Blessings and Curses...

Where does one start what must be told in this chapter? Twelve hours ago when she met Sir Harold? Two weeks ago when Kurvannug was told she was to be a sacrifice? Two Months ago when she was selected to join the pool of candidates? Two years ago when Warvannax began to seize control of the Claw Tooth Range? Twenty years, a month, and 17 days ago when Kurvannug was born? (Slightly over seven months before that when she was conceived?) Two Hundred years ago, (give or take a decade,) when Kurvannug's line was cursed with their powers in retribution for killing the Lich King Naggashzar for the absolutely FINAL time? Two thousand years ago when Naggashzar first became a Litch and caused the destruction of the Empire of Atlántica? Two Million years ago when the world was first tied together from streamers of raw energy by the Primordial Gods?

I must start somewhere, but to begin at the very beginning would be intolerably long, so we will start with the aftermath of Naggashzar's true and lasting ****, then skip over a number of other sections...

The thunder roared about the top of "The Tower of Naggashzar" as lightning struck the power rods of "The Engine of Ascension" again and again. The arcane magic of the tower continued to "draw down the sky", the storm clouds of "The Tempest of Scorn" created by Naggashzar's bid for godhood spreading ever further across the world. Inside the throne room where the Litch Naggashzar sat on the "Throne of Brass and Adamantium" trying to burn away the last of his mortality, a pitched battle raged between Naggashzar's army of guardian constructs and the "Ten Righteous Champions" of the "Silver Bladed Swords".

Naggashzar knew this moment was to be the fulcrum upon which rested the lever which would shift the future of the entire cosmos. The only real question was; whose hands would ultimately grip that lever and shift the weight of all the ages yet to come?

The ten champions were a disparate lot, one each of the common races that had lived in Atlántica so many centuries ago: Elf, Dwarf, Hobbit, Orc, Felinid, Gripply, Sleath, Gnome, Ogre, and Human. They were of diverse careers as well: a Ranger, Witch, Cleric, Bard, Oracle, Inquisitor, Paladin, Sorceress, Ninja, and Druid. They were both men and women, as well as a eunuch and a Hermaphrodite. They came from all areas of the known world, the frozen North to the blazing south, the distant east to the fog covered west, and everything in between.

They also were winning.

For the first time in over a thousand years, Naggashzar knew true fear. Not fear of failure, that he had faced down and discarded centuries ago; now he feared ****. Until recently **** had merely been an inconvenience, but now the last of his seven Monstrances of Infernal Fractions was destroyed. This time, if he died, it was for good and all.

All he needed was a few more minutes, and he would be able to rise from this throne and exterminate the meddling heroes with divine fire, but he feared a few minutes was more time than he had...

He was right.

The last of the guardian constructs, (a Mariut he had captured and reprogrammed when it came to kill him 500 years ago,) fell, its shattered husk joining one of the massive heaps of broken stone, steel, brass, and glass surrounding the Adventurers. They scrambled over the pile of Ruined automata and closed the distance between themselves and Naggashzar.

The magical barrier between the throne and the avenging servants of the gods fell, and the ten Silver Bladed Swords were plunged into his body. At that very moment, Naggashzar felt the power of godhood both enter and begin to leave him, his ambition to become a god snatched away just before he could have grasped it! However, as it departed his essence, he was able to use it for a fleeting instant to pronounce a curse on his killers.

"Thou ten blasphemers who hath this day committed Deicide; hear now thy punishment for the slaying of a god by mortal hands!" The words began to echo in the ten champions minds in the moment of Naggashzar's true and final ****. "Thou each shall have many children, and thy races from this moment on shall be cross-fertile. Thy bloodlines will be fruitful and multiply across, above, and beneath the earth. Each of thy bloodlines, however, shall now be tainted with the energy of ****, entropy, and magic, such that at least one Sorceress or Sorcerer shall be born in each generation. Those so gifted with this power will ever turn it towards necromancy, as surely as any god yet exists in all the omniverse. Thou shall have no way to know which of them will bear the power until they first shall have Sexual Congress with one that may perpetuate their line, and from that first union will sire or bear at least one child that the line will continue. With each generation where two Necromancers couple this power will grow in both strength and numbers until all born of the necromantic bloodline will be so gifted and have powers like unto a demigod of ****. When at last all of thy bloodlines are combined in one person they shall have this power and become a Litch thereby. This person, born so very long from now, will fulfill my thwarted ambition to become a Deus-Litch, and in so doing, bring an end to all the other gods of this world... This is my punishment to you, you ten faithful servants of the gods of light and balance: The one that is all of thy descendants shall fulfill my ambition and thus destroy all that thou doth hold dear!"

