Promaginy

Our partner, Complex Games, have now established their website.

They have also established a Warlocks webpage with the latest news and featrures.

Check it out.

Promaginy will be canceling further development on the Mana Battles game in its current state.

Mana Battles is a game that tells the tale of the Baidala, a humanoid cat-people who possess amazing magical technology. Players were to compete against each other in a competition for accumulating the most prestige to be considered for divine advancement.

The IP and setting will be reused for a future project based around the Baidala.

Roguehunt

Bhir slipped back down the hillside, out of sight of the old keep on the next hill. He was careful not to disturb Bhudrinaksi where he sat in meditation position, eyes unfocused and distant. Dhasus sat quietly beside him, looking nervous.

“You think this will work, Captain Bhir?” Indrati asked. Again. Like the flame Jitadi he had a preference for, he had little patience for the slow and methodical.

“It had better,” Bhir replied. “The Pashumar understand tactical value as well as we do. That fort used to be on a border between the two kingdoms, so it is on the highest hill around here. Granted those towers don’t look too stable, but even if you have only one person in tower as lookout, they’ve got a good field of view. And since we’re hunting Warlocks, I’ve got to assume they’ve established some monitoring on the routes up to the fort.”

“They won’t be able to cover the entire perimeter,” Indrati observed. “These rogues we’re after aren’t supposed to be….”

“Your underestimation of your opponent is his greatest weapon,” Bhir reminded them of an old adage. “They only need to watch the most viable paths uphill; forcing us to take the more dangerous paths where an accident might reveal and delay us.”

“That is dangerous?” Indrati asked, eyeing Bhudrinaksi and Dhasus, “You’re planning on having Bhudrinaksi teleport us into the fort based on his memory of the place the last time he tracked a rogue here!” His tone bordered on insubordination.

“When you get to be Captain, you can take that chance,” Bhir growled angrily at Indrati just as Bhudrinaksi stirred and came out of his trance. “A Warlock died and another was injured during that termination because they attempted to take the fort by force. Bhudrinaksi says he remembers the place and it has remained abandoned since that time.”

“Are you ready?” Bhir asked as he turned to them.

“Fort is traditional layout,” Bhudrinaksi said, leaning forward and waving his hand over the ground in front of him. Ridges of dirt piled themselves up, taking the shape of a miniature fort. “There is a square tower at each corner. The main gate is in the center of the western wall, with barracks and storehouses backed up against the opposite wall. The wall facing us has collapsed so we can see straight into the main yard. That yard will lead us to the barracks which should be where the rogues are. I am proposing that I a portal us to that open yard.”

“What if there is some debris in the yard that was not there before?” Indrati asked. “We will end up being portaled into some rubbish!”

“I have taken that into account. I will have the exit portal exiting about three feet about the ground. When you step through, be prepared for a big step.” Bhudrinaksi replied.

Bhir nodded and rose. The rest of them readied their Mahazis and returned to the top of the hill. There Bhudrinaksi  generated the teleportal. Being able to both visualize the distant fort yard and see his generated portal, he created a shimmering thin oval both in front of him and in the distant yard.

With a gesture with his chin, Bhudrinaksi motioned for them to go through.

* * *

They recovered from the teleportal in nimble fashion. Their physical training being more than adequate for them to drop the almost three feet from the floating shimmering oval. Bhir, Indrati, and Dharsus immediately setup a periphery as Bhudrinaksi jumped through, landed, and then closed the portal.

All four cautionously moved towards the barracks, the door of which was wide open. No sign of the rogue Warlocks. Bhir motioned for Indrati to take point. They put away their Mahazis. This would require their chosen weapon of Jitadi.

The door was closed and assumed to be locked. Bhir silently motioned for Dharsus to smash it down. Dharsus nodded and dropped into the stance to begin pulling Jitadi from the surrounding elements. Conducting a weaving form while swaying in a bow stance, the Warlocks could almost feel him drawing the energy from the air.

