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Azgo remained silent for a while, listening to the proud god's words echo and merge with the hiss of steam and the howls of his circling warriors. He thought on his words, bringing them to council with ever wise, ever patient hatred.

Something felt off about this scholar. Azgo had not seen him nor even heard his name in all his searchings of the mortals and his kin. But he had courage to so blatantly disrespect The Blood Crowned in his own kingdom. Or was it recklessness?

Azgo's blind head turned toward Veros and spoke with shrunken, black gums.

"I am Azgo, The Blood Crowned. A lord of agony and misery. Son of treachery and heir to the plan of the First. I am sickness. I am hate."

His words crawled across his tounge with bitter, righteous animosity. The air grew hotter, and his speech seemed to worm its way like tendrils into the fringe of the other god's being.

"And you have stepped unto my domain. Into my war."

Cumbrous stood before the Smith, watching for days as he continued to work on his creations. There had been some modest conversations, but the Smith had been fairly short worded and stubborn about not becoming involved. Cumbrous found his creating to be hypnotizing and thus he stayed on, trying in vain to persuade the god of the reality of what was happening in the wider world. He felt the fringes of Onus' mind keeping abreast of the war as it pertained to his faithful. When the Remorhaz threat became imminent, Cumbrous knew that his time here was at an end. I can only leave you with one last thought to ponder Smith. This war has involved all of creation except you. What will happen when yours is the last creation left? Do you believe that you will be left to restart all that had been lost? I certainly hope you are not so foolish... and the constant rumble that had pervaded the Smiths halls, faded.

The journey to Avarom was a quick one for Cumbrous, and his appearance was none to soon. The Remorhaz were appearing all around the city, chewing through its defenses with little care. The Living Avalanche collapsed upon the nearest, his stone body pummeling and breaking its hard carapace an instant before the remorhaz realized it was being attacked. Cumbrous flung himself into the enemy with a wild abandon, but for all his power, the creatures were simply too numerous. And the possible entryways into the city for creatures that could eat stone were virtually infinite. It wasn't long before battles were breaking out in earnest inside the city, and the devastation was spreading. Cumbrous called out to his god.

~~~

Onus sat in a meditative state. He watched the progress of the war from beneath the shelter of his wings. Monitoring his faithful, providing his strength to those who proved worthy, but there simply weren't enough champions to combat the utter destruction caused by these new creatures. New creatures. That is the key. The enemy is evolving his army to better strike against Us. Onus studied the remorhaz for a long time. He watched the battles that raged, noting their great size and strength that allowed them to lay waste to whole battalions at a time. He watched for the weakness in their armor, and then watched as his exarch finally engaged the creatures. Now, I understand how best to combat these.

Unfurling his wings, Onus stood and reached his arms around a nearby mountain. Planting his feet to either side of it, he pulled, heaving it up and lifting it over his head. It was topped with ice, and dripped magma from its center. Perfect, he thought. And he put his strength into crushing the mountain and breaking it into smaller pieces, carefully infusing them with his power as he did so. He had seen Leaf do something similar, What did he call them? Oh yes, seeds. And Onus threw them far and wide across the world and wherever they landed, huge creatures arose and began to combat the forces of destruction. Some formed largely of ice, others showed a heritage of fire, but most were of a solid stone. Their size was the advantage that they bore. Each one of them was enough to combat a single remorhaz, and aided by those already battling, the tide began to turn.

2 AP: Populate Giants - Song, Ice, and Fire... er... Stone, Ice, and Fire giants are born and scattered across the globe to combat the remorhaz threat.
0 AP remains

Azgo listened. And thought.

How could an elderly scholar know nothing of the world-consuming war that had lasted years? What was his origin? And why was he so eager for knowledge that any of his enemies would gladly posses? He was probably a spy...

His film-coated eyes narrowed with malice.

Sent by Leaf, who had cowed yet another into his service. Their pantheon of slaves were probably highly organized, working with each other... against him. Again. The thought filled him with wrath.

And yet... something about this god seemed honest. And what if he was indeed hoping to battle the tyrannical Firstborn, suckling on the fats and fruits of their tresspass?

Azgo scoffed.

"So then, scholar, you have come for... what? Plans? Or History? Of the times when there were six and the first words of creation were of plotting and curses?"

He felt the blood seeping and growing into masses of flesh within his throat. His cysts moved under his skin.

"This war. This CRUSADE... comes to a close. The final push is near, and those who worship traitors and their allies will be rightly punished. And then, my kin will pay dearly for what they have done to me."

"The history would satisfy me, lord of misery. I would not expect you to share your plans or even to include me in them. That would be far too much trust to invest in one such as I so unknown to you and if you had been so naive I would have simply left in dissapointment. Tell me of the history of this realm, so that I might record it. Speak of the treachery that these traitors inflict on you, that when the final rolls of the world are written, all who seek that knowledge will know the truth of Azgo and his trecherous kin. Tell me of the First and it's grand plan. Knowledge is what I seek. Your plan will be evident upon its success, and I can await that victory to know it."