Vernadis Besieged Part 4

When Zavi reached the throne room, he was greeted by a horrific site: a gorgon had reached the room before him and was locked in battle with the mighty guildmistress who was popping in and out of the gorgon's range of attack, careful to not look the monster in the eye.

A slash at the dryad, a burst of magic at the gorgon, the fury of battle all around. Zavi leaped in to the battle, about to dispatch the evil invader with a blast of powerful magic, when it turned around and faced him. He made eye contact and knew he was doomed but the thought never had time to fully sink in before he was a statue of white marble, hitting the ground with a thud. But his sacrifice was not in vain, in the time it took for that to happen, Trostani leaped out and slammed the creature into the wall of the throne room, summoning branches to reach out and bind her, cover he petrifying eyes. With one final blast of energy, she slayed the monster, neutralizing it, leaving nothing but a pile of nonthreatening dust.

...

Alani reached the crown of Vitu Ghazi in seconds, using magic to summon branches that carried him up. He looked, seeing no sign of attack, no disturbance of the natural peace.

Something isn't right he- his thoughts interrupted by a burst of air and biological mass bursting through the trees in front of him, knocking him off his perch. He landed safely in a patch of branches ten feet below. Barely conscious, he stood up and looked to the sky and saw what he didn't want to. Floating above him was a large skyswallower, modified by the Simic Combine, brought back to life by the Golgari Swarm and given shadowy enchantments by House Dimir.

Alani drew his sword and called on the branches to bring him up and face the monstrosity that was his opponent, still barely coherent. The thing lunged toward him, he sidestepped and slashed at the soft underbelly, dodging a razor-like spine as it hissed over his head. Thinking he had succeeded at possibly injuring the creature he turned and looked, hazily assessing his opponent. What he saw did not please him. where he had cut was little more than a thin sliver that was already beginning to heal, the magic in it taking effect.

Then, from nowhere another burst out of the trees, this one smaller. This second burst was Trostani herself, growing out of the crown. The guildmistress drew a mighty sword that shined and reflected green with the Ravnican sun. The skyswallower saw her and lunged forward, on the attack. A skillful dodge, an efficient slice, the creature fell, beheaded, and landed far below on the ground with a thud.

...

Dinia reached the base of Vitu Ghazi, sliding down the vines until she reached the ground. All was quiet, a few leaves fell to her feet.

What is the issue down here? I don't see anything... was all she had time to think before the ground below her began to tremble. There was a burst of earth as a giant wurm broke out of the ground. The wurm made savage by the Gruul Clans, a zombie of the Golgari Swarm, trained in killing and torture by the Rakdos Carnival. A sixty ton mass of killing, and it was after her. As it trailed after her, it kicked up rubble and chunks of roots. One of these chunks of rubble flew and struck Dinia across the back of the head, lights flashing across her eyes. She tripped over a root and turned to face what she thought would be her doom.

A bright flash, a whiz, a screech from the wurm. Dinia looked up and saw Trostani with a drawn bow and another arrow aimed directly at her target. Dinia shot an arrow of her own but it missed, shooting past the creature.

Rapid fire, more flashes of metal, more strikes to the behemoth before her. Trostani was finished with the monster in seconds, not a movement left in its body.

...

Alani and Dinia sat in the throne room over the statue of Zavi. The three parts of Trostani stood over them and watched.

"Is there anything we can do?" Alani whispered, choking back tears over his fallen comrade.

"A way to reverse the process?" Dinia turned to Trostani, her eyes full of question, defeat.

The guildmistress merely stood there, deep in thought. She began to sing, a song like a Conclave Call, but the words were different and more powerful. They were different, yet they seemed very familiar to the two Selesnyans...

"The Whispering Tree!" the two looked at each other, realizing that this was the lullaby of their childhood. They immediately joined in, running from the throne room. They went out to the streets of Vitu Ghazi, continuing their song and encouraging the inhabitants of the mighty city-tree to join in. As the song rang loud throughout the tree, echoing off the bustling city about them, they ran back to the throne room.

Zavi sat in the middle of the room, the stone flaking off and turning to dust, swirling as it touched the air, the Vernadi leader himself glowing green and gold and white, brighter than the sun. As the song came to an end, the glow subsided, the dust fell and Zavi, back to his original and living self, collapsed at Trostani's feet.

...

Five years later...

"On this day, five years ago, the attacks on Vitu-Ghazi were established. They were the paramount of the many sieges laid on our Vernadis. They were successfully stopped with the help and courage of these leaders within our guild." Trostani called out across the throne room, and at their cue the three heroes of the day stood. Zavi glowing with pride, Alani bearing a gleaming smile, Dinia blushing bright red. All was well within the nature guild.

But guild wars are never quiet for long.

Bloodpool Part One

Jax sat alone in his tent, dark aside from a single lantern hanging from the pinnacle. A miniature carnival shaped tent, colored black and red. On one side were his trunk and cot, spartan furnishings at most. On the other side sat the tools of his trade: a barbed whip, a spiked collar, a hammer that has seen more blood than there is in one body.

He was preparing himself. Preparing himself for The Games. His first Slaughter Games to be more exact, filling the space his father left in Pakza's ring. He would fight for the man in a week yet he barely knew him or what he was doing. So green for a man to fill big shoes.

His father was the illustrious Rax who won many, if not all, of the games he performed in. But he never taught his son a single thing. Now Jax sits alone in his tent glumly pondering what he's going to do, how to even survive his rookie event.

Then, a knock outside his tent, a firm rap against the ridge pole to shake him out of his melancholy and the rest of the structure.

"Wakey-wakey! It's time you started learning a thing or two out there...can't have any more spaces in my ring for a while!" called Pakza, Jax's ringleader.