Stiffening his hands into claws, he thrust straight out towards the door which was five feet away. The door exploded into five pieces as the invisible force blast smashed into it. The crash was met with a shout of surprise on the other side.

Indrati and Bhir rushed in as soon as the door smashed apart. Bhir was the first one to spot one of the Rogues who had begun to dive behind a solid desk. Bhir quickly created a form and stance and launched a force blast at the desk. The desk was thrown into the Rogue, who was knocked backwards into open view.

Indrati was generating a Jitadi to finish off the rogue, when he was suddenly struck in the head by a thrown piece of debris. The surprise and impact knocked him to his knees.

The thrower was the female rogue who was to the rear of the room and obviously was not prepared to respond with Jitadi. It was a sign of her inexperience. An inexperience that lead her into this fatal showdown.

Bhudrinaksi had anticipated that the second Rogue would need to be dealt with. His low stance and arm form brought Jitadi from the ground upwards and towards his taret. To generate the ice he would need, it would need to come from the coolness in the water tables far below their feet.

Ice crystal suddenly materialized from beneath the female rogue and cycloned around her form. Within moments, her torso, arms, and legs, were covered with ice that slowed her into frozen action.

Dharsus had stepped from behind Captain Bhir and was prepared with his own attack. As soon as the male Rogue was on his his feet, he generated a Jitadi lightning strike that launched from his outstretched palm straight into the chest of his target.

The male rogue screamed in shock and fatal pain as the massive electrical current coursed throughout his body. His lifeless body convulsed as it flew backwards against the wall.

The female rogue made a cry of grief, fear, and anger as her mentor was taken from her.

Indrati had regained his feet and looked to Captain Bhir, who nodded to him to proceed. Indrati pulled out his Mahazis and walked towards the frozen female.

“Novice Warlock. For the crimes of following the teachings of a known renegade, generating Jitadi without proper instruction, leaving the Sandhoa without permisssion, and striking a superior…” Indrati flicked his bruised cheek toward her. “You are condemned to the most severe punishment.”

“Death.”

As the word left his mouth, he grabbed her hair and yanked her head backwards to expose her throat. A deep slash of his blade wetly drowned her pleadings for mercy.

Captain Bhir surveyed the scene.

“Our mission is complete. Bhudrinaksi, I want you to make a schamatic of this fort. This is the second time that rogues have used this fort as a base. It is easier for us to deal with any future renegades if we know one of their settings. We can anticipate that future renegades will consider this fort when they abandon the Jitadara.”

“Why don’t we just destroy this fort and take away a place where the rogues can go?”, Indrati asked.

“It is better for us to know where they are are so that we can deal with them, then having to track them across the wilderness or more hostile settings. As long as there is an Order, there will be renegades. I would prefer to see the Order have an additiona advantage in its battle.”

Captain Bhir did not voice his thoughts. The incidence of renegade behavior is increasing. This is the third incident in the past year. I can only think that it is a symptom to a larger problem within the Order. Perhaps, we have too much internal bickering. I will speak with my brother, Andri. He understands people better than he understands Jitadi. Perhaps he has some ideas about what can be done.

Captain Bhir motioned to the others to begin cleaning up the deceased rogues. They needed to properly dispose of the remains if they did not want to alarm future renegades from staying in this convenient hunting ground.

Rest Renewal

Andri Minara shook his head and grimaced.  It’s going to be a very long trip back to the Sandhoa.

The scene before him was familiar; Lya Katora stood between Britran Talavara and Sumiy Shikara with a hand placed lightly on each man’s chest.  Andri didn’t have to hear the conversation to know they were arguing again.  Lya looked ready to throw an ice wall between Britran and Sumiy who both leaned forward aggressively.   Lya’s face was slightly pinched with concentration.  Britran and Sumiy each had a hand on their hinazaphas.  Though neither man had actually drawn the small, sharp weapon, their posture and free-hand gestures said they were seconds away from doing so.

The council may want to stop putting Talavara and Shikara on the same recruiting missions, Andri thought, knowing it was time to step in.