With that prophetic utterance Naggashzar died in truth, and the technomantic "Engine of Ascension" began to shatter from the unimaginable energy it no longer had a reservoir for.

Naggashzar had made one key mistake in his prophetic statement, however. When at last The Engine of Ascension had destroyed itself and the Heroes stood amidst its shattered ruins atop the tower, one last trump card was to be played in this match.

The Felinid woman of the party was also the Paladin: and a Virgin. She stripped our of her armor, pack, and weapons, then walked to the one intact balcony atop the tower. The others did not understand what she was doing, they would have tried to stop her, but in a running leap she placed one foot on the railing then sailed ten feet out through the empty air and returning sunlight before she began her Swan Dive into the moat of lava that surrounded the base of the tower...

This one act of supreme faith and free will's defiance in the face of an unacceptable fate broke Naggashzar's curse: Partially.

Each of the survivors did have many children, who were fruitful and did multiply across, above, and beneath the world. At least one among these children was, in each case, a Sorceress or Sorcerer, whose power turned to necromancy, and who sired or bore at least one child to carry on their tainted lineages. Yet, because of Minilah the Self Martyred's sacrifice the second half of the prophecy could never come true, and the world was saved.

Nearly 200 years passed.

Each of the great heroes' descendants took a different approach to the children who bore Naggashzar's stain in their blood. The Ogres, Sleaths, and Gripply worshiped them as demi-gods; the Elves, Dwarves, and Gnomes exterminated them as soon as they possibly could, and the Humans and Hobbits trained any who might bear the power to use it responsibly as civil servants.

The Felinids meanwhile, though they have none among them that bear the curse, work tirelessly to ensure that none of the cursed bloodlines ever merge into one, and are far and away more ruthless about it than the other races. They see no problem with murdering babes in their cradles should ever a pair of the cursed from different sources cross breed and bear children, an action even the elves, (otherwise by far the most ruthless in the suppression of the tainted,) will not countenance.

The orcs, however, being by their nature's fractious, divided, and violent people did, (some of the time,) all of these things. Different tribes each had their own reactions to one of their members awakening to "gifts" of necromancy. Often these reactions differed from one generation to the next, as well as based on WHO developed these powers. The chieftain's son developing sorcery, even if it was necromantic in nature, was seen as a blessing: the same could not be said of a **** woman's daughter: in both cases, at least most of the time.

Twenty years, eight months, and 21 days ago Kurvannug's mother and father conceived her.

He was a Sorcerer of the orcish bloodline of Naggashzar's Curse and the son of the chief; she was his bed **** taken in a raid on the tribe in the next valley over, and though no one in his tribe knew it, another of that tainted blood.

You might think, with Kurvannug's mother being a **** she was being **** to bed Kurvannug's father, but this was not so. Her mother was honored to be his concubine, for she had been a scullery thrall in her own tribe, endlessly washing the dishes of others and living off the scraps left on the plates and bowls. As the concubine of the chieftain's son she had plenty to eat, no one beat her, and she slept in a real bed; not on the damp floor next to her wash basin...

The chieftains son was a respected and feared member of the tribe, but everyone knew that he could not be chief. In their tribe, only the strong could rule, and he was a weedy weakling, to concerned with magic to train his muscles. Yet, unless he would renounce his claim he would have to be killed to **** a new trial of strength for the position of chief...

That night, as her parents lay together for the first time: her mother's powers of necromancy awakened, and though her father was overjoyed, HIS father was not. The old chief was a traditionalist and feared his son's dark powers when Kurvannug's mother displayed them too this was more than he could stomach, and he waited till Kurvannug was born, then poisoned them both. He had only waited hoping for a son to be his heir: and his uncharacteristic patience was rewarded. Of her mother's Womb Kurvannug, her two sisters, and her all-important brother were born just over 20 years ago, and within the month her parents were dead. Her brother, Valgorrok, was trained to be a warrior and has never shown the slightest hint of bearing Naggashzar's curse. Each of Kurvannug's sisters, however, awoke with their first tryst, just as her mother had, and was killed for it...

Now Kurvannug sits a lonely vigil in the Caves a few miles from Black Scar Crag, dreading what comes next. If she too is tainted...

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