Return to Turochlitan, 1,028 words

Epilogue (to both the The Fall of Turochlitan and @[Count Renliss' Journey to Lustria)

The Lizardmen were winning the battle versus the Dark Elves. There erstwhile allies, Renliss’s minions were taking proportionally more losses than the reptiles. No doubt as the toad planned! Renliss fumed. As the battle progressed Renliss felt the Slann’s control over him diminishing slowly. As the battle was drawing to a close and the Slann were beginning their final mystical push, Renliss was completely free. In his anger he thought of charging the nearest Slann. Though the zombified Stegadon bearing his masters remains was all but invincible with the magical power flowing through it, Renliss knew his depleted forces were no match for his former “allies.” He simply withdrew, raising as many fallen Lizardmen to bolster his ranks as he could.

The Slann were preoccupied wielding the massive power of the storm. Only the Skink Priest Teyish noticed what Renliss was doing and attempted to stop him. He boldly directed his Horned One towards the withdrawing undead horde. Even channeling a tiny portion of the storm’s power, the lowly Skink had as much power as a Slann under normal conditions. He clapped his hands and pushed a massive torrent of wind and lightning towards the vampire. Renliss was surging with extra power of his own and managed to draw up his power and disperse most of it, sending part of the wind hurtling back at the Skink sending him sprawling from mount and flying into a tree. The Horned One, Loroq, had served as a mount to many ranking Skinks before and had no special loyalty to Teyish. It bolted.

Renliss ran forward to the prone Skink and was delighted to find the Skink unconscious. He wanted to plunder the Skink’s power but didn’t trust his ability to process the Skinks magical blood while the storm was going on. He threw the limp Skink over his shoulder and quietly left the field without anyone further contesting him.

* * * * * * * * * * *

Renliss needed to strengthen his forces. If he could help it he would find a way to recruit new followers without making corpses of the Lizardmen’s many enemies as he had been tricked into doing before. The secrets of Teyish gave him an option to do just that.

Teyish had once served as an attendant to the near comatose Merestar. Being detail oriented, Teyish had read up on the records about Turochlitan. Now Renliss had a portion of his information too. Renliss only had a vague idea where Turochlitan once stood. Since no markers remained, he could not find it with naked sight. To find the site, Renliss had to use his master’s makeshift Black Coach as a divining rod to search for lingering dark magic. After spending over two years searching, Renliss located the site of Merestar’s failed experiment.

The event happened before the rise of Sotek, so by this point all the bones of the fallen were as dust. The stirring of dark power was very faint. Renliss couldn’t tell if the power was weak or if it was merely contained by sanctifying rituals from the Lizardmen. Either way Renliss didn't want to take any chances. He decided to wait until Gehimnisnacht before attempting to raise the fallen.

Under the baleful light of the two full moons, Renliss reached out his power into the earth and pulled the Maylar Guard up from where they fell. Though their bones were turned to dust, enough lingering dark power remained in the dust for Renliss’s magic to combine with and reconstitute them. One by one the deceased Maylar Guard rose from the earth and knelt before their new master. Once this was complete Renliss attuned his mystical senses to the border world between the living and dead and searched until he found a lingering pained presence. He found Kayishen.

The pale spirit of the fallen priestess walked on the ground of Lustria once more. Kayishen had lost all the powers given to her by her dark gods save one: the Voice of Phidas. Though no less powerful than before, her voice was no longer seductive and compelling. Now it was twisted by centuries of anger and torment and little more than a blunt weapon. She unleashed the power of her voice on the walking corpse who dared to summon her.
“Your scream is quite potent. You almost hurt me.” Renliss responded with exaggerated disinterest.
“How dare you patronize me you foul walking corpse! ”
Though she spoke in her own language (the adapted language of the Skinks) and Renliss spoke in his, both could understand each other given Renliss’ mystical ties to the dead.

“Whereas you are not even a corpse, you are a memory. If had not pulled you back from the where you were you would not even be that. I removed you from your torment and brought you back into this world because I believe you may be of use to me”
“You dare to declare dominion over ME! I am the high priestess of the True Old Ones, I serve no creature of this world. The powers of the earth and sky bow before me. I am…”

Renliss let her continue on her rant for several more minutes until she stopped talking. It took quite a while since without lungs she could not become winded. Getting no response, she tried to leave and found she was bound in a small circle of powder from crushed bone and the roots of several poisonous jungle plants approximately five feet in diameter.

“I bound you to that location temporarily. I could have bound your will had I chosen—“
“Nothing can bind me!”

That’s just what I thought once Renliss mused.
“—but I believe you would be more useful as a willing vassal. Our goals are very similar.”
“You know nothing of my goals, outlander!”
“My goal is to kill as many Slann as possible, possibly starting with Merestar who is in a weaker state than ever.”
“….How may I be of service, my lord?”
“Tell me all the lore you know of the Lizardmen”

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This is an epilogue I wrote for Lustria-Online in early 2013 tying my previous pieces together