“What’s going on?” he demanded.  From the way everyone jumped, especially the five little ones, Andri gathered he’d spoken louder than intended.   He moderated his voice accordingly.  “Britran, why don’t you take the children to their room and help them settle in,” he suggested firmly yet kindly to the fiery Warlock with least seniority.

“Yes, Andri,” Britran muttered, not sounding too happy with his assignment.  Andri’s ears failed him as usual, but he could read the reluctant assent on Britran’s lips.

The five young recruits scrambled to follow Britran up the sturdy stairs of the Warlock outpost.  Andri watched with some misgivings about the admiring looks the nine-year-olds gave Britran.  Just what the Order needs, more Talavara. Of the Warlock Sainikulan, the Talavara were especially aggressive.  While that was good on a battlefield, aggression led to interesting recruiting missions and made Andri’s jobs as mission leader and unofficial peacekeeper a whole lot harder.

Just get through the night, Andri encouraged himself.   They’d been traveling back to the Sandoa for two days now; this was their second night.  Tomorrow, if all went well and the younger warlocks didn’t kill each other, they would arrive home.  Then, the children would be the responsibility of their new masters, chosen Abbandha or unfettered Warlocks, who would train them for the next seven to eight years.   Of course, the Sainikulan representatives would show off every chance they got so that when the students attain Initiate status around their seventeenth birthdays they would be drawn to a particular family. Andri snorted derisively; thoughts about the Sainikulan squabbles irked him.

An exasperated shout yanked Andri out of his reverie.

“That’s not fair or true!” Lya’s voice rang out, loud enough for even Andri to hear fairly clearly.

Ah, Britran must be finished with his task.  Where’d the night go? Andri shook his head to concentrate on the argument.

“Yes, it is,” Britran declared.  “The Katora would have us all be free nursemaids for the Pashumar poor!”

“I half agree with you, my friend,” Sumiy said in a conciliatory manner.  “We deserve to…”

Andri couldn’t hear the rest of Sumiy’s sentence, but he’d heard enough to know the younger Warlocks had returned to the adventure versus mercenary ideological debate.

It’s time to take a greater role in the Order. This wasn’t the first time the thought had struck Andri, and as usual, it gave him a chill.  Ever since his early days in the Mercenary Legion where he’d promptly been wounded in a brief battle and lost his hearing, Andri had been content to quietly do his job in the Auxiliary Legion.  Once about seven years ago and again about three years ago, Andri had considered fighting for a higher position in his Sainikulan, but both times he’d been content to let those with a keener sense of glory hunting outshine him.  Andri forced these thoughts away to say,

“Everybody sit down.”  His voice, as usual, was louder than he’d intended, but this time that worked to his advantage.

Lya, Britran, and Sumiy sat in a semi-circle around the middle of the outpost’s leisure room.  Andri took a seat as well so as not to appear superior to the others.

“Thank you,” Andri said, fixing a warm smile on his face and making sure to hold eye contact with each person.  “This random infighting is unhealthy, but discussion is good so let us discuss our Sainikulan differences, shall we?”  Andri wasn’t blind to the fact that his hearing impairment made the others more sympathetic towards him.  He took full advantage of the good feelings and capitalized on them by moderating his voice so that it was both warm and inviting.  His tactics stole some of the hostility from the younger Warlocks.  “Lya, would you like to begin?”

“I told the students there are lots of opportunities to be an adventurer,” Lya began, clearly stating a Katora view on the subject.

“Which is complete rubbish,” Britran Talavara interjected.  He concentrated hard and gathered enough flame Jitadi to make a small fireball.  He tried to act casually about it, but Andri knew he was concentrating very hard to accomplish the small feat.  “We need to stop these pathetic mercenary contracts and demand those under our protection pay us well!” Britran cupped the fireball for about three seconds before letting it dissipate.  “If we don’t, we’ll simple burn out for no good reason.”

Andri waited a half second, knowing Sumiy would say something.  He was not disappointed.

“The Pashumar at Kintal pay fairly well.  We should take more jobs from them,” Sumiy suggested.

