's th' life fer me.

Seig No-Pants!</td><td></tr></table></p>

[Kelne]

Yeah, I'll try to work on the line breaks.
A bit of editing may be in order.

Both sides have mages, it's just that the Domans have a lot more. I already talked to AM about it, and he said that Hak wouldn't lead the army or conduct negotiations personally.

As for where, it's somewhere beyond the western borders of Doma.


<p>If I decide to hold a double execution of the hero and an underling who failed or betrayed me, I will see to it that the hero is scheduled to go first.
The Evil Overlord List, #93
</p>Edited by: pd Rydia&nbsp; at: 6/10/05 16:40