Excited and nervous, the young Rakdos stepped out of his tent, ready to learn how to survive in the rings of a blood carnival.

Vernadis Besieged Part Three

Zavi was surprised to find he wasn't the only one paying Trostani a visit. When he reached the Capital, he was greeted by two of his fellow Vernadi leaders. Alani Davosi had his, Ke-Li, out near a major Simic lab and Dinia Ti-Libera has hers, Vali-Os, nestled on the cusp of some Gruul-inhabited ruins. They had both been attacked, the methods of the attackers very different.

Alani had been attacked by a man bearing the same poison as one of Zavi's attackers, but the similarities stop there. The other attackers altered his walls, turning them into creatures that attacked his Vernadi instead of protecting it. Another attacker used innovative magic that Alani couldn't even grasp to tear his walls to shreds. The fourth and final attacker slashed through the thorny vines with the air itself, the last attacker felt too pure for this deed to Alani, a small fact that hasn't sat well with him since the attack.

Dinia experienced the blaze-making attacker like Zavi as well as the complex magics that Alani had to deal with. One of the assailants at Vali-Os used magic to revert her primary wall into a more natural and less magically-altered ring of shrubs. Worst of all was the pyromancer with the golden flames: hauntingly pure with  a sense of duty and righteousness that made her feel as though she had done something wrong and this was her punishment.

They all had the conclusion to enter the capital and consult their guildmistress, they all feared another attack, they all needed advice to figure out how to prevent another attack.

"Keep faith in the Worldsoul," Trostani advised "let it tell you how to best fortify your city and protect the ones you love."

Zavi, Alani and Dinia all sat and wondered what to do. They resolved to fortify the walls, no longer the shrubs with thorns, a weak and useless protection as the past few days have shown. Instead a ring of small trees, enchanted saplings to keep away intruders and protect the Selesnyans living within their confines.

With this resolution, a shadow passed over the clearing where they sat, noise erupted from the base of Vitu-Ghazi.

"Alani, go to the crown. Dinia, the roots." Zavi said, leaping into action. He himself ran for the throne room, ready to protect the head of the Conclave at all costs. It was a good decision.

Vernadis Besieged Part Two

Four strangers. Four strangers stood outside Nazia, Zavi’s Vernadi. Just four people, yet they seemed to completely surround the new settlement, forming a barrier with their dark and foreboding auras.

Then, without warning all four stormed the outer wall. To the north, a dark poison swept across the thorny, woven perimeter and wilted the barricade. The south sector burned with a bright and chaotic flame. The western wall seemed to part before the attacker and die, shriveling and turning from a bright and jovial green to brown like the dirt it grew from. The wall to west was easily hacked apart by the fourth stranger using long, golden whip-like weapons with curved blades on the end, the weapon of an assassin.

Zavi now understood the grim circumstances of the day. “Begin a Conclave Call, now!” he ordered his top men who stood beside him. Only seconds later did the surrounding area boom with the voices of the Vernadi’s inhabitants, an ominous yet powerful song cutting through the air. Zavi, from atop the highest limb on the tree, began to work his magic.

The roots that formed the inner wall immediately rose from the ground, fueled by Zavi and the Call below him, and wrapped themselves around the intruders. Slowly constricting and rising, slowly killing the ones that tried to harm the city and its living center. With a final boom, the roots crashed to the ground, had the Selesnyans’ voices not been so loud, making four sickening crunches.

Satisfied that the threat was gone, Zavi reformed the inner wall and put a silence to the din of voices.

Time to address my people and console them that the threat is gone and we are safe. But Are we really?

Vernadis Besieged Part One

"I entrust you- Zavi Natu- with the charge of our newest Vernadi and the duties and responsibilities thereof," Trostani's voice boomed across the Palisade of Vitu-Ghazi, the mighty city-tree that serves as the home of all Selesnya. The planning had begun months ago, the forms processed through New Prahv in triplicate as the Azorians required. Zavi had been hand-picked by Trostani herself. "You will be granted a force of 100 guards and fifteen guildmages for the protection and building of your settlement. May you be successful in your endeavors and remember: always keep the Worldsoul in your heart," the guildmistress continued, ending a celebration speech before the guild.

Zavi would be off the next morning with his followers to populate a small area near a Golgari gate to the Undercity, a risky place for a purity guild to be. But Zavi wasn't worried, he had some of his best men and friends going on this pilgrimage with him. Yet, he couldn't seem to sleep that night, he kept telling himself go to sleep, it's a tough walk is a hard hike as it is... almost unbearable without sleep. But he couldn't do it, the nerves and excitement combined to keep him awake the entire night, but they kept him going the entire day until they reached their checkpoint for the first night, a rather large Vernadi close to the Firemind's Aerie, Nivix. This night went better for Zavi so he was well rested on the last leg of the hike where he reached the settlement site.

The young guildtree was planted and enchanted without a hitch. The tree itself grew tenfold, the lower boughs branching into many huts, identical to the ones lower down at the base of the beautiful oak. The crown was woven and stacked into a beautiful treetop statehouse for Zavi and the commanders of magic and guards. A ring of barracks were made around the base out of roots that had surfaced and hidden back under the ground. A similar structure was used to form an inner wall while the outer wall was composed of large thorn bushes: Trostani is taking no risks this close to the Undercity.

A beautiful day full of progress, what could go wrong?

The Land of the Gleaming City

Ravnica- a land of gleaming cities..or should I say city. It seems never-ending because what may have once been many cities is now an intermingled web of city, the wildest places maintaining the urban feel through rubble and carnage that used to be a city.

Now one would think that as one city, the plane would be at peace...wrong! The world has divided itself into ten guilds that need one another to run the city yet are constantly in disagreement, even war. The plane exists as a series of feuds between guilds and yet it appears to coexist through the turmoil.