“But some people can’t afford to pay!” Lya said in an annoyed tone that made it clear they’d gone over this already.   “Protection from the Devachan should not have a price tag on it!  Think of the Cadamar.  Stopping the Devachan is key to the Cadamar.”

“How is the Or-” Britran began.

“Does it not depend on the situation?” Andri broke in reasonably.  “The Order must take contracts to survive, yet it must also be ready to stand by all threatened by the Devachan.  That is why we must overcome these differences.  The Order must be whole to be strong.  It’s why our recruiting mission is just as important as my brother’s mercenary contracts with the Vrikas Pashumar.”

He paused to let that encouragement sink in.  He knew it was necessary to ease the stigma of not being “good enough” for the Mercenary Legion which lay upon all in the Auxiliary Legion.  He’d gotten over that about eighteen years ago, but he knew how much it rankled the younger Warlock’s sense of pride.

“We need to recruit less,” Sumiy insisted, bringing up a common Shikara view that the Order was growing too quickly.

“Less?!” Britran practically shouted.  “We only took five this time!   We need more recruits.  Dhati says the Cadamar will come to a head soon.  We must be ready!”

Dhati Talavara may be wise on the Ruling Council, but even a 7th degree of our Order can be mistaken.   The Cadamar may not be for ages. Andri kept these thoughts to himself.

“Ready in mind and body, yes, but Jerahn Anashabay himself taught us that the Cadamar is a constant life battle against evil,” Lya pointed out.

Since they were all maintaining semi-civil tones, Andri thought they might be calm enough to call a truce.  He took Lya’s statement as a jumping off point for his final speech for the night.  “The Cadamar may be both.  It is our lifelong struggle, the reason why we do what we do.  But all struggles have a culminating point, and what we call the Cadamar is probably some event that lies ahead of us.  Whether that time be soon or in a far off age, it is our duty to recruit those strong in Jitadi, train them as Warlocks, and fight against the evil that threatens ourselves and those under our protection.   Now, we have a long walk ahead of us tomorrow; I suggest we all retire.”

Andri got up and held his hand out to help Lya up.  Instinctively, Britran and Sumiy followed suit.   With a bow, Andri left the room and went to his room to think.

The Warlocks are split far more than Rudra Minara and the rest of the Ruling Council will admit, far more than I want to admit. Andri shook his head sadly at the realization.  It’s time to be more, a voice whispered inside Andri again; this time he agreed.

Yes, it is time to fix the breaks in the Order.  It’s time to be more than simple, sympathetic Andri Minara.   From this day on, Andri Minara is reborn.

Battleford

The four halted just inside the shadow of the trees. Before them the grass covered meadow sloped down to the river ford. On this side of the ford the land belonged to a Vrikas clan whose lord had hired them. On the far side of the ford the land belonged to a Rukshas clan. Whoever controlled the ford, controlled the land on both sides. If both clans had been the same Pashumar species, negotiation might have solved this. No, the clans were different Pashumar species that, like their animal analogs, wolves and bears, didn’t get along.

The proof of that antagonism was being demonstrated before the Warlocks. On their side of the ford, a dozen armored Vrikas warriors were weilding their Hinazaphas and locked in mortal combat. Each was engaged with one or two heavily armored Rukshas warriors with Hinazaphas and some of the more skilled ones weilding Kikira blades. The Vrikas knew they were outnumbered and outmatched, but to their credit, did not break.

Adanaka leaned toward the ranking Warlock, “Just like you said, Captain Bhir. The battle’s already started.  Have you developed Jitadi to forsee the future?”

“No,” Captain Bhir said, studying the dispersion of Pashumar forces. “I’ve studied tactics. I knew as soon as the contract was signed that word of it would get to the Rukshas and they’d move. Its in their nature. You all know your tasks, lets get to them.”

Adanaka moved to the end of the line, facing upstream the river and began forming a Jitadi that would turn the gently flowing river into a torrent, making the ford impassible to the Rukshas on the far bank. Adanaka’s dance like stance with his weaving arms immediately generated an electrifying energy around him.

Bhudrinaksi moved into a stanced position beside Adanaka and began to weave a Jitadi that would create a gale. The barely leaf rustling breeze now rose into a haunting howling wind.

Captain Bhir began to generate the Jitadi weaving to provide a slight speed enhancement and once established, began to charge towards the battle. Their collective war cries were caught up in the rising wind Jitadi, which help multiply them to sound like four hundred instead of four.

Captain Bhir, from the corner of his eye, caught sight of a blue glow around Indrati who was running beside him. He realized there was a blue glow around all of them. Before the charge, Indrati had created a light aura around them using a novice Jitadi stance. To the common Rukshas warrior it would look as if they were enveloped in Devachan divine auras. Nice effect, it will add to the awe we deserve.

The bulk of the Rukshas on the far bank were just starting to cross, but the river was no longer a slow, knee deep ford. Adanaka’s spell had raised a swirling, waist deep maelstrom. The few that charged into the water were swept downstream helplessly. Others skidded to a stop futilely shaking weapons at the Warlocks.

The Vrikas warriors were at first as stunned by the Warlocks arrival as the Rukshas, but recovered a bit faster than their foes. Three Rukshas, fascinated by the Warlock charge, had their throats ripped out by Vrikas blades, their last sight being glowing Warlocks nearly flying across the field towards them.

Captain Bhir felt admiration for Indrati’s self control; he loved fireballs, sometimes to an extent that worried Captain Bhir, but Indrati understood that to use fireballs now would do as much harm to their Vrikas allies as to their Rukshas opponents.

The Rukshas pulled away from the Vrikas, just beyond the reach of their blades but still too close for the fireballs. This was going to be bloody hand to hand.

There had been more than thirty Rukshas when the Warlocks charged from the woods. Two had gone down to Vrikas weapons, but that still left eight Rukshas to each Warlock.

Captain Bhir pitied the Rukshas.

With their enhanced speed, the Rukshas weapons were easy to avoid; before a Ruksha had time to even start a lumbering slash, a Warlock would be inside the reach of his weapon, slashing with his Mahazis. The Warlocks could strike three or four times for each blow the Rukshas tried.

The danger, though, wasn’t the Rukshas in front of them, but the one that got behind them. As fast as the enhanced time Jitadi let them move, it didn’t let them see behind themselves, as Adanaka learned. The Ruksha in front of him went down, insides spilling from a slashed belly. The Ruksha to his right reeled back, hand hacked off, wrist fatally spouting blood. The Ruksha to his left sank to his knees, burbling as life fountained from his slit throat. The Ruksha behind Adanaka, though, jammed his Kikira into Adanaka’s back in the instant that Indrati shouted a warning. Adanaka’s enhanced speed let him turn slightly, so the thrust wasn’t through and through, but slashed along his back and side.

The Ruksha bayed in victory, he had actually wounded a Warlock. He was too busy celebrating his unexpected achievement to follow up with an actual kill. Adanaka backed away, crouching and looking about while trying to staunch the blood flow from his side. Indrati gestured as he normally would to light the campfire. The Ruksha’s victory howl became a painful howl of terror as his fur burst into flame.

Indrati was fascinated with fire.

That display broke the rest of Ruksha morale. They fled back across the ford. Adanaka had allowed the water to lower enough that they could struggle through. Captain Bhir called the Warlocks to halt. The Rukshas’ terrified tale of this battle would be more effective at enhancing the Warlock  reputation than any display of their dead bodies.

* * *

A Vrikas soldier threw another Rukshan body on the funeral pyre as he growled at the senior Vrikas warrior, “They can’t be bothered to clear the bodies of those they killed?”

The officer, standing to one side of the make shift funeral pyre, continued to watch the Warlocks set up their camp near the ford but still a distance away from the Vrikas camp.

“Warlocks are too special for mundane things like this,” he finally replied, “Always believe themselves too high for it.”